Cognitive Interpretation Of English Oxymoron

In the framework of Conceptual Blending Theory (Fauconnier,1997;Fauconnier&Turner,2002) and inspired by Figure-ground Theory (Talmy,2000;Ungerer&Schmid,2001), this thesis is an exploration of the interpretation ofEnglish oxymoron from a cognitive perspective. It aims to build a cognitiveinterpretation model by clarifying the inner relationship of the two contradictoryunits in oxymoron and how the oxymoron is understood in a certain context so asto provide an explanatory frame for this particular expression. It is assumed thatthe prominent degree of the two incongruous units in oxymora can be different incertain contexts, which makes the processes and results of interpreting oxymoradistinct. Based on this hypothesis, Prominent-blending Principle is proposed:1) The relationships between the two incongruous units in oxymora aredifferent in certain contexts, which makes their prominent degree distinct;2) The various relationships and prominent degree make the interpretationprocesses of oxymora distinct;3) The interpretation results are quite different due to the distinctinterpretation processes.According to the research hypothesis, the study is committed to thefollowing questions:1) What is the relationship of the two incongruous elementsin oxymoron and how do the different relationships act on the interpreter?2)What is Prominent-blending Principle?3) How does oxymoron be interpretedaccording to Prominent-blending Principle?This thesis is a qualitative study of English oxymoron based on a self-builtcorpus. The majority of data in the corpus are collected from Englishmasterpieces, college English textbooks and Internet. Through analysis and discussion, the study is summarized in the followingpoints:1) In certain contexts, the relationships of the two incompatible units inoxymora are different, which makes their prominent degree distinct. Based on thevarious relationships and prominent degree as well as their influence on theinterpreter, oxymora can be classified into fore-focalization, post-focalization andco-focalization. In fore-focalization, the former unit highlights and becomes thefocus of the interpreter’s attention since it bears greater semantic load than thelatter. Therefore, the former unit is the Figure while the latter is the Ground andthe cognitive domain makes the Background. In post-focalization, the latter bearsgreater semantic load so that it stands out and becomes the focus of theinterpreter’s attention. In this case, the latter unit is the Figure and the former isthe Ground, with the cognitive domain as the Background. In co-focalization, thetwo units bear equivalent semantic load, so they draw the interpreter’s attentionsimultaneously and make the Figure together, with the cognitive domain as boththe Ground and the Background.2) Prominent-blending Principle is an important maxim, according to whichoxymoron is interpreted. In order to reflect its prominent role, Prominent-blending Model is set up on the basis of the conceptual blending model and incombination with figure-ground relation. It is a cognitive model to illustrate therelationships between the two contradictory units in oxymora and how thedifferent relationships act on the interpreter to lead the understanding processesand results of types of oxymora distinct.3) The interpretation processes and results of types of oxymora are distinctdue to the various figure-ground relations of the two units. When the former is theFigure in the cognitive domain of the interpreter, it is prominent in theinterpretation process, hence much more of its semantic components than thoseof the latter are selected to be projected to the blend. After blending, the deepmeaning of the oxymoron depends on the meaning of the former unit, so that theformer is the semantic focus of the whole oxymoron. When the latter is the Figure, it stands out and more of its semantic components are chosen to beprojected to the blend. After blending, the implied meaning of the oxymoronrelies on the meaning of the latter unit, hence the latter is the semantic focus ofthe oxymoron. If the two units make the Figure together and highlightsimultaneously, they are of equivalent importance in selective projection andblending process. The real meaning of the oxymoron is the fusion of the two.Findings of this thesis have both theoretical and practical implications.Theoretically, the study strengthens the explanatory power of cognitivelinguistics on oxymoron and provides a cognitive approach to rhetorical research.Practically, it is helpful to the development of rhetoric teaching, translation and soon.