The Semantic Extension Of Preposition On: A Cognitive Study

Language is a process of developing and evolving. When a new word is coined, itgains more meanings with the time went by and the improvement of human cognition.Therefore, polysemy comes into being and it is also the result of language economy.Polysemy has been the focus of linguists and is defined as a language phenomenonwhich a word has more than one distinct meaning.Traditional linguists have studied polysemy from lexical and syntactic level. Theyhold that the senses of a polysemous word are separated and the semantic extension isarbitrary. Thus the internal relationship between different senses is ignored in theirstudies. While cognitive linguists have studied polysemy based on experience fromhuman cognition and taking outside elements of affecting language evolvement intoaccount. They hold that the experience is the basic source of lexical conceptualizationand emphasize meanings are embodied. The study of English prepositional polysemy isthe main focus in cognitive linguists’ studies in the1980s, especially the study of over.Many Chinese scholars have also studied Chinese prepositions from cognitiveperspective. It turns out that it is very explainable and convincing to study prepositionalpolysemy from cognitive perspective.English prepositions are widely used in language communication and contexts.Although English prepositions have simple forms, they have many meanings and theirusages are complex. It seems that prepositional polysemy is nearly in chaos and there isno link between distinct senses. However, the senses of a preposition are closely relatedrather than separated through the analysis in my thesis. This thesis mainly concerns withthe relationship between spatial senses and non-spatial senses of on in OED under thetheoretical framework of prototype. Firstly, image schema of on is identified followingTyler and Evans’ five criteria. The prototypical image schema which comes from humandaily experience plays a significant role in projection of conceptual fields. It is thesource of semantic extension. Through the study, the relationship of spatial senses andnon-spatial senses are not isolated but related to a degree by metaphorical mappingsbased on the bodily experience; while non-spatial senses derive from the prototype and spatial senses of on by metonymy and metaphor which are two semantic extensionmechanisms, hence some senses form meaning chains, that is, some senses are furtherextension of the other senses, and therefore all senses of on that are derived from theprimary sense present a semantic network. Moreover, some senses are the result ofgrammaticalization, such as on is used as adjective, adverb and affixes. This thesisclarifies the relationships among senses of preposition on and provides a new evidencefor future contrastive study between senses of different prepositions.