A Cognitive Semantic Study Of -EE Nouns

Among English nominalizations,there is a certain system for deverbal-ee nouns.English suffix-ee was borrowed from Old French.And traditional grammar generally believed that suffix-ee could only be added to transitive verbs to form patientive objects by studying-ee nominals from syntactic and semantic perspective.However,neither the syntactic perspective represented by Bengtsson and Bauer nor the semantic perspective represented by Barker can provide a reasonable explanation for the agentive profile of-ee nouns.In modern times,cognitive linguist Heyvaert probed into-ee nouns from cognitive perspective and provided explanations for their semantic extension from the perspective of the corresponding relation between-ee nouns and past participle of their base verbs.However,the semantic pictures she provided aren't suitable for all-ee nouns.In practical language use,the bases of-ee nouns and their semantic roles are rather complex.Single word formation rule can not explain the formation mechanism and actual applications of-ee nouns.This paper,on the basis of COCA,makes an investigation into the cognitive semantic features of-ee nominals by linking up with their specific constructional characteristics.Through data analysis,92-ee nouns with high frequency are categorized into different categories.According to composite symbolic structure and prominence principle,with reference to the semantic constraints for-ee nouns and the arguments of their base verbs,this paper inquires into the semantic features of-ee nouns with different types of base verbs from the perspective of cognitive semantic structures of both base verbs and suffix-ee.Therefore,the meaning generation mechanism and predictability of-ee nouns can also be explored.From the perspective of prototype category theory,it also expounds the cognitive process of polysemy for suffix-ee.The major findings in this paper can be summarized in the following aspects:To start with,in view of the part of speech of bases concerning-ee nouns,it generally consists of nouns,verbs,adjectives and words can both be verbs and nouns,among which base verbs make up the majority of-ee nouns.Base verbs can be further classified into monotransitive verbs,ditransitive verbs,intransitive verbs and other phenomena.The role that distinctive semantic profiles of different types of base verbs play in the semantic construction of-ee nouns is manifested in a relationship between trajector and landmark.In other words,distinctive semantic profiles of-ee nouns result from different perspectives taken for the semantic construction of-ee nouns.Meanwhile,in view of the semantic comparison between-ee nouns and their bases,the semantic scope of most-ee nouns has narrowed,quite a few hasn't changed at all and only a small proportion has transferred or broadened.In addition,as for semantic reference-ee nominals denote,deverbal derivations in-ee usually refer to the participants who are involved in the process of the event.Among them,the highest degree of lexicalization is the patientive profile which-ee nouns designate.According to suffixal meaning,there are prototypical and non-prototypical members of-ee nouns with reference to the three semantic constraints.Compared with non-volitional and episodic linking constraint,being sentient is the most obvious semantic property for-ee nominals and should be regarded as prototypical semantic property.' While in actual language encoding,the referent some-ee nouns denote can either be a person or an organization.Besides,some even refer to non-human objects,so peripheral members may fail to conform to it.Within the semantic category of being sentient,the degree of volitional control for referents-ee nouns designate is different,which results in significant distinction on the manifestation of non-volitional constraint.Besides,most referents that-ee nouns with base verbs designate are the participants who have been involved in the process of the event corresponding to the stem verb,while peripheral members may also fail to comply with it.Finally,the semantic interpretation pattern of suffix-ee is put forward based on the prototype category theory.Different category members not only take on the prototype sense of-ee nouns,but also profile their own characteristics in different aspects,such as syntactic property,referent,degree of volitional control and episodic linking.