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A Study of Chinese EFL Learners’ Acquisiton of the Semantics of on, Over and above on the Basis of Prototype Theory

Author: ZhangZuo
Tutor: QuWenZuo
School: Xi'an International Studies University
Course: Foreign Linguistics and Applied Linguistics
Keywords: spatial prepositions Prototype Theory on over above
CLC: Ｈ３１９
Type: Master's thesis
Year: 2011
Downloads: 86
Quote: 0
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Abstract


English prepositions are limited in number and simple in form, but present as one of the hardest problems for EFL learners. Even the advanced learners cannot command these small words like native speakers. Prepositions have been explored by different linguistic schools. Most traditional grammarians are attracted by the positions and functions of these prepositions in sentences. Rules are made to determine the usage of the prepositions for the learners to follow. Structuralism treats prepositions as meaningless structural signal to indicate the type of the sentences. Cognitive linguistics provides another perspective to investigate prepositions. An important theory in cognitive linguistics to analyze the semantics of prepositions is Prototype Theory, which holds that a prototype is a typical instance of a category and other members are assimilated to the category on the basis of their perceived resemblance to the prototype. Based on this theory, the present study makes a semantic analysis of on, over and above to untangle the semantic relationship between them. In order to explore whether and how prototypicality of the three prepositions affects the Chinese learners’acquisition, two experiments are introduced in this study. One is semantic ranking, which is designed to examine whether there exists prototypicality of on, over and above in Chinese learners’conceptualization. The other is semantic choosing, which aims to testify how prototypicality exerts influence on the Chinese EFL learns’acquisition of English prepositions. The results indicate that the prototypical members of on, over and above occupy the same status in both native speakers and the Chinese learners’conceptualization. The prototypical members are salient and easy to capture. As a consequence, the acquisition of the prototype members of the three words is of much ease. As far as the issue of the non-prototypical members is concerned, the understanding of the non-prototypical members by the Chinese learners is different from that of the native speakers. In addition, the most puzzling member of a preposition to be acquired is the one whose non-prototypical feature is the prototypical feature of another member. According to the investigations in this study, there are two reasons that can be accounted for the difficulty of the Chinese learner’s unexpected mastery of on, over and above. One is the complexity of the semantic net formed by the three words. The other is the influence of native language on the acquisition of the three prepositions.The present study provides a detailed semantic analysis of on, over and above on the basis of Prototype Theory to untangle the semantic relationship of the three prepositions and adds new evidence to the semantic analysis of English prepositions. In addition, it proposes some suggestions for the teaching of English spatial prepositions.

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