On The Application Of The Prototype Theory To Definitions In Advanced Learners' Dictionaries

This thesis,as an attempt to improve the quality of definitions in current advanced learners' dictionaries,is a study of application of the prototype theory to definitions in advanced learners' dictionaries.The main issue under investigation is how the prototype theory applies to the analysis of lexical meanings,which can be helpful to construct an ideal mode that can cover the fluid relation among word,world, and mind.The main methodology adopted in this thesis is contrastive studies,by which we mainly contrast the analyses of lexical meanings on the basis of the prototype theory with definitions based on classical definition theories in the hope of finding a better way to improve the quality of definitions in advanced learners' dictionaries,that is,a way that can trigger language learners' mental lexicon and increase their learning efficiency.The definitions in advanced learners' dictionaries are very important.However, the definitions in traditional dictionaries on the basis of the theoretical foundation of Aristotelian necessary and sufficient conditions view word meanings as fixed and discrete,which could not represent the fluid essence of lexical meanings.In contrast, the prototype theory in cognitive linguistics,regarding word meanings as a fluid process and representing the fluid essence of lexical meanings,is a modification to traditional definition theories.According to the prototype theory,prototypical categories cannot be defined by means of a single set of criteria;they exhibit a family resemblance structure and degrees of category membership;and they are blurred at the edges.Human cognition is based on experience and starts from categorization,much of the discussion about which is related to semantic fields which are shown insufficient in dealing with natural language since natural language is fluid,fuzzy and indiscrete. In contrast,the prototype theory has gained a favored position in dealing with these characteristics of natural language.Case studies of bachelor and lie have revealed that the findings of lexical analysis based on the prototype theory have implications for writing definitions in advanced learners' dictionaries.Through discussion of fixed meaning assumption,fuzzy meaning assumption and componential analysis,we have concluded that the prototype theory can represent the fluid meaning and fuzzy boundaries of natural language in dealing with lexical meaning.The application of the prototype theory depends on perceptual attributes and propositional ones within encyclopedic information,prototypes and non-prototypes, and prototypical scenarios,on the basis of which dictionary definitions can represent the fluidness of lexical meanings and blurred boundaries between categories.The prototype theory has provided a cognitive framework for writing dictionary definitions,in which lexical meaning in advanced learners' dictionaries is regarded as a dynamic process.To show such a process in definitions,lexicographers have to use various compiling strategies so that definitions can represent the fluidness and blurred boundaries of categories within natural language,thus improving the quality of definitions in advanced learners' dictionaries.