Dissertation > Excellent graduate degree dissertation topics show

Studies on the Form and Meaning Construction of Chinese Characters from Cognitive Perspectives

Author: LiuJing
Tutor: WangZhengYuan
School: Yanshan University
Course: English Language and Literature
Keywords: meaning construction Chinese characters image schema embodiment
CLC: H12
Type: Master's thesis
Year: 2010
Downloads: 173
Quote: 0
Read: Download Dissertation

Abstract


The study of meaning attracts more attention from linguistic scholars. For centuries, people have investigated the concept of meaning from either philosophical or formal perspective. As to the Chinese, one of the oldest languages in the world, because of its unique history and course of progress, it grew the feature of compressing complicated meaning into seemingly simple forms, especially for the Chinese characters. Therefore, research of Chinese writing system means a lot to the linguistic study.Many researchers have found its linguistic value---a semantic one or a grammatical one, etc. With the development of cognitive semantics, this dissertation endeavors to solve the following research problems:1 The system of Chinese characters is complicated, including form, sound and meaning which work together to build a complete language symbol. How do its components influence each other and in which way, they combine with each other?2 What is the mechanism working underneath the Chinese characters on the problem of its meaning production?3 What is the basis for the meaning construction of Chinese characters?4 What is relationship between people’s experience and the Chinese characters construction?According to the features of Chinese characters, this study classified the data collected into three groups in order to facilitate the analysis consistent with objectives of the study. Through analysis, it is found that there are at least three kinds of relations between form and meaning in Chinese writing systems: the spatial-temporal perspective, the blending perspective and experiential perspective. It finds that experientialism provides the philosophical basis for meaning construction of Chinese characters; meaning is concept; concept is the product of human cognition. Meaning can be achieved through embodiment and imagination. The process for forming meaning is also the process of conceptualization. Conceptualization is grounded in our bodily experience, the external world, and our relation to the world, hence the dynamic activity of embodied minds interacting with their environment. Besides, the spatial-temporal meaning of Chinese character can be explained by the image schematic structure. The idea of image schemas is useful developing their accounts of how abstract concepts relating to the space or time in Chinese are structured in our mind, and of the relationship between bodily experience and thought. Meanwhile, the dissertation points out that the iconicity and metaphor play an import role in meaning construction of Chinese characters based on the blending theory.A complete theory of meaning construction must explore the interplay of factors including the application and integration of utterance meaning, background knowledge, contextual information and individual difference. Although it has done some research on meaning interpretation from three cognitive perspectives as the inner mechanism with philosophical and semantic basis, it is not perfect. Therefore it is worth further exploring the meaning mechanism of the complicated Chinese writing system with more knowledge.

Related Dissertations

  1. Emily Dickinson's poetry Cognitive Metaphor,I712.072
  2. A Research on the Polyphones in Shuowenjiezizhu,H161
  3. Analysis of non- Chinese cultural circle of Chinese character Acquisition Problems and teaching methods,H195
  4. A Contrastive Study on Metaphorical Extensions of Spatial Locality Words in English and Chinese,H15
  5. Foreign Language Teaching in Teaching Chinese as a Foreign sequential design,H195
  6. The Analysis of Foreign Students’ Chinese Characters Acquisition Error and Teaching,H195
  7. Re-considering and Teaching of "Lian(连)"-Sentence,H195
  8. International Road Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Techniques of Transport Management,U491
  9. An Application Study on Language of Oil Paintings of Embodiment in Ethnic Minorities’ Featured Works in Xinjiang,J213
  10. Image Schema in the Process of Meaning Construction,H030
  11. Heterogeneous wireless network integration technology in Kaifeng China Unicom network Applied Research,TN929.5
  12. The Carefree of Online Games and the Embodiment of Vital Imagines,F49
  13. A Comparative Study of the Korean and Chinese characters sound,H55
  14. Lexcial Competence, Polysemy Instruction and Idiom Acquisition,H319
  15. The Interpretation of Euphemisms from the Perspective of Conceptual Integration Theory,H030
  16. The Strategy of Homophones Definition about the Chinese Teaching for Foreigners,H195
  17. Lingnan traditional arts and crafts Chaozhou woodcarving art teaching in colleges and universities use and implementation,J314.2-4
  18. A Cogntive Approach to Polysemous English Spatial Prepositions and Its Pedagogic Implications,H319
  19. Foreign Language Teaching Materials Design of the characters,H195
  20. The Cognitive Mechanisms of Polysemy,H032
  21. Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Information Technology Risk Management System Construction,F832.2

CLC: > Language, writing > Chinese > Philology
© 2012 www.DissertationTopic.Net  Mobile