| The objective of this thesis is to explore the generative process of Chinese analogical color words from the perspective of cognitive linguistics.An analogical word descends from an intended imitation of a conventional word for the purpose of conveying a novel meaning rather than the original one.Analogical words are often contrasted with the original words in the context so that they can make utterance more vivid and lively and create humorous effect.With their vivid and economical features,analogy has been widely used as a significant way of forming new words and expressions in recent years and many scholars have attached great importance to analogical words.In language,when new words are produced,new meaning based on new concepts is actually formed.With the development of cognitive linguistics,scholars have paid increasing attention to the psychological process of constructing meaning.The Conceptual Blending Theory was officially proposed by Gills Fauconnier(1997)in his masterpiece Mappings in Thought and Language.The Conceptual Blending Theory holds that as a basic and universal cognitive model of human beings,the conceptual blending plays an active role in the meaning construction process of natural language.Analogical words formed by analogy involve the semantic blending of the source words and the change of their lexical expressions.It is obvious that the process of forming Chinese analogical color words contains the cognitive process of a certain conceptual blending.Therefore,as a suitable tool,the Conceptual Blending Theory can be used to explore Chinese analogical words of basic colors,analyze the cognitive process of their constructing process and interpret the cognitive mechanism underlying Chinese analogical words of basic colors.This thesis first reviews the studies on analogical words both home and abroad and summarizes their contributions and deficiency respectively.Then,this thesis employs the Conceptual Metaphor,Conceptual Metonymy and Conceptual Blending Theory to probe into the main Chinese analogical color words by reviewing and analyzing the studies on the basic and extended meaning of basic colors in Chinese.By describing and exploring the new words,this thesis analyzes the cognitive process of forming Chinese analogical words of basic colors,makes classifications to them,and explains their cognitive mechanism.The two questions this thesis tries to answer are listed below:1)What is the cognitive process of forming Chinese analogical words of basic colors?2)What are the cognitive mechanisms underlying Chinese analogical words of basic colors?Through the research and analysis,the results of this study are as follows:to begin with,two input spaces are set up in the cognitive process of forming Chinese analogical words of basic colors;then,the corresponding elements of the two inputs are connected through the cross-space mapping;next,the common structure from the inputs is located in the generic space;at last,an emergent structure is formed by three interrelated processes of composition,completion and elaboration and the elements and structures from the two input spaces and the generic space are partially projected into the blend.Besides,the cognitive mechanism underlying Chinese analogical words of basic colors is mainly conceerned with conceptual metaphor,conceptual metonymy and analogy.For the sake of the theoretical significance,this thesis verifies thatthe Conceptual Blending Theory has great explanatory power in constructing Chinese analogical words of basic colors and enriches the cognitive research of Chinese analogical color words.For practical significance,the findings of this study can help Chinese learners to better understand Chinese analogical words and promote teaching Chinese analogical words and compiling a dictionary of new words. |
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