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Cognitive Semantics and Its Application on Lexicography: A Case Study of Idioms with xīn in Modern Chinese Dictionary

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Chinese Lexical Semantics (CLSW 2019)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNAI,volume 11831))

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Abstract

This paper attempts to explore the role of cognitive semantics in Chinese lexicography. Specifically, the paper focuses on the multiple senses of the headword 心 xīn and the related idioms in Modern Chinese Dictionary (现代汉语词典 xiàn dài hàn yǔ cí diǎn). It first provides a cognitive analysis of the related idioms of 心 xīn based on its different underlying conceptual metaphors and metonymies. From the cognitive perspective, 心 xīn and ‘heart’ in both Chinese and English can be further classified into different categories. As a result, different idioms with 心 xīn may be interpreted in various ways to match their conceptual categories. In present Modern Chinese Dictionary, all the idioms are arranged according to their pinyin alphabetical sequence. This arrangement mixes up with the headword’s conceptual mechanisms, and may bother some dictionary users, especially the Chinese language learners. This paper suggests that in Chinese dictionary compilation, the arrangement of those idioms may take the underlying conceptual mechanisms into account.

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported by the Research Funding for Social Science Original Program in Guangdong Universities (2016WTSCX027).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, Guangzhou, China

    Qian Li

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  1. Qian Li
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Correspondence to Qian Li .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei, Taiwan

    Jia-Fei Hong

  2. Beijing Information Science and Technology University, Beijing, China

    Yangsen Zhang

  3. Beijing Language and Culture University, Beijing, China

    Pengyuan Liu

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Li, Q. (2020). Cognitive Semantics and Its Application on Lexicography: A Case Study of Idioms with xīn in Modern Chinese Dictionary. In: Hong, JF., Zhang, Y., Liu, P. (eds) Chinese Lexical Semantics. CLSW 2019. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 11831. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-38189-9_83

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-38189-9_83

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-38188-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-38189-9

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

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