A semantic analysis of sense organs in Chinese compound words: Based on embodied cognition and generative lexicon theory

Abstract

This article aims to analyse the four major sense organs of human beings, viz., (yǎn, eyes), (ěr, ears), (kǒu/zuǐ, mouth) and (bí, nose), in Chinese compound words with the combination of Generative Lexicon Theory and Embodied Cognition. It was shown that Embodied Cognition gives us an idea of the locus of the source domain in figurative use of organ-related words. Meanwhile, qualia structure in Generative Lexicon Theory, in particular, can be used to examine which sense of the word is activated when combining with other morphemes in a compound word. Moreover, the study found that the involved qualia roles vary in different syntactic structures and metaphorization of the compound words, which further demonstrates different lexical compositionality and productivity of the four basic sense organ words.