象似性理论在英语语法教学上的应用 The Theory of Iconicity and Its Application to the Teaching of English Grammar开题报告

1. 研究目的与意义（文献综述）

the theory oficonicity, as a feverish topic in the academic circle nowadays, is beingexplored heatedly in cognitive linguistics. iconicity can be revealed at alllevels of language. so it is of great significance for the analysis of literarywork and the study of translation. what’s more, it can be very instructive tothe teaching of english.

in fact, iconicitydeveloped very slowly. it hasn’t made much progress until r. jakobson (1965)challenged arbitrariness in the essay questfor the language of essence for the first time. throughout history,arbitrariness has been considered as one of the most distinguished features oflanguage. saussure (1857-1913) is a famous linguistic who established amilestone in the exploration of iconicity of language. he put forward thistheory, asserted that there was no interrelationship between the signifier and signifiedor such relation cannot be testified. that’s to say, they are casual andconventional. however, in the 1940s, a celebrated philosopher named pierce,founder of american practicalism and semiotics, defined icon, index and symbolin another way. he (1940) contended that “syntax in every language mirrorslogic iconicity by means of conventional rules.” haiman is the scholar who makes the greatestachievements in studying syntactic iconicity. his two papers came outrespectively in 1980 and 1983 and later in 1985 another two important bookswere published. among them, naturalsyntax and iconicity in syntax studiedthe iconicity on the level of syntactic in length. haiman, a linguistic programprofessor ofamericanmacalestercollege,made a conclusion in 1985:” the surface form of a sentence iconically diagramsits semantics. and “linguistic structures are often similar to non-linguisticdiagrams of our thoughts. languages are diagrams.” it washainanwho renovated people’s views to the signified and signifier by bringingiconicity into a totally new period.

since 1980s or maybeearlier 1970s, with the more and more mature development of language andcognition exploration, people have found that language is not completely asarbitrary as the conventional explanations. instead, there must be certaininterrelationship between language structure and experimental structure. it isclaimed by the cognitive linguistics that language is molded or at leastinfluenced by experience of the world and the way we perceive and conceptualizeit (ungerer schmid, 2001). this kind of new point is also recognized byfunctionalists who hold the belief that language is not discrete or autonomousbut based on cognitive processes.

2. 研究的基本内容与方案

Thisthesis will focus on giving a complete and systematic explanation to theiconicity of language and at same time exploring how to apply it to thepractical teaching of English grammar. In order to get the result as accurate aspossible, the thesis will adapt such research methods as qualitative andquantitative analysis. Firstly, the thesis introduces the framework oficonicity in detail and shows the researcher of it done both at home andabroad. The framework of it can be divided into three parts: definition,classification, cognitive causes. The research of it includes some of thephilosophical basis of iconicity put forward by famous linguistics. Secondly,the thesis centers on explaining how iconicity of language applied to Englishgrammar teaching in detail, giving examples how the application of iconicitycan help students understand and efficiently memorize English grammar and howthe use of iconicity can be implemental to English grammar teaching. A test isdesigned to get the comparative testing result between before giving thelecture of iconicity to students and after giving the lecture. About 10research questions are included in the test. Two classes of students are askedto answer those questions after giving the lecture introducing iconicity. Inthis way, the thesis can get scientific and reliable data to justify the efficientapplication of in English grammar teaching. Finally the thesis makes aconclusion that both arbitrariness and iconicity are distinguished features oflanguage; they make language complete and logical. This thesis is aimed to makeiconicity familiar to students and therefore help to create a new angle forEnglish grammar teaching.

3. 研究计划与安排

before 20th january : settlement of the title

before20th march: submission ofthe outline

before 25th april : submission ofthe first draft

4. 参考文献（12篇以上）

[1] bolinger, dwight l. forms of english: accent morpheme, order [m].cambridge:harvarduniversitypress, 1965.