An Image Schema Approach To English And Chinese Container Classifiers: A Cognitive Comparative Approach

This thesis concerns itself with a comparative study of English and Chinese container classifiers employing Image Schema theory under the framework of Cognitive Linguistics.Classifiers have long been a popular topic in Chinese studies.Although English is not rich in classifiers,the container classifiers in structure of“numeral+ N1+ of+ N2” have also received due attention.Previous studies on English and Chinese container classifiers have made many achievements from the perspectives of traditional grammar,traditional semantics,and cognitive linguistics,but little literature has been found to systematically compare the similarities and differences of English and Chinese container classifiers and discuss the cognitive motivations behind.As an important theory of Cognitive Linguistics,Image schema theory refers to a recurring,dynamic pattern of our perceptual interactions and motor programs,and it has strong explanatory power over the studies on container classifiers.This thesis,therefore,tries to compare English and Chinese container classifiers employing Image Schema Theory,specifically devoted to the following three questions:（1）What are the similarities and differences of semantic characteristics of English and Chinese container classifiers?（2）What are the similarities and differences of syntactic characteristics of English and Chinese container classifiers?（3）What are the cognitive motivations of similarities and differences of English and Chinese container classifiers?This thesis combines quantitative and qualitative methods.The data of English container classifiers are observed from Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English（Biber,et al.,1999）and the Corpus of Contemporary American English（COCA）,and Chinese container classifiers are obtained from the Corpus of Center for Chinese Linguistics PKU（CCL）and Chinese grammar book.The research findings are:（1）Both English and Chinese container classifiers have the meaning of containing or supporting other nouns,which include both abstract and concrete nouns,and their proportions in English and Chinese are different.（2）The English structure“a+ N1-ful/-load+ of+ N2” corresponds to the Chinese “a/ full+ classifier+ noun”structure.They differ in omission,inversion,and plural forms.（3）The Container schema and Surface schema provide the cognitive basis for the same semantics of English and Chinese classifiers.The Full-empty schema can explain that both English and Chinese classifiers are syntactically collocated with “full”,and the semantic and syntactic differences are related to the differences in culture and perspective of use.The research significance of this study is primarily reflected in the following two aspects.First of all,the thesis does a comparative study of English and Chinese container classifiers from the perspective of Image Schema theory,in an attempt to have a deeper understanding of the similarities and differences of English and Chinese container classifiers.Secondly,this thesis is expected to shed some light on the typological studies on classifiers.