| The Chinese opposite compounds are a group of paratactic compound words,which consist of two monosyllabic morphemes opposite or relative in meaning,such as“多少”“上下”“动静”.Since ancient times,Chinese opposite compounds have been spread and developed in various stages of Chinese history,and have been widely used by people,and Chinese opposite compounds have unique features on its structure and meaning.Previous researches on Chinese opposite compounds are mainly focused on semantic evolution and language teaching,which provide a certain foundation for this study of Chinese opposite compounds from the cognitive perspective.However,most of these researches use the theory of metaphor,metonymy and conceptual integration at the same time,and it can neither be explained by one theory nor analyze deeply the semantic motivation of Chinese opposite compounds.Moreover,previous researches ignore the influence of external environmental constraints on the semantic change of Chinese opposite compounds.Based on Wang Yin’s Event-domain Cognitive Model(ECM)theory,this thesis attempts to explain the semantic motivation of Chinese opposite compounds and aims to solve the following two questions: 1)What’s the semantic motivation of Chinese opposite compounds? 2)What are the constraints that affect the meaning of Chinese opposite compounds?The thesis finds out: 1)The semantic motivation of blended meaning of Chinese opposite compounds is based on a series of mental actions to highlight the sub-beings or sub-actions,and there is no change in blended meaning;The semantic motivation of partial meaning of Chinese opposite compounds results from using the superordinate concept to signify the subordinate concept within the same domain,and with the cognitive perspective goes done,the meaning has been narrowed;The semantic motivation of extended meaning of Chinese opposite compoundsresults from using the subordinate meaning to represent the superordinate meaning.With the cognitive perspective moves up,the meaning has been expanded;Thesemantic motivation of transferred meaning is to use the subordinate meaning to stand for the superordinate meaning,and there is a projection between two Event domains on the basis of similarity.2)Linguistic context and cultural context can affect the meaning of Chinese opposite compounds.In different contexts,Chinese opposite compounds have different meanings,and with the change of meaning,the Chinese opposite compounds can have various semantic types.At the same time,Confucian culture emphasizes the unity of opposite thinking and the implicit attitude which is closely related to the formation of Chinese antonym compounds.The thesis can provide a different approach to the researches of Chinese opposite compounds and help non-Chinese native speakers and translators to have better application of Chinese opposite compounds.What’s more,the study can offer an enlightening insight into culture communication. |
