영어 구동사에 쓰이는 불변화사 UP의 의미 연구

Abstract

Phrasal verbs are commonly used in modern spoken and written English. It is widely assumed that their meanings are unpredictable and seemingly independent of their components, so EFL(English as a Foreign Language) learners have difficulty understanding phrasal verbs. This paper looks into the meanings of phrasal verbs from a different perspective. Cognitive linguists say that meanings do not match up with mind-independent objective reality. Rather, 'reality' is determined by the nature of our bodies as well as the physical world we inhabit. Hence, the meanings encoded in language relate to and reflect our conceptual system. In this respect, the meanings of phrasal verbs are derived from the combination of their components' respective meanings. The purpose of this study is to analyse the prototypical meaning and the extended meanings of the most commonly used particle 'up' using a Brown corpus. In particular, this paper examines how spatial concepts of particle 'up' are systematically extended to provide an array of non-spatial meanings and what effect the extended meaning of 'up' has on the whole meaning of a phrasal verb. This paper assumes that particle 'up' has a prototypical meaning and five distinct meanings- More Sense, Improvement Sense, Completion Sense, Goal-oriented Sense and Consciousness Sense. The first three senses are from Tyler & Evans(2003), the fourth one from Lindner(1983) and the last one from Keedong Lee(1998). In its distinct senses, this paper mainly follows Tyler & Evans's perspective since they are convinced that all other senses of a particle are derived from an originally and primarily spatial sense and the relationship is experiential rather than viewed as metaphorical as in various previous approaches. And they also propose a methodology for determining a particle's 'primary sense' and filter out further distinct senses that are not derivable from the context so as not to be led to the 'polysemy fallacy'- to exaggerate the number of distinct senses associated with a particle. The senses of particle 'up' are as follows. First, its prototypical sense is that a trajector is turned toward the top of a landmark in a physical space as in The kite is up in the air. And this prototypical sense can be metaphorically extended like this: The dog can easily pick up germs from the preceding patient. Second, 'up' becomes associated with 'more' since it is a common experience in spatial scenarios that larger amounts correlate with increased vertical extension(e.g., liquid in a glass). This concept comes to be expressed without the presence of the original concept as in The prices have going up. When 'up' implies 'more', it is combined with verbs like 'pile', 'blow' and 'build' and the respective phrasal verbs mean 'stack', 'enlarge' and 'increase'. Third, starting from the prototypical meaning of 'up' in physical space, 'up' stands for the 'more' sense and by getting 'more' it implies 'improvement' as in Let's get dressed up. Fourth, when the quantity of water in a glass increases, it extends to the limit not to be filled anymore, thereby, 'up' implies 'completion'. When 'up' is connected with verbs such as 'finish', 'end', 'use' and 'eat' that imply 'completion' or 'depletion' in the verb itself, the particle 'up' just plays a supportive role in the meanings of phrasal verbs. However, when the particle is combined with other verbs not implying 'completion' in itself, 'up' makes a major contribution to the whole meaning of phrasal verbs. An example is : He had given up hope they would ever agree on anything. Fifth, when the 'vertical up' in physical space is applied to a horizontal domain, 'up' implies approaching a goal. In this case 'up' is commonly combined with some verbs implying 'approach' sense in itself as in He walked up and said hello. Finally, 'up' implies movement from unconsciousness to consciousness as in The sound of seagulls called up happy memories of his childhood holidays. In the preceding sentence, the phrasal verb 'call up' won't represent 'recall' without the presence of the particle 'up'. And in this case 'up' means movement of something deep in our unconsciousness domain to the Consciousness Domain. As 'up' has this sense, it is joined with 'think', 'call, 'conjure' or 'come'. As has been seen, the understanding of systematic analysis based on cognitive grammar can contribute a great deal to the understanding of phrasal verbs. This paper deals with only 'up' among many other particles in phrasal verbs, however, other studies based on cognitive grammar could be applied to various particles.