Nghiên cứu mô hình mở rộng nghĩa của từ QUA trong tiếng Việt

Tóm tắt

This study investigates the semantic extension of QUA in Vietnamese from the perspective of cognitive semantics, based on Cruse’s (2000) theory of motivated sense relations. The data consist of 98 sentences that contain QUA extracted from Nam Cao’s short stories, which are qualitatively analyzed in their contexts of use. The findings show that the central meaning of QUA involves motion across a spatial landmark or boundary and is structured by the source-path-goal schema. From this central meaning, the meanings of QUA are extended in two directions: linear and non-linear. In the linear direction, the meanings are organized in the same spatial domain through general-specific and whole-part relationships. In the non-linear direction, QUA extends into the domains of time, state, challenge, event, means, and stage through conceptual metaphor and conceptual metonymy. The analysis demonstrates that the meanings of QUA do not exist as discrete senses, but form a motivated semantic network in which the central spatial meaning serves as the point of departure for extended meanings. The study contributes to clarifying the systematicity of polysemy in Vietnamese and provides a basis for cognitively oriented lexical description and vocabulary teaching.