A Study Of Polysemous Verb "Nong" From The Perspective Of Prototype Category Theory

Verb,which determines the basic sentence structures,is treated as one of the core topics in the studies of grammar.Many verbs like "Nong ?","Da ?","Zuo ?"are classified as a subcategory called polysemous verb because of their wide use and fuzzy meanings.As one of the most pervasive and important semantic phenomena in Chinese,it has attracted much concern of linguists from past until present.Traditionally,polysemous verbs are analyzed in terms of semantic features and semantic fields,they focus mainly on the distinction of every attribute.Because traditional studies are confined to the internal structure of language and seldom take account of the cognitive mechanisms,they fail to reveal the essential nature of polysemous verbs.this study try to explore the cognitive motivations of polysemous verb "Nong" and its characteristics of evolution.For the characteristics of polysemous verb "Nong",this thesis intends to make the explanation about the following two research questions:What are the cognitive motivations of polysemous verb "Nong"?What are the characteristics in the meaning extension process of "Nong"?In recent years,the development and popularity of cognitive linguistics provide new ideas and perspectives for many language phenomena.According to the prototype category theory,a polysemous word usually has a core meaning or the prototypical sense.On the basis of image schema,according to the similarity principle,through the mechanism of metaphor and metonymy,the meanings of polysemous verbs become extended.Therefore,we should apply the prototype category theory on the study of the polysemous verbs.It is helpful to explore the causes in the formation and evolution trend of polysemous verbs.This study is based on the prototypical category theory in cognitive linguistics and all the data are collected from Corpus of Naticonal Language Commission.Through the analysis of practical semantic usage of "Nong",we can reach such conclusions:at first.the original sense of "Nong”is got by image scheme and category.The extended meanings of "Nong" are derived from metaphor,metonymy or co-work of both mechanisms.Such meaning extension process is motivated.In addition,we analyze the diachornic features of "Nong" and describe the meaning extension route.We find that in same category the extended meanings derive from prototypical sense of "Nong" directly or indirectly.Some meanings of "Nong" are extended by chain pattern,some with radial pattern,and some meanings with half-radiation pattern.Finally,this paper analyzes four domain changes of "Nong":they are "concrete-concrete,concrete-abstract,abstract-concrete and abstract-."This study not only enriches the research of the verb "Nong",but also provides references for other polysemous verbs.In addition,the results of this study also have certain practical values for research on Chinese language information processing,dictionary compilation and language teaching.