A Cognitive Linguistic Approach To Polysemy In English Derivational Affixes

Polysemy is one of the important characteristics of English derivational affixes(DAs henceforth).Researches on English DAs indicate that it is this characteristic that poses profound difficulties for English foreign learning and teaching.Hence,it is of vital significance to conduct a research on polysemy in English DAs.Cognitive linguistics holds that semantics is conceptualization and senses are not isolated but interlinked with each other.Based on this view,this thesis adopts a cognitive linguistic approach to explore the polysemy in English DAs,aiming at exploring two questions: 1)what are the cognitive motivations of polysemy in English DAs? 2)what is the cognitive mechanism of sense extension of English DAs?This thesis involves four theories in cognitive linguistics,namely,frame semantics,prototype theory,conceptual metaphor and conceptual metonymy,all of which support the idea that senses do not float randomly in the mind but are interrelated to each other because they are interacted with experience.Multiple senses are regarded as a whole.Cognitive motivations are illustrated from the perspective of frame semantics and the other three theories,prototype theory,conceptual metaphor and conceptual metonymy cooperate together to present the cognitive mechanism of sense extension of English DAs.The findings of the research are presented as the following: 1)The cognitive motivations of polysemy in English DAs are the salience and changeability of frames.The salience of frames is the result of various perspectives.It is achieved by means of profiling,including highlighting and hiding,and constrained by language use.Frames of English DAs are intricate conceptual structures,which are made up of slots and fillers.The changeability of the two will lead to the polysemy in English DAs.2)The cognitive mechanism of sense extension of polysemous English DAs includes patterns,the cognitive starting point,and cognitive devices.First,there are three patterns of sense extension,namely radiation pattern,in which one sense stands at the center,and all other senses are extended from it in every direction like a ray,concatenation pattern in which senses move gradually from the first to the last,as well as combination pattern which combines both radiation pattern and concatenation pattern.Second,the cognitive starting point of sense extension is the prototypical sense of English DAs,which is governed by three principles,more similarities over less similarities,concrete over abstract,and familiar over unfamiliar.Last,multiple senses of English DAs are extended from the prototypical sense by two cognitive devices,namely conceptual metaphor and metonymy.In some cases,the sense extension of a single derivation affix may involve both metaphorical and metonymic sense extension.