A Cognitive Study Of Modern Chinese Abbreviations

The Least Effort Principle, also called Economy Principle, is one of the fundamental laws in impelling and guiding human language behavior. One of the major reflections of Economy Principle in language is the abundant use of abbreviations.Previous studies of Modern Chinese Abbreviations (henceforth MCA) underwent the transformation from rhetoric to lexicology. Even in the field of lexicology, scholars fluctuated on the definition and classification of MCA for quite a long time. Some scholars conducted useful explorations of the foramtional motivation of MCA from the aspects of Economy Principle, but they just took a one-sided view in exploring economy from the speaker’s perspective only. Moreover, they totally ignored the fact that economy would definitely cause the erosion of motivation. Some scholars did certain useful explorations of the formational motivation and put forward some reasonable constructional principles, but the most important and common one,"Keeping Initial Character Principle" was neglected. To make matters worse, scholars usually took a descriptive approach instead of an explanatory one. Some scholars carried out valuable studies of the grammatical functions of MCA, but they only focused on the change of parts of speech of MCA and totally neglected their meaning change. Even worse, no scholars have studied the meaning extensions of MCA after their coinage. In addition, though scholars reached a consensus that meanings of MCA were not the sum of their components’meanings, no scholars have studied the meaning construction of MCA. As to the cognitive study of MCA, only few scholars sporadically explored MCA from a cognitive angle. Language is not self-sufficient, but is an important part of human cognition. Therefore, Language study cannot be separated from its determinant factor of human cognition. Any study of MCA in isolation from cognition was doomed to be superficial and unsystematic. In view of the drawbacks of previous studies, we think it necessary to make a comparatively intensive study of the foramtional motivation, meaning construction and meaning extension of MCA after their coinage from a cognitive perspective.Based on conceptual metonymy theory, conceptual integration theory and conceptual metaphor theory, taking a qualitative analysis approach supported by data analysis, we have done an in-depth study of MCA. The data used in the present study were collected from A Practical Chinese Abbreviations Dictionary, Modern Chinese Abbreviations Dictionary and mainstream newspapers like People’s Daily and Guangming Daily. On the basis of observation, statistics and analysis of MCA data, we have established the constructional principles of MCA and probed into the cognitive motivation behind those principles. At the same time, we have analyzed the meaning construction processes of different kinds of MCA and verified them with conceptual integration theory and the reference-point patter under the framework of conceptual metonymy theory. Furthermore, we have explored the patterns of meaning extensions of MCA after their coinage and the cognitive mechanisms behind these processes.Major research questions in the dissertation include the exploration of the foramtional motivation, meaning construction as well as meaning extensions of MCA after their coinage.As far as foramtional motivation is concerned, we have mainly dealt with the macro-level economy motivation and cognitive metonymical motivation from pragmatic and cognitive aspects respectively. As for economy motivation, we have probed into the "Law of Abbreviation" behind the creation of MCA, the economy motivation of homographic MCA, as well as the competition between economy and motivation of MCA. In addition, we have discussed the cognitive mechanism which guarantees the realization of economy of MCA. Still, we have gone a step further to explore the micro-level consturctional principles of MCA and their cognitive motivation.In the meaning construction part, we looked into the different meaning construction patterns of various kinds MCA. On top of that, we also probed into the meaning construction of metonymical meaning and metaphorical meaning of MCA and revealed the cognitive mechanisms involved in those processes.In the meaning extension part, we studied the patterns of the meaning extension of MCA after their coinage in detail by the analysis of MCA data and revealed the cognitive mechanisms behind those processes. Besides, we have also explored the complex meaning extensions of MCA under the interaction between conceptual metonymy and conceptual metaphor.The major findings in the present study are as follows.First, the formation of MCA is metonymy-based, motivated behavior.From a pragmatic perspective, the foramtional motivation of MCA is economy. However, economy should not be considered only from the speaker’s aspect, and the listener’s economy should also be taken into consideration. In other words, we should try to seek equilibrium between speakers and listeners, and the true economy is the consideration of economy from both sides. Undeniably, economy will cause the erosion of motivation. Consequently, under the premise of economy, we should coin MCA with semantic transparency and good motivation.From a macro-level cognitive perspective, the foramtional motivation of MCA is FORMA-CONCEPTA FOR FORMB-CONCEPTA· To be more specific, the conceptual metonymy mechanism of PART OF A FORM FOR THE WHOLE FORMis the foramtional motivation for MCA. It is precisely because of the metonymical cognition of PART FOR WHOLE that we can use abbreviations to stand for their original form for the purpose of realizing economy in communication.From a micro-level cognitive perspective, the formational motivation of MCA is also conceptual metonymy. The "Keeping Initial Character Principle" in forming MCA is actually a positional prominence. Cognitively, the initial position is always the most important, which is easy to be noticed and memorized. Furthermore, generally speaking, the initial position has better priming effect and is also easy for us to conduct associative memory, spreading activation."Semantic Transparent Principle" can be seen as a semantic prominence. Keeping the prominent meaning parts in MCA can enhance their semantic transparency and thus it is easy for them to be understood."Avoiding Ambiguity Principle" can be seen as one kind of word form prominence. MCA formed under the "Avoiding Ambiguity Principle" are easy to be activated and understood. In essence,"Keeping Initial Character Principle","Semantic Transparent Principle" and "Avoiding Ambiguity Principle" can all be seen as seeking prominence for the ultimate goal of keeping the most prominent parts to stand for the whole.Second, mechanisms behind the meaning construction of MCA are conceptual blending and conceptual metonymy.At their birth, reductions and blends were totally new to people, so their meaning constructions are a process of conceptual blending based on the lexical concepts triggered by the decomposed morphemes of MCA. The results of conceptual blending may become inputs for further integrations for the construction of extensional metaphorical meanings, or may act as cognitive reference points for the construction of extensional metonymical meanings. Because clippings are either complete meaning units or monosyllabic morphemes, which cannot be used to conduct conceptual integration, their meaning constructions are MCA serving as cognitive reference points providing mental access to their targets. Admittedly, context plays a vital role in cuing and constraining the meaning constructions of MCA.Third, after their coinage, MCA will extend their meanings on the basis of conceptual metonymy and conceptual metaphor.The intuition of pursuing economy will prompt people to extend the meaning of MCA, and we find that conceptual metonymy and conceptual metaphor are the two cognitive mechanisms behind the meaning extensions of MCA after their coinage. Besides, meaning extensions based on conceptual metonymy are a lot more than those on conceptual metaphor, which is in accordance with the view of cognitive linguistics that conceptual metonymy is the fundamental way of meaning extension. Moreover, in the meaning extension process of MCA, sometimes conceptual metonymy intertwines with conceptual metaphor. Thus there are metaphorical meanings based on metonymy as well as metonymical meanings based on metaphor, which is the true reflection of the continuum relationship between conceptual metonymy and conceptual metaphor.Taking a cognitive approach to the study of MCA has helped us to find the cognitive regulations behind the foramtional motivation, meaning extension and meaning construction of MCA, and has expanded the scope of the study of MCA. Besides, our study has also enriched the theoretical connotation of cognitive linguistics. Hopefully, the present study can offer a new perspective for the study of modern Chinese lexicology, and can offer reference for the translation of MCA, MCA dictionary compiling and teaching of Chinese as a foreign language.Modern Chinese Abbreviation is a very complex language phenomenon. Though we hoped in the first place to study MCA systematically, yet our study is far from perfect. Besides, under the guidance of cognitive theories, we have taken a qualitative analysis in the present study, and subjectivity may be heavy. Therefore, there is need for improvement and further verification in our conclusions.