A Semantically Comparative Study Between “Full” And “Man” (满) From The Viewpoint Of Embodied-Cognitive Linguistics

“Man” has been regarded as a word with rich image and meaning.At present,various scholars have approached this phenomenon from two perspectives,namely,comparative linguistics and cognitive linguistics.The former mainly analyzed the similarities and differences on form and meaning between “Man” and other Chinese adjectives,such as “Quan” “Zheng” “Kong” etc.,concluding that “Man” can be used to express the concept of quantity,scope and location.While the latter applied some cognitive approaches,such as image schema,prominence,metaphor,etc.,exploring the meaning of “Man” as well as some special constructions related to it.Although previous studies have obtained some significant results,there are still some issues to be further supplemented and improved,i.e.,the specific classification of semantic derivation need to be further clarified;the mechanism of semantic derivation needs to be further explored;the social and cultural causes of the semantic expansion of have not attracted sufficient attention.Based on the above research background,this paper takes “Man” and “Full” as the research objects,collecting 1,969 items to establish a self-closed corpus,thus attempting to construct a CEMM Model to analyze the embodied-cognitive mechanism of semantic expansion of these two words from the syntactic,semantic and pragmatic features from the perspective of embodied-cognitive linguistics.Additionally,this research also aims to examine the feasibility of the CEMM Model through data discussion.In conclusion,this study will respond to the following three questions:Firstly,what are the semantic domains of “Man” and “Full” respectively? And what about the similarities and differences?Secondly,what are the semantic derivation mechanisms of “Man” and “Full” in Chinese and English?Thirdly,what are the reasons for the similarities and differences in the semantic derivation of “Man” and “Full”?The thesis has reaped the following findings:Firstly,the semantic network of “Man” consists of eleven major contents,namely,place(26.20%),body(18.32%),quantity(17.09%),flat(14.74%),time(7.37%),degree(5.22%),container(4.61%),age(2.15%),concrete concept(1.64%),nature(1.43%)and abstract concept(1.23%),while the semantic extension of “Full”mainly concentrated on the following nine categories,namely,place(27.82%),abstract concept(22.28%),body(19.35%),concrete concept(12.80%),time(6.55%),container(5.65%),nature(2.72%),degree(1.92%),quantity(0.91%).It can be concluded that the semantic expansion of these two words is based on human interactive experience and cognitive processing results of the “container”,both similarities and differences exist in the semantic derivation,which similarities are more than differences to some extent.Secondly,from the perspective of ECL,Event-domain Cognitive Model provides the event scenario and related elements for the selection of cognitive reference points as well as the operation of metaphor and metonymy.Besides,source domains and target domains in metaphor and metonymy can be regarded as the cognitive reference point R and target T,being understood by the cognitive subject,which will provide an ontological explanation for the relationship between the cognitive reference point and the target domain.Different reference points will produce different combinations of elements,and the cognitive subject will select and combine the elements related to “Man” and “Full” from various elements in the process of understanding a specific event,highlighting the mental paths involved in the semantic extension in a specific context.In addition,CRP will interpret the interactive relationships between multiple event domains in the semantic extension process based on the experience of the conceptual subject.At length,the metaphorical and metonymic cognitive mechanisms will provide cognitive justification for the cognitive reference process and the derivation between event domains on the basis of embodiment and experience.Thirdly,through the analysis of data based on the CEMM Model,it shows that in syntax,“Man” and “Full” can serve as several components in sentences,most of which are predicates.Semantically,both of them are polysemic,the former usually means “full,reaching the extreme of capacity” and “full,complete”,also “to reach a certain state or limitation” as well as “reaching a large number and a deep degree”.Comparatively,“Full” contains couple of meanings,such as “having no space”,“having a large number or amount of something” and “directly”.In pragmatics,sometimes both refer to exaggeration when they mean the concept of quantity,which results in an exaggerated effect and expresses the subjective emotion of the speaker in a specific context.Furthermore,both of them express productivity,because they are applied frequently and broadly by huge amounts of communities.This thesis,on the one hand,has put forward a band-new theoretical model by pointing out and making up for the shortcomings of the Cognitive Reference Point Principle,the Event-domain Cognitive Model,metaphor,and metonymy,so as to construct the CEMM Model.At the same time,the feasibility of this model is verified in a case study of the semantic derivation analysis of “Man” and “Full”.Practically,based on the perspective of ECL,this paper interprets the mechanism of the semantical expansion of “Man” and “Full”,which is not only beneficial to grasp the meaning diversity and dynamic evolution of English and Chinese synonyms,but also interprets the reasons for the similarities and differences of semantic extension in English and Chinese.In addition,this study is expected to provide new research perspectives and theoretical resources for the study of semantic expansion in the same type of English and Chinese.