Cognitive Semanticsof Vertical Prepositions And The Applicationin English-Chinese Learner's Dictionaries

Prepositions constitute one of the word classes of the highest frequency in English,which have attracted linguists' and lexicographers' attention.However,in the field of cognitive linguistics,most researchers concentrated on the spatial prepositions on the upper half of the vertical axis,such as over,above,and on.The spatial prepositions on the lower half of the vertical axis are still in need of comprehensive analysis.Moreover,it is shown in learners' English corpora that Chinese learners have difficulties in acquiring the semantic network of the spatial prepositions on the lower half of the vertical axis.Meanwhile,as an significant tool in foreign language learning,major learner's dictionaries in the current market have a number of shortcomings,which fail to comprehensively present the semantic features of spatial prepositions or to efficiently and effectively lead users to appropriate language comprehension and production.Against the above-mentioned background,under,below,beneath,and underneath(as the Under Family)are analyzed in the current thesis from the cognitive perspective,based on the Principled Polysemy Framework and evidence from native speakers' English corpora,and semantic network is constructed.To be brief,the major features of the semantic network of under is that the trajectors and the landmark are regarded as a whole,and subject and object of the preposition interact with each other.For below,there is only a relation of "high-low" between subject and object of the preposition,without any interaction.Beneath and underneath are frequently used to denote spatial relation,with an emphasis on the prepositional object being covered.Based on the semantic network,it is shown that Chinese learners perform well in the acquisition of spatial senses of the prepositions but not comprehensively enough for non-spatial senses.Some of them are confused by the discrepancies between prepositions within the Under Family and between the Under Family and other prepositions.On the other hand,investigation on ten major learner's dictionaries(including five monolingual English dictionaries and five bilingual English-Chinese dictionaries)shows that current learner's dictionaries fail to comprehensively present the semantic network of the Under Family,with shortcomings in the aspects of sense inclusion,sense organization,definition,exemplification,and presentation of usage notes.Based on semantic network of the prepositions and current situation of Chinese learners,revision proposals are advocated in the current thesis,under the model of Meaning-driving Multidimensional Definition,for more comprehensive representation of semantic features of the Under Family and to specifically lead Chinese learners to comprehend and use the prepositions appropriately.