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A Cognitive Study of "-gate" Words in English and "-men" Words in Chinese

Author: LiuChunFang
Tutor: TangYanLing
School: Hunan Normal University
Course: English Language and Literature
Keywords: "-gate" words in English "-men" words in Chinese polysemy grammaticalization cognitive psychology
CLC: H313
Type: Master's thesis
Year: 2011
Downloads: 113
Quote: 0
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Abstract


All aspects of human life can be reflected by vocabulary, which is one of the everlasting topics in linguists’research. As part of vocabulary, the new "-gate" words in English and "-men" words in Chinese especially get the attention from linguists. Quite a few researchers made some authoritative studies on them. However, most of these studies investigate the origin, meaning and function of "-men" as a suffix based on Chinese culture. The research turns out a little narrow and not comprehensive. Therefore, this thesis mainly focuses on "-gate" words in English and is supplemented by "-men" words in Chinese. It makes a quantitative and qualitative data analysis of them from the perspective of cognitive linguistics, and intends to explore the internal mechanism and cognitive motivation of "-gate" words in English and "-men" words in Chinese.In English, gate as a suffix is not a coincidence. Its formation and development can be a product of cultural and social development. The author thinks gate itself is a polysemic word with several senses, which are related to one another and form a derivative system which contains cognitive mechanism. According to cognitive linguistics, polysemy is taken as a semantic network of several senses which are represented by one lexeme. The central sense and the fringe senses form sense chains through metaphor or metonymy. In this thesis the central sense of gate is the entrance or exit of architectures, but in "-gate" words it means some sensational news or scandals. The chaining process from its central sense to this fringe sense is a phenomenon of grammaticalization. "-gate" words in English and "-men" words in Chinese are words of a new kind, and their new meaning is relatively stable at present. However, it may change or get different understandings in different cognitive contexts.The reason why the new "-gate" words in English and "-men" words in Chinese enjoy high productivity has a lot to do with human’s psychology and social factors. Cognitive linguistics gives the view that language is the same as cognition, which is based on human’s experience in the objective world. When people use language to communicate with each other, their psychological states will influence the choice of words. They may have various psychological states as they create or use new words, however, these different psychologies will form a social mentality together. The thesis suggests that the increasing appearances and frequent application of "-gate" words in English and "-men" words in Chinese are caused by both human’s psychology and the society.What’s more, the thesis compares "-gate" words in English and "-men" words in Chinese, and finds there are similarities and differences on the levels of morphology, semantics, and pragmatics. These similarities and differences can help us understand and use similarities and differences more properly. In a word, the thesis gives a comprehensive and systematic analysis of "-gate" words in English and "-men" words in Chinese from the perspective of cognitive linguistics, and also makes a comparative study of the similarities and differences of "-gate" words in English and "-men" words in Chinese. It is a case study combining cognitive theories with the language facts. It is explanative, and also can be instructive for the understanding and application of "-gate" words in English and "-men" words in Chinese.

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CLC: > Language, writing > FOREIGN > English > Semantics,vocabulary,semantic
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