The Study On Polysemous Word PUT From Cognitive Perspective

The conceptual metaphor theory,image schema theory,prototype theory and trajector and landmark theory are the theoretical foundation of this paper.This paper makes a study on polysemy from cognitive perspective with verb PUT as the research subject.All the data are obtained from BNC,Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English,Oxford Modern English Advanced Learner's Dictionary,Collins COBUILD English Dictionary and Cambridge International Dictionary of English.In this paper,quantitative analysis,qualitative analysis and case study research methods are used.This paper selects PUT as the research subject.Firstly,twenty meanings are collected from dictionaries and 1000 examples are collected from BNC.Then the meanings and valid data are classified into literal meanings(basic meanings and elaborations)and metaphorical meanings.The number and percentage of these meanings are calculated by manual work.Then deep analysis has been made on elaborations and metaphorical meanings.Finally,analysis has been made on phrasal verbs containing PUT.This paper mainly studies how the metaphorical meanings of PUT are extended from the basic meanings and how the metaphorical meanings of phrasal verbs containing PUT are extended from the basic meanings.The results show that PUT is in line with the way of word meaning expansion.Literal meanings of PUT are used most frequently in BNC.Elaborations of PUT can be classified into five kinds.Metaphorical meanings of PUT can be analyzed from six aspects and they can be classified into four categories according to domains.Finally,phrasal verbs containing PUT are also in line with the meaning extension mechanism of PUT.This paper proves from cognitive perspective that the meaning extension of PUT is realized by devices such as metaphor and image schema,which is based on prototypical meaning.The study in this paper is quite meaningful.Understanding the meaning extension mechanism of polysemy can provide new ideas for foreign language teaching in schools.By understanding the inner relationship of the meanings of polysemy,polysemous words can be better memorized.