A Dynamic Analysis Of “Boundedness” And “Unboundedness” Of English Abstract Nouns

Based on Langacker's “boundedness” and “unboundedness, the author makes a dynamic analysis of abstract nouns and summarizes the existing studies on English nouns as well as on “boundedness” and “unboundedness”. Scholars at home and abroad have made great efforts in the research on vocabulary, but most of their studies focus on verbs rather than nouns and the existing studies on nouns concentrate on the mutual conversion between verbs and nouns. As a result, the number of studies on abstract nouns is relatively small, especially the ones on the “boundedness” and “unboundedness” of abstract nouns. With the theory of cognitive grammar, Langacker analyzes words and applies “boundedness” and “unboundedness” to the research on nouns. He places emphasis on material and countable nouns, paying less attention to abstract nouns. Later, Shen Jiaxuan adopts the two concepts in the study on verbs and adjectives. Nevertheless, abstract nouns are an indispensable part of nouns, so the study on their “boundedness” and “unboundedness” is more abstract and more worthy of our exploration.noun is an important part of noun, through the analysis of abstract nouns, the author hopes that “boundedness” and “unboundedness” will be widely applied to the research on other words, providing a new research perspective for the study on vocabulary. The research on the “boundary” of abstract nouns not only serves as a supplement to the research on vocabulary but also grammatically changes the analysis of the “countability” of nouns in the traditional grammar. Whether an abstract noun can be used as a countable or an uncountable noun is a complicated phenomenon that cannot be explained by the traditional grammar. Moreover, the research on abstract nouns can promote the positive changes to the teaching of grammar and vocabulary and help second language learners master the count-ability of English abstract nouns.In the analysis of the “boundedness” and “unboundedness” of abstract nouns, the author first takes “geometry” for an example and finds in the scanning process of the word that its members are different from the non-members and that the members are bounded. When we depict the bounded region, the abstract noun is countable. After the scanning of abstract nouns, results show that some abstract nouns are bounded regions in certain cognitive domain and then their entities are “bounded”. If the entities can exist as independent individuals, the abstract nouns are countable. Otherwise, if an abstract noun of homogeneity cannot exist independently and doesn't change in quantity in the case of increase or decrease, the sub-domain indicated by the abstract noun can be infinitely expanded or the abstract noun is “unbounded”, then it is an uncountable noun. Among the unbounded regions of an abstract noun are some more restricted sub-domains, which are “bounded”. When we depict the different quality spaces of the abstract noun, the count-ability of the noun will change accordingly. “Boundedness” and “unboundedness” have influence on the count-ability of nouns, and the author attempts to analyze the count-ability of abstract nouns with the two concepts.The study on English abstract nouns has taken on some new features with the advancement of theoretical development. More attention has been paid to the study on the subjective meaning of English abstract nouns and the combination of the study on English abstract nouns and the cognitive subject. The research on abstract nouns is still a field that entails an urgent exploration.