Exploration On The Markedness Of Gradable Adjectival Antonymy In English: A Prototype-model Perspective

Academic interest in antonymy, especially that of gradable adjectives, has been long in not only linguistic field but also the circle of many other social and human studies. A great number of scholars have investigated this from various angles within different theoretical frameworks.The research in this paper adopts a new theoretical perspective: prototype-model theory introduced by Pro. Zhang Jin in a series of his works. In comparison with other research methods, prototype-model theory holds a thought-to-language investigating procedure. As a matter of fact prototype-model theory is an intermediate theory between oriental dialectics and the numerous and complicated language phenomena. According to this theory, all entities are characterized ontologically by mould or pattern and different things are produced either because the same model patterns on different prototypes or different models pattern on the same prototype. The basic principle of the theory is that models pattern on prototypes on the basis of resemblance. Language is patterned on reality by human beings on purpose so as to know the world, to change the world and to preserve humans themselves. (张今,2002:549;姜玲,2003) In line with this the world is not a loosely related mixture but systematically organized by categories. Category is the abstracted attribute or attributes shared by some entities. When a set of entities are related to each other in terms of one common attribute and this attribute is gradable, this suggests the representation of a scale. In another way the scale patterns on their interrelations by way of extending bidirectionally in one dimension and thus is the model. Within the scale the two opposite directions constitute a major contradiction that determines the scale. At the level of language it is antonymy that patterns on this pair of contradiction correspondingly and therefore is the model of the contradiction. It should be noted that our research only focuses on the very few examples of generally accepted good antonyms.As for the scale when a relative balance cannot be achieved in the contradiction, one takes the upper hand over the other. This will be reflected in language, especially in their distribution. The imbalance in distribution is defined by Lyons (1977) as the main manifestation of markedness in a narrow sense. This markedness results from the disproportion of the opposites constituting the major contradiction of the scale.Antonymy is grouped into three kinds: polar antonymy, equipollent antonymy and overlapping antonymy. (Cruse,1986)This classification is followed in this thesis. Polar antonymy, including tall-short, fast-slow and deep-shallow, is studied first for its highest degree of objectivity. This kind of antonymy is characterized by the special form its scale takes because the scale presupposes a never-attainable zero-point. It is in relation to this fictitious zero-point that all the other points achieve their respective values. In this sense one direction takes the overwhelming advantage, covering the entire scale except for the zero-point and this renders markedness. Nonetheless when the reference point is non-zero, a pseudo-comparative is involved and the contradiction is relatively balanced, rendering the markedness little based.The second type, equipollent antonymy, is more subjective and connects the material world and human directly. It is further divided into the objectivity-based and the more subjective subtypes. They both indicate separate parts on the scale and perform the function that the other partner cannot perform. So logically they seem symmetric, yet according to the data the markedness is still obvious, especially in the more subjective subtype. A psychological concept of Pollyanna Hypothesis is resorted to account for it. Subjectivity involves evaluation, either complimentary or derogatory. And Pollyanna Hypothesis assumes it is an inherent tendency for people to employ positive terms instead of negative ones. So the evaluatively positive members are favored and thus frequently used as the unmarked word and the negative ones are recognized as marked and unwanted. Please note that the degree of markedness is less prominent in that a part of objectivity is the essential part of the sense.The third type of overlapping antonymy is of the highest degree of subjectivity. Therefore under the influence of Pollyanna Hypothesis the contradiction of the opposites is similarly imbalanced, causing the distributional disproportion.Though the three types of antonymy are grouped under the common name of antonymy, they convey different gradable attributes and interrelations among various cases of them. In a word, differences in the prototypes cause differences in the form of their models.This thesis falls into five chapters.Chapter one draws an outline of the task we are going to undertake and gives the motivation for doing this study. The data resources are informed here as well. Additionally it is obliging for us to explicate the necessity in doing so.Chapter two, the part of literature review, displays a chronological list of the previous studies and researches related to our topic. Nevertheless all these materials are at the same time grouped into several parts with regards to their theoretical schools. It functions as the background from which the coming analysis stems.On the ground of literature review we put forward our mode in chapter three. This analyzing framework is prototype-model theory proposed by Zhang Jin (张今,1997). This theory originates from the modern version of oriental dialectics, which draws the extract of The Book of Changes and discards what is non-scientific. It has at the same time absorbed the scientific achievements of the western theories.In chapter four, bearing the prototype-model theory in mind, we endeavour to find a way to resolve the research questions raised in the opening chapter. Some room will be allocated to each kind of antonymy classified at the beginning. Chaper five reaches the conclusion and points out the limitations still existing within, which in turn gives us a clue to what we will proceed in the direction in the future.