Chapter One Introduction
1.1Research Background
Both animals and human beings are evolutionary products of nature. In the longevolutionary process, the development and survival of human beings are closelyrelated to animals. Since animals occupy such an important place in the human society,the language, which reflects the human experience, covers the animal terms in detail.There are countless animal terms in the English language, which are frequently usedin daily life. For example, we use animal terms to represent human. Cat—the wickedwoman, fox—the cunning man; we also use animal terms to represent objects.Duck—the motorcycle that can be used both under water and on the land,butterfly—the bow tie that looks like a butterfly. Moreover, as nouns, the Englishanimal terms can turn into verbs in certain context. For example, The English animal terms precipitate and convey a great deal of culturalinformation and cultural connotations. Undergoing a process of continuous changeand development, the animal terms have enriched the expression of language largely.English animal terms, as an important component of language, have aroused muchattention from linguists abroad and at home. So far, the foreign researches mainlyfocus on the conception rank of animal terms, which based on the prototype categorytheory. While the domestic language scholars mainly focus on the comparison to thecultural connotation between English and Chinese animal terms. Such as “ContrastBetween English and Chinese Culturally-loaded Animal Words”, published by LiaoGuangrong (2000).
…………
1.2Research Questions
The author chooses 20 animal terms from the most common and the mostcharacteristic basic level English animal terms as the research object. They are dog,cat, chicken, duck, pig, sheep, cow, horse, bird, fish, lion, wolf, monkey, snake, rabbit,fox, elephant, tiger, worm, and butterfly. The theoretical framework of this study iscognitive linguistics, systemic functional linguistics, categorization andtranscategorization. Appling the methods of systematic observation with reference totext, introspection, and demonstration, the author puts the basic level English animalterms at the simple clause rank by means of the corpus to investigate thetranscategorization of these English animal terms. Other than just study the basic levelEnglish animal terms at the grammatical level, the author will also illustrate thecharacteristics in the semantic transference of the basic level English animal termsfrom the perspective of semantic transcategorization. And then, the author will discusswhich basic level English animal terms are easy to shift class and the reasons, and thedistribution of the verbalization of them in various types of English discourses. Theauthor attempts to answer the following three questions:
(1) What are the characters of the semantic transference of the basic levelEnglish animal terms?
(2) Which basic level English animal terms are easy to shift class? Why?
(3) What is the distribution of the verbalization of these basic level English animal terms in various types of English discourses?
…………
Chapter Two Literature Review
2.1 Related Research of Categorization and Transcategorization
Category and categorization are important concepts in modern cognitive science.The earliest research on category dates back to at least Aristotle’s work. Since then,most of the scholars accepted his view, and called it classical category theory.According to classical category theory, a specific entity either belongs to the categoryor not. Boundaries of categories are distinct and clear. If we want to know whether aspecific entity belongs to a category or not, we should check if the entity met thesufficient and necessary conditions of that category. Therefore, category membershold equal status within a specific category (Liu Zhengguang, 2006).Wittgenstein (1953) criticizes classical category theory in “PhilosophicalInvestigations” and puts forward the theory of family resemblance. He thinks thatcategory is neither discrete nor absolute. Categories are adjacent and the boundaries ofthem are fuzzy. The category members share family resemblance. But Givon (1986)held that the classical category theory is overcorrected because of the influence of thetheoretical background and the need of revising classical category theory. Both ofthem go to the extreme. Therefore, I paraphrase, classical category theory is toodemanding on the category members, while family resemblance theory prefers theopposite.
……………
2.2 Related Research of Verbalization of Nouns
Nouns and verbs are the most important parts in most languages. So the N-Vconversion has always been the focus of the research. In fact, English verbalization ofnouns has been existed since language has appeared. It is a very common linguisticphenomenon. It has its own linguistic theory basis and the characteristics of thepractical application. The verbalization of noun means that nouns can be used as verbsdirectly. In modern English, there are more and more nouns used as verbs. Suchphenomenon is very valuable to study. Reviewing the process of the study ofverbalization of nouns, we have found that the schools of structural linguistics,transformational generative linguistics, cognitive linguistics, and functional linguisticsall had made a description and explanation on this phenomenon in various degreeswith different theories. They have been making a great contribution to understandsuch a language phenomenon.
……………
Chapter Three Theoretical Framework.....14
3.1 Cognitive Semantics ......14
3.2 Systemic Functional Linguistics......15
3.3 Categorization and Transcategorization ......17
Chapter Four Analytical Procedure ....18
4.1 Methodology......18
4.2 Data Collection ........18
Chapter Five A Study of Transcategorization of the Basic........20
5.1 The Interpretation of the Basic Level English Animal Terms ...20
5.2 The Grammatical Transcategorization of the Basic LevelEnglish Animal Terms.......21
5.3 The Semantic Transcategorization of the Basic Level EnglishAnimal Terms........24
5.4 The Frequency Differences of Verbalization of Basic LevelEnglish.........31
5.5 The Distribution of the Verbalization of the Basic Level .....35
Chapter Five A Study of Transcategorization of the BasicLevel English Animal Terms
5.1 The Interpretation of the Basic Level English Animal Terms
Categorization is the most significant component of cognitive linguistic research.The major theory is prototype category theory which is based on the perspective ofcognition, including prototype category theory and basic-level category theory (LiangLi, 2006). Prototype category means that in a particular category, it may always haveone or several very typical member which can be regarded as the representative of thecategory. Generally speaking, prototype category is “horizontal” and the typicalmember represents the other members of the same category. Contrary to prototypecategory, basic level category is “vertical”. The category system is a pyramid-shapedhierarchy. The category level that “at the peak” is highly generalized and relativelyabstract. While the other category levels get more and more specific from the topdown. While among all these category levels, there is a middle level that occupies avery salient position in our mind. At this level, people can observe and recognizethings directly and easily. For examples, the most important thing in our conceptualsystem is neither “animals” nor “poodle”, which respectively belong to the highercategory level and the lower category level, but “dog” that belongs to the middle level.
……………
Conclusion
The author chooses 20 animal terms from the most common and the mostcharacteristic basic level English animal terms as the research object. They are dog,cat, chicken, duck, pig, sheep, cow, horse, bird, fish, lion, wolf, monkey, snake, rabbit,fox, elephant, tiger, worm, and butterfly. The theoretical framework of this study iscognitive linguistics, systemic functional linguistics, categorization andtranscategorization. Appling the method of systematic observation with reference totext, introspection and demonstration, the author puts the basic level English animalterms at the simple clause rank by means of the corpus to investigate thetranscategorization of these English animal terms.First of all, the author gives a definition to basic level English animal terms andan explanation of the choice of the 20 basic level animal terms according to thebasic-level category theory. And then, the author analyses the 20 basic level Englishanimal terms from the perspective of grammatical transcategorization and semantictranscategorization respectively.
……………
Reference (omitted)