A COGNITIVE APPROACH TO IDIOMS COMPREHENSION

成语理解的认知研究(英文)

According to the most common definition, idioms are linguistic expressions whose overall meaning cannot be predicted from the meaning to the constituent parts. Although we agree with the traditional view that there is no complete predictability,we suggest that there is a great deal of systematic conceptual motivation for the meaning of most idioms. Since most idioms are based on conceptual metaphors and metonymies, systematic motivation arises from sets of "conceptual mappings or correspondences" that obtain between a source and a target domain in the sense of Lakoff and Koevecses (1987). In this thesis, through the tentative analysis of idioms with heart, we prove that idioms, at least idioms involving emotions, are systematic. This new view seems to be potentially useful in the teaching/learning of idioms.

According to the most common definition, idioms are linguistic expressions whose overall meaning cannot be predicted from the meaning to the constituent parts. Although we agree with the traditional view that there is no complete predictability, we suggest that there is a great deal of systematic conceptual motivation for the meaning of most idioms. Since most idioms are based on conceptual metaphors and metonymies, systematic motivation arises from sets of "conceptual mappings or correspondences" that obtain between a source and a target domain in the sense of Lakoff and Kovecses (1987). In this thesis, through the tentative analysis of idioms with heart, we prove that idioms, at least idioms involving emotions, are systematic. This new view seems to be potentially useful in the teaching/learning of idioms.