A Study On The Cognitive Representation Of The Transitivity Continuum In English Voice System

English voice has been one of the focuses of various grammatical schools. Scholarshave achieved a lot in the research, but there are some shortcomings. The purpose of thethesis is to concentrate on the study of the transitivity continuum in the English voicesystem, and to analyze and illustrate the classifications, definitions, applied conditionsand the degree of transitivity in the three sub-categories of the English voice from thecognitive perspective.This paper holds that there are three subcategories in the English voice system: theactive voice, the middle voice and the passive one. We apply the prototype theory andthe transitivity theory as well as the construal operations of the prominence view andsubjectivity/objectivity to the systematic and intensive analysis on the verb transitivityin the English voice constructions. Each voice category mainly consists of the agent, theaction and the patient, and the change in the condition of each component would haveinfluence on the voice representation and characterization. Through the semanticdifferences of the action, each voice category includes the prototype member and thenon-prototypes whose transitivity varies owing to their status, therefore, the degree oftransitivity within each sub-category comes into being. As the features of the marginalmembers merge into the counterparts of the neighbouring category, the gradient changesin transitivity form the transitivity continuum. The verbs in the active voice mainlyexpress semantic meanings in the concrete, nonobjective and the resultant stateactivities; the middle voice situates in the middle of the voice system with theautocausative and spontaneous activities to embody the lowest transitivity; the passivevoice is the derived voice form from the active ones, which includes the same semanticrepresentation in verbs with the active category. We carry out an intensive analysis onthe alternations in semantics and syntax that triggered by those activities. Suchclassification and research approach interpret the correlation among the voice categoriesmore detailedly, define the so-called blurred construction more reasonably and provide anew horizon for the theoretical study on the topic.On the basis of the study on the transitivity continuum in the English voice system,we could put it to the use of English teaching, correct and improve the teachingapproach to the verb transitivity and voice classification.