From Metaphorical View to the Semantic of Particle Verb

張婷婷

Particle verbs can be said to possess some degree of semantic integral character in assembly of the verb plus particle. The recent cognitive study， particularly the metaphorical view， looksmuch deeper into the process of semantic formation of particle verbs， maintaining that it is the metaphorical extension in both the verb and the particle. The cognitive linguistic views on language developed in the last two decades set up the basis of the present study on particle verb.

MetaphorcognitivesemanticⅠ Introduction

Particle verbs consist of a verb and a particle. The combination of a verb and a particle usually behave as single unit. The traditional structuralist study mainly concentrates on their syntactic behavior and does not pay much attention to their semantics. The recent cognitive study， particularly the metaphorical approach， looks much deeper into the process of semantic formation of particle verbs， maintaining that it is the metaphorical extension in both the verb and the particle. On the one hand， the particle verb that contributes to the core meaning of the particle verb is complex in nature and the blending and interaction between the verb and the particle are relatively unpredictable. Particle verbs are what the second language learner should master， but these are usually difficult to acquire.

Ⅱ Study Purpose

Based on the basic principle of cognitive semantics， our analysis of the advantages and limitations of the traditional and the recent metaphorical studies on particle verbs， and on the research on the particles， we try to offer a tentative alternative model aiming to capture the integrating nature of the semantics of particle verbs， by combing the metaphorical approach.

Ⅲ Metaphorical approach

Since traditional studies pay little attention to the meaning of particle verbs， these explanations can not fully capture the nature of them. All syntactic features are determined by the semantics of the components particle verbs. Therefor， there is a strong need for another approach to attempt the global meaning and the syntactic behavior of particle verbs. This is the approach taken by most recent studies from the perspective of cognitive linguistics， crucial in the differentiation of particle verbs are the special construction of the original preposition or particle to the whole. Hence any study of particle verbs must also come to related with the semantics of prepossitions and particles. It is precisely in the area of prepositions and particle that the output of cognitive linguistics research in the 25years of its existence is immense. Apart from the more general discussions by Titone and Layoff， there have been numerous in-depth studies of single items or groups of them. Agenaral characterization that applies to many of these studies， particular to Layoff， is that they accept a large number of different senses for each preposition or particle that they do not bother about the semantic meaning uniting the various senses of a linguistic form. And that most non-literal meaning is seen in terms of metaphoric extensions.endprint

Ⅳ Comment on the Metaphorical Approach

The metaphorical approach， following the path of cognitive linguistics， looks much deeper into the process of semantic formation of particle verbs. According to this view or approach， it is the metaphorical extension in both and verb and particle that contribute to the more or less idiomatic meaning of the particle verb.however these metaphorical studies have not given us a full picture of this integration process. For example， they do not explain clearly and satisfactorily how and in what ways the integration is achieved on the conceptual level in our mind， why particle verbs show various degree of idiomaticity， how much the two components contribute respectively to the whole， and what are the relations among the various senses of the same particle verb.

Ⅴ The Semantic of Particle Verbs

The metaphorical approach to particle verbs looks into the deep side of verb particle constructions by examining how the components develop to form the integral particle verbs by metaphorical extension. The metaphorical studies made by Hamper and Grice reveal to some extent the ways of the semantic development of particle verbs. These approaches goes obviously in the right direction since metaphorical extension functions on a conceptual level. And enable us to have a better and deeper understandding of the nature of the semantic formation of particle verbs.

The basic concept of proposal is that blending happens simultaneously both on a conceptual level and on linguistic level：blending on the conceptual level is conducted through selective projection from the two input domains represented by the verb and the particle； based on the above notion. We try to set up our proposal as follows： the basic integration process of the semantic of the particle verb construction are conducted in four steps：

（1）Previous metaphorical process

by previous metaphorical extension， the verb and the particle have derived respectively their distinctive meaning from their respective literal sense， which serve as selective source

（2）Matching process

The distinctive meaning of both the verb and the particle are put to matching.

（3）Selective projecting process

The matchable two meaning from the verb and the particle are selected and projected into the blend.

（4）integrating process

The projected two meaning interact with each other and are interacted in the blend.

Ⅵ Conclusion

Particle verbs are widely used on speaking and writing. Especially in speaking， the traditional structuralist study mainly concentrates on the syntactic behavior and pays little attention to semantic. The recent cognitive study， particularly from the metaphorical view looks much deeper into the process formation of particleverbs.

References：

[1 ]Layoff.George.The contemporary theory of metaphor [M ].Cambridge University.

[2 ]Yu，Ning.The contemporary theory of metaphor [M ].A perspective from chinese.benjamin publishing company.endprint