An ICM Approach To The Generation Mechanism Of Pragmatic Presupposition In Public Service Announcements

As a ubiquitous but fairly important language phenomenon, pragmatic presupposition(abbreviated as PP) has a great influence on people’s understanding of the deeper meaning hidden in the utterance. Previous studies on PP generally concern with PP itself, including its properties, its functions, and its selection strategies etc, and the study objects of PP are often materials about commercial advertisements. By employing the method of case study, the thesis has made a cognitive study of the generation mechanism of PP from the perspective of idealized cognitive models(abbreviated as ICMs), and taken the Chinese public service announcements(abbreviated as PSAs) as its study objects.The thesis has first made a discussion of the relationship between ICM and PP in PSAs. The close relationship existing between ICM and PP in PSAs can be expressed from two aspects. One aspect is that both ICM and PP in PSAs are related to cognitive context, which can link ICM, PP, and PSAs. The other aspect is that image-schematic models can be employed as the foundations of PSAs and the other three models in ICM, which are involved in the formation process of the other three models in ICM. Therefore, image schemas can be the shared foundations of both ICM and PP in PSAs.According to the close relationship between ICM and PP in PSAs, the thesis has classified PP into three types: propositional PP, metaphoric PP and metonymic PP. Each type of PP can be further divided: propositional PP into propositional PP with or without the application of imaginative devices, metaphoric PP into metaphoric PP with or without LIKE, metonymic PP into part-whole or part-part metonymic PP. Propositional PP is PP that applies the device of proposition to explicate the relationship between two concepts in PP or between PP and the cognitive context in PSAs. Metaphoric PP is a type of PP that is achieved by metaphoric mapping in PP itself or between PP and the cognitive context in PSAs, through which the target domain is conceptualized by the source domain. Metonymic PP realizes by metonymic mapping in the same domain, in which the vehicle provides mental access to the target domain.Based on the investigation above, the thesis has provided a relatively systematic cognitive account of the generation mechanism of the three types of PP in Chinese PSAs. In fact, each type of PP in Chinese PSAs has a close relationship with its corresponding models in ICM. In regard to the generation mechanism of propositional PP, the thesis holds that the corresponding image schemas or cognitive models(abbreviated as CMs) will be activated by such devices as propositional triggers, metaphor and metonymy when people see a certain Chinese PSAs, and then one of the CMs will be highlighted by these devices in the ICM, thus generating the propositional PP which states the relationship between two concepts in PP or between PP and the cognitive context in PSAs. With regard to the generation mechanism of metaphoric PP, the thesis points out that it has a close relationship with its cognitive source: conceptual metaphor. That is to say, under the help of the conceptual metaphor, CMs in people’s mind are activated to realize the understanding of the metaphoric PP. By metaphoric mapping from the source domain to the target domain, the metaphoric PP is generated from the metaphoric relationship in PP or between PP and the cognitive context in PSAs. As regards to the generation mechanism of metonymic PP, the thesis also believes that it can not do without its cognitive source: conceptual metonymy. Through two different ways: part standing for the whole or vice versa, and part standing for part, conceptual metonymic connects two different conceptual entities in the same domain. Therefore, a certain CM will be highlighted in people’s mind by conceptual metonymy, represented by the vehicle which provides mental access to the target domain, and finally generating the metonymic PP.The study made in the thesis can further enrich the explanative power of ICMs in language and be of great assistance to the designers of the Chinese PSAs when designing this kind of advertisement and to the audience of the Chinese PSAs when getting the profound meaning hidden in PSAs.