Conceptual Schema of the Cognition Domain: A Frame-based Study of Mandarin Cognition Verbs

• Main Authors: Chia-yin Hu, 胡佳音
• Other Authors: Meichun Liu
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2007
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/47716132203103354366

碩士 === 國立交通大學 === 外國文學與語言學碩士班 === 95 === This study investigated Mandarin cognition verbs from the perspective of Frame Semantics (Fillmore and Atkins 1992) and proposed a domain-specific conceptual schema for relating all different types of cognition verbs. A considerable number of studies have been dedicated to the unique behavior of cognitive or mental verbs in general (e.g. Traugott and Dasher 1987; Croft 1991, 1993; Goddard and Wierzbicka 2002; Liu 2002; Wu 2005, 2006; Blanco-Carrion 2006). However, little has been said about the syntactic and semantic diversity of this class of verbs as they encode various facets of the complex process of human cognition. This study aims to provide a detailed analysis of the lexical distinctions encoded in Mandarin cognition verbs as evidenced in their syntax-to-semantics correlations. As shown below, cognition verbs may encode different event types: (1)Event Types Encoded by Cognition Verbs (a)Activity:他正在 想/考慮/研究/回想 這個問題。 ta zhengzai xiang/kaolu/analyze/huixiang zhe-ge wenti　 ‘He is thinking about/considering/analyzing/recalling this problem.’ (b)Achievement:他 想/想出/發現/想到 了一個辦法。 ta xiang/xiang-chu /faxian/xiang-dao le yi-ge banfa　 ‘He thought out/found/remembered one solution.’ (c)State: 他 想/認為/知道/記得 這是個好辦法。 ta　xiang/renwei/zhidao/zide zhe shi ge hao banfa　 ‘He thinks/considers/knows/remembers that it’s a good way.’ The three event types actually mark different but consecutive stages of the human cognizing process: (2)Human Cognition Stages (a)Thought Creation: 1)Process: a Cognizer with an initial mental state undergoes a process of cogitation on a Topic. 2)Resultative State: with the input of external Evidence, a new state with a mental Content appears. 3)Homogeneous State: the mental Content stays in the Cognizer’s mind. (b)Information Retrieval 1)Process: a Memory formed by the existed mental Content gets disconnected from the mind. 2)Resultative State: due to an external Stimulus, the link is re-connected again. 3)Homogeneous State: the Memory, stays in the Cognizer’s mind. The process can be schematically represented as a schema with the essential frame elements. For details, please see (3) on p. iv. The conceptual schema in question captures the stage-by-stage process of cognition and provides a conceptual link for the different cognition frames, as illustrated by (4) on p. v. In sum, by postulating a domain-specific conceptual schema, this study is able to provide a systematic and well-motivated account for the distinction of individual frames and their interrelationships. Cognition frames with different event types are plotted into the schema as different stages of the cognizing process, based on their grammatical and collocational properties. The study ultimately provides a framework in analyzing and representing verbal semantics.