A Study On English Adjective Antonyms: The Cognitive-pragmatic Perspective

Adjective antonyms (AA) are mainly concerned with pairs of opposite adjectives varying in degrees, which can be classified into three subtypes with differing features on objectivity and subjectivity. Followed by Cruse (1986), they are polar antonyms with full objectivity, overlapping antonyms with partial objectivity and partial subjectivity and equipollent antonyms with subjective evaluation.Scholars from home and abroad have made contributions to researches on antonymy: Lyons (1968,2000); Katz (1972) ; Palmer (1981) ; Cruse (1986) ; Saeed (2000);Croft& Cruse(2006); Zhang Jianl(i1995,1999a, 1999b, 2004); Shen Jiaxuan(1999); Xu Wei & Wang Wenbing(2005); Niu Baoy(i2007)and Liu Guohu(i2008), etc. The earlier studies focused on the division and definition, and in recent years, the attention has turned gradually to its explanation and construal from different dimensions. Based on interpretation of previous researches, the thesis aims to explicate this sense relation within the framework of cognitive-pragmatic linguistics, adhering to the preliminary standpoint that the oppositeness of two members of a pair is not restricted in literal meaning but abundant in other facets of meanings.This thesis is divided up into five chapters.Chapter one draws an outline of the task we are going to undertake, mainly about clarification of basic concepts, research questions, research methods, necessity, significance and purpose of doing this study.Chapter two lists some major previous studies concerned with the topic of English adjective antonyms (EAA) from home and abroad. An overview of studies on opposition is stated first and then the focus is on AA, which involves discussion of classification, gradability, relativity and markedness.Chapter three presents a theoretical framework guiding the study. The theories are illustrated in turn, named as one, two, three and four: one theory (Relevance), two commitments (the Generalisation Commitement and the Cognitive Commitement), three approaches(Experiential view, Prominence view and Attentional view)and four principles underpinning cognitive semantics.Chapter four concentrates on the concrete analysis of EAA. The exploration is mainly on the category theory, the marked theory, presupposition and their application. In the marked theory, such concepts as markedness, unmarkedness, asymmetry and politeness are interrelated, and the presupposition theory involves semantic and pragmatic presupposition. In addition, a crucial discussion is about the role of cognitive context and different qualities of positive forms from their comparatives, encompassing the concepts of impartiality and committedness, about which we conduct a survey of each subtype. Next, much attention will be paid to absolute construal, relative construal and a hybrid construal. Finally, our discussion is towards the internal relation between antonymy and negation, a further step towards a comprehensive interpretation of EAA.The last chapter is devoted to summary of major findings, limitation of current researches and suggestions for further researches.