Title: A Cognitive Study of the Time Orientation of Chinese qian: Based on an Investigation of “qian+X/X+qian” Words

Abstract: Based on a qualitative analysis of the time orientations of “qian+X/X+qian” words, the thesis explores the time orientation types of qian and word building features of qian in different time orientation types, analyzes the conceptualization of different time orientation types of qian, and investigates which time orientation types qian prefers in word building and the cognitive causes for this preference. It has been found that there are four time orientation types of qian, including “earlier”, “now”, “future”, and “time vector”; the conceptualizer uses different perspectives to highlight different time features, taking four metaphorical projecting paths to generate four time orientation types; qian shows a preference for the “earlier” orientation type in word building, which shows that Chinese people are more inclined to use a distal perspective to cognize holistically.

Keywords: qian, time orientation type, conceptualization, word building preference, cognitive explanation

Author: Tengji Yang, Ph.D. Candidate, Foreign Studies College, Hunan Normal University, Changsha, Hunan, China.

DOI: 10.19967/j.cnki.flc.2024.01.012