A Cognitive Mechanism Analysis On Verbal Nominalization In Modern Chinese Language

Nouns and verbs are considered to be two universal grammaticalcategories, and they are opposed to each other in distribution. When alinguistic unit normally used as a noun occurs in the position of a verb, orvice versa, its lexical class changes. This is what is known as conversionin morphology. In previous studies of conversion between nouns andverbs in modern Chinese, linguists have made their observations fromperspectives of various research paradigms. Naturally, this has led tonumerous views and disputes. Whatever paradigm one is working within,one’s description and explanation of this phenomenon must conform tothe reality of language.Nominalization refers to the conceptualization of action and property.They are often derived from other classes，most commonly from verbsand secondarily from adjectives. The former is called verbalnominalization and the latter is called adjectival nominalization. Mostprevious studies of nominalization in Chinese constrained by objectivistsemantics have ignored the role of general cognitive abilities in shapinglinguistic structure and meaning. And the few studies of mechanisms ofconversion have not offered a comprehensive description and explanationwithin a coherent framework. For Chinese grammarians, verbal nominalization is a heated topic.The discussion has never been cancelled since 1950s. But ambiguity stillexists in this field. This paper offers a very preliminary discussion on themechanism of verbal nominalization in modern Chinese language fromthe perspective of cognitive grammar.The thesis consists of six parts. The first one is a brief introductionof the paper. Chapter One is literature review on the research of verbalnominalization at home and abroad. Different linguistic schools deal withnominalizations from different perspectives and make their contributionsto the studies of nominalizations or have their limitations. And cognitivegrammar is more profound than other linguistic schools in studying thisphenomenon. Hence the definitions of verbs, nouns and nominalizationsare proposed from the perspective of cognitive grammar.Chapter Two deals with typical verbal nominalization constructionin Chinese: reference-point structure and“N de V”structure. The mostinfluential factor of these structures is the conceptual autonomy of theverb. The higher degree of conceptual autonomy the verb gets the greateracceptability the construction has. Even the verbs share the sameconceptual autonomy; the access to the construction may vary because ofthe entrenchment of its nominalization.Chapter Three is focusing on conceptual reification. It works oncomponent states of a process that operates on the conceptual level. Processes on the various levels of conceptual organization, from bareform of verbs, verb phrases to finite clauses, can all be reified as a thing.Conceptual reification is a basic mechanism for verbal nominalization.Chapter Four is about cognitive metonymy. And various semanticroles exhibit considerable difference in frequency of conversion andacceptability of metonymy. In cognitive grammar, verbal nominalizationis the consequence of conceptual metonymy. A noun profiles a thing anda verb profiles relation of a process. Verbal nominalization is thetransferring designation of relation to thing. The nature of verbalnominalization is cognitive metonymy.The last part is the conclusion: a noun designates a thing or profilesa region in a cognitive domain and a verb designates the interrelationshipor profiles a process. Verbs are conceptually dependent while nouns areconceptually autonomous. Cognitive grammar claims that verbalnominalization is the shift of the semantic profiles of a verb. The basicmechanism for Chinese verbal nominalization is conceptual reification.Cognitive metonymy is the fundamental mechanism of verbalnominalization.