A Reflection on Discourse Theory in Cognitive Grammar
HE Xue-qin · Shandong Foreign Language Teaching Journal · 2009
Discourse theory is an eligible part of cognitive grammar.The essentials of this theory can be concluded as some hypotheses on three aspects:discourse unit,meaning unity and meaning construal.Unity and dynamicity within cognitive grammar are the main merits of this theory.In this paper we argue that there exist four shortcomings in this theory:insufficient practice of the discourse unit proposal,inadequacy in analysis of the relation between the holistic discourse and clause development,micro-based principles and complication of analytic technicques.Upon such criticisms,it is proposed that the improvement of this theory can be conducted from the following three aspects:discourse unit,hierarchical discourse relations and holistic construction.