A Cognitive Study Of English Passives Based On The Corpus

The passive voice is the key point in English language researches.Scholars of cognitive linguistics have conducted studies on its meaning,syntactic structure and classification of the passive voice based on cognitive theory.Some limitations still exist in previous studies.Some examples are chosen subjectively by the scholars rather than selected randomly.The construal of the passive voice is not fully clarified and the classification criteria for the passive voice are not universally confirmed.Based on canonical event model and prototype theory,the thesis adopts a corpus-based research method and combines authentic examples in corpora with author's analysis to clarify the construal of the passive voice and the classification criteria for the passive voice.The thesis also aims to verify affectedness feature of the passive voice and pragmatic functions of the passive voice.The research process of the thesis is as follows.The first step is to clarify the construal of the passive voice.According to Langacker's canonical event model and the diagram of the passive voice,the thesis manages to clarify the construal of the passive voice.The Second step is to verify the crucial feature of the passive voice.Built upon Tsunoda's classification of transitive verbs,the thesis retrieves passive forms of transitive verbs in COCA to clarify the relationship between transitivity and the passive voice.The thesis retrieves passive forms of special interaction verbs and mental interaction verbs in COCA which are classified by Langacker.On account of the above two-step processes,the crucial feature of passives is verified.The third step is to confirm the classification criteria for the passive voice.In view of the prototype theory,the thesis analyzes examples in COCA randomly to make the classification criteria for the passive voice and to verify the rationality of classification criteria.The final step is to analyze functions of the passive voice.By virtue of authentic examples of COCA,pragmatic functions of the passive voice can be reached.The research results are summarized as follows.First of all,the passive voice describes the scene from the perspective of the patient and each element of the passive voice has its own meaning.Next the crucial feature of the passive voice is the affectedness,which can reasonably explain some controversial issues.Then passives can be divided into prototypical passives and non-prototypical passives based on the affectedness feature and the construal of the passive voice.At last the passive voice is used to achieve responsibility shift,express objectivity,link old and new information.