Noun To Verb Shift In Contemporary English: From The Perspectives Of Systemic Functional Grammar And Cognitive Linguistics

This dissertation, from the perspective of systemic functional grammar and cognitive linguistics, targets denominalization or the categorical shift from noun to verb in contemporary English. There are 5 chapters, including the theoretical frameworks, the 3 chapters of the analysis and the conclusion.Chapter 1 introduces the phenomenon of noun to verb shift, discusses the theoretical frameworks on which this study is based, pointing out the contradictions and deficiency of the preceding studies on the N-V shift issue, analyzing critically the theoretical basis of the traditional sturcturalism, and elucidating the fundamental concepts and viewpoints of the adopted theories of systemic functional grammar and cognitive linguistics.Chapter 2 discusses in detail the semantic motivation of N-V shift, with specific theoretical model applied to the description and interpretation of N to V shift which is labeled "grammatical metaphor", comprising the constituents of such concepts as transitivity system, stratum and realization.Chapter 3 talks about the cognitive motivation of N to V shift based on prototype category theory, and defines the categories of noun and verb from the standpoint of cognitive grammar, pointing out that the categorical shift between verb and noun is essentially a conceptual metonymy. This chapter also offers a comprehensive summary and an explanation of denominalization using the metonymy model.Chapter 4 discusses in detail the specific theoretical model applied to the description and explanation of the N to V shift which is labeled as the cognitive modelof "conceptual metonymy" and "conceptual metaphor"Chapter 5 is a comparison between systemic functional grammar and cognitive linguistics concerning N-V shift and the conclusion.