认知语言学视角下英语词汇多义现象研究——以Hand、Mouth为例

A Study of Polysemy in English Vocabulary from the Perspective of Cognitive Linguistics—A Case Study of Hand and Mouth

摘要: 本研究从认知语言学视角系统分析英语身体词汇hand与mouth的多义现象，重点探讨隐喻与转喻在词义扩展中的作用。研究发现，身体词汇的多义并不是随机生成的，而是与具身经验的认知机制有关。通过研究我们可以知道，隐喻是通过跨域映射将hand的抓握与操作功能延伸为控制、技能与协作能力，将mouth的发声与摄入功能映射为语言表达、欲望或社会需求，使抽象概念可以被感知，容易被理解。转喻则是依托同域邻接或部分与整体的关系，将hand延伸为劳动者、创作成果，将mouth延伸为人、言辞或物理层面的开口，如河口等，使词义变得更为直接、经济。根据分析我们可以总结为隐喻赋予词汇抽象化能力，转喻则保证词义的直接性与具体性，两者在多义扩展中相辅相成，共同构建了丰富的词义网络。除此之外，文化与语境因素对身体词汇多义现象的形成也起到调节作用，不同社会背景下同一词汇的义项可能有所侧重。本研究期望发现身体词汇多义形成的内在规律。

Abstract: From the perspective of cognitive linguistics, this paper conducts a systematic analysis of the polysemy of English body-part words hand and mouth, with a focus on the roles of metaphor and metonymy in semantic extension. The research reveals that the polysemy of body-part words is not arbitrary, but closely associated with the cognitive mechanism of embodied experience. As demonstrated in this study, metaphor realizes cross-domain mapping: it extends the grasping and manipulating functions of hand to denote control, skills and collaborative abilities, and maps the vocalizing and ingesting functions of mouth onto linguistic expression, desires and social demands. In this way, abstract concepts become perceptible and intelligible. By contrast, metonymy relies on intra-domain contiguity and part-whole relationships. It expands the meanings of hand to refer to laborers and creations, and extends mouth to stand for people, remarks or physical openings such as river mouths, rendering word meanings more concise and straightforward. To sum up, metaphor enables words to express abstract notions, while metonymy keeps their meanings concrete and direct. The two mechanisms complement each other in semantic extension and jointly form a complex semantic network. Furthermore, culture and context also exert regulatory effects on the formation of polysemy of body-part words, so the senses of the same word may vary in emphasis across different social contexts. This study aims to explore the inherent rules behind the formation of polysemy of body-part words.