Cognitive Motivation Of New Meanings Of Old Words In Chinese

Researchers have always been concerned with the study of new words which has been one of hot topics in the field of Chinese linguistics in recent years. With their efforts, abundant achievements have been made. However, after careful examining those papers and books, it is found that most of researches have focused on the study of new words that is new in forms and meanings. The NMOW, which means new meanings or uses are generated while the original form of old words remains the same, is seldom studied by scholars, or they just incidentally mention it at the end of the new word research. In addition, for those who have specifically considered the NMOW as their studying object, they tend to analyze it from the perspective of society, history, dictionary compiling, etc. The internal cause such as its cognitive factors with detailed and in-depth analysis is occasionally covered.The rapid development of cognitive science opens up a broader space for semantic study. Cognitive semantics is not a unified theoretical framework, but representing a direction to explore the relationship between words (or forms) and conceptual structures. Metaphors, metonymy and conceptual integration are all subjects that semantic study is concerned with, which provide a solid theoretical basis for the study of the NMOW.The thesis aims to carry out a study of the NMOW within the framework of the cognitive theory of metaphor, metonymy and conceptual integration, helping people to better understand the cognitive mechanism underneath the generation of the NMOW. Based on fresh data collected from the internet in recent years, the patterns of cross-domain use of words and general features of the NMOW are summarized. After that, the relationship between the NMOW and those theories and how the new meanings are generated under cognitive mechanisms are revealed.