A Cognitive Study On Formal Representations Of FUTURE In English

FUTURE is a universally embodied-cognitive object in human daily life.Due to different experiences and different ways of cognition,it not only has different formal representations in different languages,but also has different formal representations in the same language.The diversity,complexity,and systematicity of the formal representations of FUTURE in English often make students and teachers hard to understand it,which poses great challenges to English education,that is,both the learning of students and the teaching of teachers.Leech(2013: VIII)once stated that tense and aspect is a problem for English learners.To this end,we must meet challenges,turn challenges into opportunities,improve the effectiveness of English education,enhance the efficiency of English education,and let teachers and students realize the diversity and embodied-cognition of languages.Through reviewing and sorting out the existing studies on FUTURE and its formal representations,we found that previous studies mainly focus on five aspects: FUTURE,the classification of the formal representations of FUTURE in English,the generation of the formal representations of FUTURE in English,the usage of the commonly used future expressions in English,and the identification of the grammatical category of formal representations of FUTURE in English and its reasons.However,there is no connotations or features of FUTURE based on linguistic facts in existing studies,and the prior researches on the generation of FUTURE can only explain the generation of some future concepts.It has not classified the formal representations of FUTURE in English according to the Event Concept Frame,nor has it based on meaning constructed its continuum.The exploration of the generation and motivation of the commonly used future expressions in English is relatively scattered,lacking a holistic explanation under the same theoretical framework.The semantic and pragmatic contrast study of the commonly used future expressions in English also need to be complemented.As to whether there is a future tense in English,few studies have systematically answered and explained it from a cognitive perspective.In view of this,the study focuses on the generation of concepts and formal representations.Under the guidance of the theoretical framework of cognitive linguistics,from philosophy to linguistics,the study explores FUTURE and its formal representations.And the study raised and answered the following five research questions:1.How do we explain TIME and FUTURE? What are the features of FUTURE? How do TIME and FUTURE come about?2.How do we classify the formal representations of FUTURE in English?3.How are TIME and FUTURE formally represented in English?4.What are the semantic and pragmatic differences between the commonly used formal representations of FUTURE in English?5.How do we identify the grammatical category of the formal representations of FUTURE in English? What are the cognitive reasons?Guided by prototype category theory,conceptualization,event concept frame and grammaticalization theory,based on qualitative analysis,description and interpretation,the study starts from the formal representations of FUTURE in English.Firstly,it discusses the connotation and essential characteristics of FUTURE,and applies prototype category,conceptualization,event concept frame theory to illustrate the generation of FUTURE as the subcategory of TIME and its subcategories.Next,it classifies formal representations of FUTURE in English according to event concept frame theory and prototype theory.Then,it uses conceptualization,event concept frame,and grammaticalization theory to explain the generation of the commonly used formal representations of FUTURE in English.Next,on the basis of semantic contrast,a pragmatic contrastive study of the commonly used formal representations of FUTURE in English is conducted.Finally,from the perspective of cognitive linguistics,this dissertation identifies the grammatical category of the formal representations of FUTURE in English,and gives its cognitive reasons.From reality to cognition,and to language,the exploration of the process is the innovation.Our five findings are as follows:First,TIME is the parameter used by the cognitive subject to mark the process of the world's existence,FUTURE is the assumption of the cognitive subject in terms of events after the reference point.Conceived time is the process of the world's existence,and TIME is the mental representation of the conceived time in humans' brain,and it's the concept of “process of the world's existence”.Conceived future is the process of the world's existence after the reference point,and FUTURE is the assumption of the speaker or related external authority at the reference point in terms of events after the reference point(The subcategories are: VOLITION,PLAN or ARRANGEMENT,OBLIGATION,IMPERATIVE,SUPPOSITION,PREDICTION,NECESSITY).FUTURE has three cognitive features.According to the relatedness between FUTURE and its reference