On Denominalization Of Animal Nouns Into Verbs In English And Chinese

Denominalization refers to the complicated linguistic phenomenon of "nouns thathave come to be used as verbs". Widely used in our daily life, it has been studied fromthe perspectives of phonology, morphology, syntax, pragmatics and semantics.However, previous studies have all been based on examples picked up randomly,instead of focusing on a specific sub-category of nouns.Based on the analysis of previous studies, this thesis analyzes denominalizationin English and Chinese comparatively by collecting examples of denominal animalverbs from corpus. To begin with, this thesis reviews previous studies on denominalverbs in English and Chinese. Then, this thesis classifies the data collected intodifferent categories. After that, frequency comparison, analysis on special structuresand collocations, diachronic change from ancient Chinese to modern Chinese,disappearance of certain usages and the meaning inheritance patterns are discussed.This thesis concludes that though denominal animal verbs in English andChinese vary in amount and categories greatly, they can be classified generally intoseven major categories: to perform an action to the animal, to receive an action fromthe animal, to employ the animal to perform an action, to perform an action in themanner of the animal, to bring forth the puppy animal and the perception of theanimal in folk culture. Denominal animal verbs in English have been steady forhundreds of years, however, in Chinese, it has gone through dramatic diachronicchanges. Though examples in Chinese are not in great amount, they do support five ofthe seven categories. Meanwhile, similarities also show up in the disappearance ofusages and the meaning inheritance patterns.