The Word Class Labeling Of Physiological Activity Entries In Chinese-English Dictionaries:Problems And Solutions

Word class categorization is the core of grammatical study.Heterosemy of lexemes in analytic languages like Modern Chinese and Modern English has been a thorny issue among scholars.Word class labeling remains a major concern in Chinese-English lexicography,among which the way to deal with self-reference heterosemy is full of controversies.Since physiological activity entries are related to self-reference usages,from the perspective of the Two-level Word Class Categorization Theory,this thesis studies the word class labeling of physiological activity entries in Chinese-English dictionaries,i.e.A Chinese-English Dictionary?3^rdd edition?,New Century Chinese-English Dictionary(2^nd edition)and The Chinese-English Translation Dictionary.According to our study,most physiological activity entries are labeled as single-category lexemes belonging to verbs,and only a few of them are considered as multi-category entries?9.09%of the total in CED3?.In addition,there is an inconsistency among three Chinese-English dictionaries with two types.One is that the same entry is labeled totally differently among three Chines-English dictionaries.The other is that symmetric physiological activity entries have asymmetric word class labeling.Based on empirical study in corpora,we find that word class labeling of physiological activity entries claims the correlation between heterosemy and frequency,which is accordant with the idea of the Two-level Word Class Categorization Theory.The study results show that word class labeling of physiological activity entries in Chinese-English dictionaries takes Chinese dictionary as the blueprint.They mainly follow the“Principle of Simplicity”,take meaning as a unique criterion in identifying word classes,thus,minimizing the number of multi-category lexemes.After analyzing,a distinction between word class categorization at the level of langue and at the level of parole isn't distinguished by scholars,and they consider language as a natural object regardless of language uses.This thesis can not only help to clarify the word classes of physiological activity entries but also to improve the word class labeling in Chinese-English dictionaries,and finally to deepen the study of word classes in Modern Chinese.