Chapter One Introduction
1.1 Theoretical Considerations for the Current Study
The current study was first inspired by the researcher's interest in both the studyof polysemous body terms and the application of conceptual metaphor theory ofLakoff and Johnson (1980). Body terms stand out as research object because it isclosely related to human body，from which we develop our senses as we live in thisphysical world. These senses are crucial to the construction of conceptual systembecause our mind is embodied in nature. Meanwhile, polysemy, as an important issuediscussed over and again in philosophy, linguistics, psychology and other disciplines,is a very common linguistic phenomenon. In English, monosemous words which haveonly one sense are very rare except for terms. Polysemous words, as the vast majorityof English vocabulary, bring as much difficulty as fun to English learners. And howpolysemy comes into being never ceases to be the intensely debated issue of linguists.Ever since Lakoff and Johnson's 1980 publication Metaphors We Live By whicheffectively launched the cognitivist movement, "the study of metaphor figuresprominently as one of cognitive linguists' foremost concerns" (Haser，英语论文范文，2017: 1).According to Lakoff and Johnson，the essence of metaphor is 'Hxnderstanding andexperiencing one kind of thing in terms of another" (Lakoff & Johnson，1980:5).More technically, the metaphor can be understood as “ mapping (in the mathematicalsense) from a source domain to a target domain" (Lakoff，1993: 206-207). To supportthis claim, Lakoff and Johnson had their eyes on the external source of evidence forthe structure of our conceptual system language. Following this trend, the currentstudy of polysemous “eye，英语论文题目，，adopts conceptual metaphor as analytic theory as we diginto the linguistic expressions to present the metaphorical structure of the polysemousbody terms.
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1.2 Objective of This Research
The theoretical objective of this research is to reveal the conceptual nature of theexistent polysemy in body terms, to confirm the experiential basis for conceptualmetaphor theory, and to develop my own framework for the study polysemous bodyterms. A fundamental concern for cognitive semanticists is to build up a theory ofconceptual structure consonant with the ways in which we experience the world. Byapplying conceptual metaphor theory into the study of polysemous body terms, thisresearch explores the nature of the relationship between conceptual system and theexternal world of sensory experience. Brugman (1981) and Lakoff (1987) claimedrespectively in their works that polysemy reflects conceptual organization. Thecurrent study of polysemy follows this claim，trying to prove that polysemy existing atthe level of mental representation rather than at the linguistic level only. In addition,this thesis also develops its own framework based on case study approached from theperspectives of cognitive semantics and conceptual metaphor theory. The frameworkdeveloped in the current study takes conceptual metaphor as a unique angle of viewbased on cognitive semantics. And the case study which involves a single case of“eye”，aims at qualitative data and in-depth analysis.
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Chapter Two Literature Review
2.1 Definition of Polysemy
There is no doubt that a majority of the words in most natural languages arepol
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