A Corpus-based Diachronic Study Of The Polysemy Of English Perception Verb See

In English,the verb see is a typical visual perception verb that has garnered significant scholarly attention due to its diverse usage and functions.Previous research on this topic has predominantly involved qualitative investigations into the syntax and semantics of see at the synchronic level,as well as the process of grammaticalization of see as a discourse marker.However,there has been little inquiry into the diachronic semantic evolution of see,and there exists a paucity of empirical research based on authentic data from corpus.This thesis employs a corpus-based behavioral profile analysis to investigate the internal semantic structure and usage patterns of the English visual perception verb see,with a specific emphasis on its diachronic semantic shift and underlying motivations.The research addresses three questions:(1)What are the diachronic changes in the internal semantic structures of the visual verb see?(2)What are the diachronic changes in the usage patterns of the visual verb see?(3)What are the motivations underlying the diachronic semantic change of the visual verb see? To address these questions,this thesis initially retrieved the data from COHA and classified the semantic development of see into four stages with each period’s time span of 50 years:1820s-1860 s,1860s-1910 s,1920s-1960 s and 1970s-2010 s.The data was retrieved using the normalized frequency of see in each time period,resulting in a selection of4,761 random samples.After manually removing idioms and invalid data(e.g.,see as a non-verb),the remaining 4,271 instances were used for analysis in this study.Then,based on previous literature and the obtained data,this thesis identified the ID tags of see and manually annotated them.Then,hierarchical agglomerative cluster analysis and correspondence analysis were utilized to investigate the internal semantic structure and usage patterns of see,respectively.Finally,the study analyzed the motivations underlying the generation and development of different readings of the verb see.The study’s findings are presented in the following.Firstly,the internal semantic structure of the verb see has undergone alterations throughout history,which can be observed in the following ways:(1)The sense of see has changed diachronically.The number of senses associated with the verb see has increased over time,with 29 distinct readings being identified over two centuries.(2)The types of see’s various senses have changed over time.Through hierarchical agglomerative cluster analysis,various distinct senses see can mainly be categorized into four main domains,namely,the meaning of perception,cognition,emotion,and social interaction,among which the meaning of perception and cognition are always parts of its internal semantic structure.In contrast,the meaning of emotion and social interaction have demonstrated greater variability over time.Furthermore,the sense‘perceive with eyes’ is the prototypical meaning from 1820 to 2019.(3)The relationships between different senses of see have also changed over time.Specifically,the association between the perceptual meaning and the cognitive meaning has fluctuated from strong to weak and then to strong again,showing a relatively strong correlation overall.That is,the visual meaning tends to extend to cognitive meaning.While the connections between the meaning of social interaction,emotion,and other senses have been less pronounced.Secondly,the visual verb see has different usage patterns when used as the meaning of perception,cognition,emotion,and social interaction.During the historical development process,the usage patterns change over time,and the changes in usage patterns have direct effects on the changes in the interrelationship between senses of see.Through corresponding analysis,it is found that the overall factor that has the most significant impact on semantics is the type of object and its complement.Thirdly,it was found that the semantic changes of see are primarily attributed to the influence of metaphor,metonymy,and sociocultural factors.According to the Prototype Theory,the polysemous system of see is organized as a radial network centered around its prototypical meaning of ‘perceive with eyes.’ Other senses are derived from this central meaning,including the meaning of perception,cognition,social interaction,and emotion.The prototypical sense is situated within the perceptual domain,so the semantic extension within this domain is governed by conceptual metonymy.The extension from the perceptual domain to other domains is attributed to conceptual metaphor.Moreover,it is discovered that the semantic changes in see are driven by socioeconomic,cultural,and technological advancements.Thus,the changes in the internal semantics of polysemous words over time are attributed to both internal cognitive mechanisms and external sociocultural factors.Using the quantitative method,this study have provided a diachronic basis for the synchronic study of the semantic expansion of visual perception verbs.Through this research,a more profound comprehension of the nature of polysemous perception verbs is attained,and this study holds significant reference value for the teaching of polysemous usage of perception verbs and lexicography.