time,FUTURE has the cognitive features of “relatively non-embodiment”,“subjectivity” and “duality”.The generation of TIME is the cognitive subject's categorization and conceptualization of the different aspects of the process of world's existence.The generation of FUTURE can be divided into the generation of FUTURE as a subcategory of TIME and the generation of the subcategories of FUTURE.The generation of FUTURE as a subcategory of time is the categorization and conceptualization of the process of world's existence.And the generation of the subcategories of FUTURE is the categorization and conceptualization of the subjectivity of the cognitive subject.Second,according to Event Concept Frame,the formal representations of FUTURE in English can be divided into 5 categories and 16 subcategories.The 5 categories are action event,appearance event,possession event,existence event and state event.Based on the connotation of FUTURE,we constructed the continuum of the commonly used formal representations of FUTURE in English according to the prototype theory.The typical member is “modal verb +main verb”,the less typical member is “semi-modal verb + main verb”,and the peripheral member is the aspect of the main verb.This continuum can be presented as follows: modal verbs(will > shall)> semi-modal verbs(be going to>be about to>be to)> aspect of the main verb(progressive aspect of the terminative verb referring to physical displacement> progressive aspect of the terminative verb not referring to physical displacement >progressive aspect of the durative verb > simple aspect of the durative verb > simple aspect of the terminative verb).Third,the generation of the formal representations of TIME is a process of metaphorical or metonymic mappings from the objective world to the conceptual world,and from the conceptual world to the linguistic world.The generation of the formal representations of FUTURE in English is a grammaticalization process from the concrete to the less concrete,and its mechanism is the conceptual metaphor or conceptual metaphor and metonymy occurring in the action event concept frame.Its motivation splits into internal motivations and external motivations,including semantic relevance,decategorization of the compositional components of typical constructions,economic principles and effort-saving principles of pragmatics,and the general rules of humans' cognition.Fourth,due to the retention of the original meaning of the verbs,six kinds of future expressions commonly used in English differ in the nature of FUTURE,distance of FUTURE and source of FUTURE.According to the nature of FUTURE,there are internal future expressions and external future expressions;According to the distance of FUTURE,there are different distances of FUTURE;According to the source of FUTURE,there are internal-sourced future expressions and external-sourced future expressions.The pragmatic contrastive study of will,be going to,be to,and the simple and progressive aspect of the main verb should be conducted according to their semantic differences of the nature,distance and source of FUTURE,to help choose an appropriate future expression.Fifth,from a cognitive perspective,formal representations of FUTURE in English should not be identified as future tense.On the one hand,the present and past tense of modal verbs,semi-modal verbs and the aspect of verbs can be used to represent FUTURE.On the other hand,future tense is not used in English to represent FUTURE,instead the past tense is used to represent FUTURE IN PAST,and the present tense is used to represent FUTURE IN PRESENT and FUTURE IN FUTURE.The cognitive motivation is that,on the one hand,FUTURE is essentially the assumption in the past or at the present(time reference point),and it conforms to the effort-saving principle and economic principle of the generation of language when using the present and past tense of modal verbs,semi-modal verbs and the aspect of verbs to represent FUTURE.On the other hand,tense is the grammaticalized encoding of temporal expressions;There is no certain form corresponding to FUTURE;And will is not a tense marker.Therefore,there is no future tense in English,and the present tense and past tense are used to represent FUTURE.Through the answers to the five questions,we have a better understanding of the essence of the formal representations of FUTURE in English.FUTURE is universal,so the answers to a series of questions related to FUTURE and its formal representations is of universal significance,and has certain referential value for time-related researches.At the same time,it helps to improve the teaching effect and efficiency of the formal representations of FUTURE in English,solves the difficulties of students' learning and teachers' teaching,and enriches the knowledge of English of second language learners'.The grasp of such expressions is very important for improving students' reading comprehension,writing and translation skills,English ability,and cross-cultural ability,and it helps to develop students' English ability in an all-round way.