A Comparative Study On The Polysemization Of Temperature Sensation Adjectives In English And Chinese

Temperature sensation is a kind of human’s physiological sensation produced when human’s skin is stimulated by temperature(Modern Chinese Dictionary, 2012), which is one of human’s basic sensory abilities. It is this concrete and well-known sensation that provides foundation for human’s expression of abstract concepts. As a kind of basic vocabulary in every language, temperature-sensation words are frequently-used. they have experienced a complex semantic extension, and finally have formed a situation in which they have various usages as well as rich lexical meanings. In this paper, two temperature-sensation words in Chinese “re(热)” and “leng(冷)” as well as their equivalents in English “hot” and “cold” are selected to make a comparative analysis. The analysis of their processes of polysemization will be made from the perspective of cognitive linguistics, and the cognitive domains they have been mapped onto will be summarized. Besides, the similarities and differences of their meaning extension will be explained from the aspects of language, cognition and culture.This thesis selects two pairs of temperature sensation words as research objects. First, all the lexical concepts of English and Chinese temperature sensation words “hot”, “cold”, “re(热)”“leng(冷)” are collected from ten authoritative English and Chinese dictionaries. Combined with the examples given by dictionaries, the cognitive analysis of their meaning extensions are made.Then, the underlying mechanisms of meaning extensions are explored, and the cognitive domains they have been mapped onto are found and summarized. Finally, a comparison between English and Chinese are made, and the similarities as well as varieties of their polysemization are found. Besides, the reasons behind those differences and similarities are revealed.According to the research findings, whether in English or Chinese, the semantic extensions of temperature sensation words are not arbitrary, but motivated. Cognitive metaphor and cognitive metonymy play an important role in the process of polysemization. As to the comparison between English and Chinese temperature sensation words, on one hand, due to human’s common physiological mechanism and the similar bodily experience, the English and Chinese temperature-sensation words “hot” and “re(热)” as well as “cold” and “leng(冷)” have the same prototypical meanings and extended meanings. On the other hand, due to the difference of social system, thought pattern, and cultural background between English and Chinese nations,English and Chinese may have the different understandings towards the same thing, so the meaning extensions also have individuality. In terms of their commonness, the route of their meaning extension is basically similar. They all have experienced a process from temperature phenomenon to physiological sensation, then from psychological sensation to abstract concepts.“hot” and “re(热)” both have been mapped onto the temperament domain, attention domain,emotion domain and atmosphere domain. “cold” and “leng(冷)” both have been mapped onto the visual domain, mental state domain, attitude domain and event domain. In terms of individuality, “hot” has been mapped onto the taste domain, auditory domain, sex domain,situation domain, goal domain and news domain. While “re( 热)” has been mapped onto the attitude domain, illness domain and physics domain. “cold” has been mapped onto the smell domain, life state domain, goal domain and evaluation domain. However, “leng(冷)” has been mapped onto the auditory domain, emotion domain and attention domain.Through the investigation into the cognitive mechanisms of the semantic extensions of two pairs of English and Chinese temperature sensation words, this thesis shows the cognitive process and cognitive characteristics of English and Chinese nations. Besides, this study has made a systematic comparison on polysemization between English and Chinese temperature-sensation words, which has enriched the researches on temperature sensation words.Meanwhile, this study not only helps to understand the thinking characteristics and cognitive means of English and Chinese nations, but also has some important guidance for foreign language teaching, dictionary compiling, English-Chinese translation and cross-cultural communication.