On The Research Of Conceptual Field Lexical System And Its Evolvement

The paper develops from the research of conceptual field lexicalsystem and its evolvement in Zhuzi Yulei,aiming at discussing therelationship between conceptual expression and lexical system. Therelationship of the two can be expressed in the following two aspects:1.The same word can express different concepts,which is called"polysemy" in linguistics,concerning the relationship between relevantconcepts and the meaning system of the same word.2.Different words express the same concept, which is called"synonymy",concerning the relationship between the same conceptand the vocabulary system composed of different words.Within the framework of research on the history of Chinesevocabulary, the research on the evolvement of Chinese wordsmeaning and lexical system has employed different researchapproaches,namely the "Point"research approach centered on thesingle word, and the "Line"approach centered on the diachronicresearch. Based on the previous researches,we explored an innovativeresearch approach——"Area" approach,which takes conceptual fieldas structural framework, combining synchronic description withdiachronic evlovement, integrating the researches on languageontology and cognitive theories.Through the analysis and research onthe19conceptual field lexical systems taken from Zhuzi Yuleiconcerning "movement,state and evalution" and their evolvement,theconclusion we made mainly contains the following two aspects:(1)As far as "polysemy"(the meaning system of a single word) isconcerned,on the one hand,in the meaning system,the expansionand evolvement of entries are closely related to the fundamentalmeaning of other words in the conceptual field lexical system. Theentries have meaning relevance based on the same concept they express, which is the result of internal development adjustment inlanguage. On the other hand,the entries developed in the meaningsystem of one word have no direct relevance with other entries. A wordwith similar pronunciation is chosen to record another word in language.The real meaning of the chosen word is connected to the word itrecords on the basis of objective existence or subject speculation bypeople. The existence of the entry belongs to the meaning evolvementmode resulted from multi-layered factors,namely similar or identicalpronunciation,relevant meaning and concept integration,includingthe disturbance from outside influences(2)As to "synonymy", the lexical system expressing the sameconcept,any member that has appeared in certain diachronic periodof conceptual field lexical system interprets the meaning of thisconcept from some particular dimension. On the one hand, thedimension of lexical concept expression is the basic parameter ofjudging and evaluating an all-round, multi-dimensional andmulti-layered concepts expressed by certain vocabulary system. Aslong as certain concept exists,the infinitely possible cognitive dimensionof human beings can lead to the infinite possibility of lexical expressingconcept in language. However,any lexical system in a language canonly be infinitely close to the concept it intends to express,it can neverinterpret a concept accurately and completely,just like human beingscan only be infinitely close to truth,but they can never reach truth. Onthe other hand,in the cognitive process,human beings can not avoidthe coexistence of objectivity and subjectivity,and the parallelism ofthoughts and cultures. in language,the way that the vocabularyinterprets concepts is just like Mount Lu with different features describedby Su Dongpo,I get a range out of you crosswise but a summit,sidewise;Different visages,from near or far,from low or high."This decides that language research, including research on vocabulary system andmeaning system,must be combined with cognitive rules of humanbeings.