A Study Of The Phonology-semantics Interface In English And Chinese Words Of Water Category

This thesis chooses English and Chinese words of water category as linguistic data of investigation to study the phonology-semantics interface.As for the reasons why I choose this kind are that there is almost no relevant study on this kind and my interest lies with it as well as the inspiration gaining from nearby surroundings.The research questions are as follows:1)To illustrate the concept of interface and discuss whether there exist interface between phonology and semantics at first;2)And then,to study and compare how phonology-semantics interface demonstrates in the Simpler syntax and the Minimalist Program of the Generative Grammar respectively;3)At last,to particularly analyze the question of the phonology-semantics interface contained in English and Chinese words of water category with a large amount of English and Chinese words of water category data according to the Generative Grammar and Lexical Phonology theory in a way of theoretical thinking method.The detailed research processes are as follows:1)At first,this thesis elaborates and summarizes interface theory in the Minimalist Program and the Simpler Syntax and then especially analyzes demonstration of phonology-semantics interface in the Phonosemantics,the Signifier and the Signified,Chinese Shengxun(??)and Yixun(??),and the Lexical Phonology.2)Then I will explore the method and reason of the phonology-semantics interface in English and Chinese words of water category so as to divide them into two different kinds(including four small kinds)In order to probe it in-depth,this thesis will make a special effort to investigate and study the phonology-semantics interface in English and Chinese words of water category with theories and methods of the Minimalist Program and Lexical Phonology,movement and merge,phase derivation,external merge and internal merge.Moreover,this thesis will divide words of water of English verbs into two kinds according to whether containing light verb or not so that further explore the phonology-semantics interface.The findings of this thesis are as follows:1)In the course of study,this thesis further proves that the real connotation of the interface lies in two modules or several separated modules that get connected because of common operating aim.Thus,the interface is a sort of relation among modules from the static perspective;it is a kind of features'reassembly of different modules from the dynamic perspective;it is a sort of information reintegration of different modules from the perspective of final result.2)In the process of theories'study of the Minimalist Program,the Simpler Syntax,the Phonosemantics,the Signifier and the Signified,Chinese Shengxun(??)and Yixun(??),as well as the Lexical Phonology,the phonology-semantics interface is widely existing in various languages.As mentioned before,the interface is a reassembly of modules'features,thus the relation among syntax,phonology and semantics is much closed as well as interactive in the process of language formation.Moreover,in the course of study on the Simpler Syntax,although the phonology-semantics interface exists,it has not been presented clearly,and the position of lexicon in its frame is inappropriate as well.3)After having studied a large amount of linguistic data of English and Chinese words of water category,it can conclude that the phonology-semantics interface is widely existing but it appears to be diverse in different languages and even for different word classes in the same language.Thus it is too hard to make it happen for all kinds.This thesis mainly analyzes part of English and Chinese words of water category on account of the Minimalist Program and Lexical Phonology instruction.The thesis regards there are four kinds phonology-semantics interface contained within two kinds(direct and indirect phonology-semantics interfaces).And then dividing them into two kinds based on the condition of whether containing light verb in terms of indirect phonology-semantics interface of part English water-category verbs.Firstly picking out words and features in need to form lexical array(LA)~1 and then operating in derivation narrow syntax through external merge and internal merge so as to make LA into a linear expression;and if there is any component part in LA left after the completion of first phase,then narrow syntax,phonetic part and semantic part will be continuously transferred into second phase in a parallel way until nothing left in LA and(PHON,SEM)generated,in which we can not very clearly see the phonology-semantics interface.But once such indirect interface formed,it will not easily changed.The findings above have the reference value to the future study of the phonology-semantics interface.