Abstract：Generally speaking, the category of preposition and conjunction are closed ones in English language. Nevertheless, with the development of the English language, the English preposition/conjunction categories are no longer completely closed. Some English verbs obtain the usage of preposition, and finally become the deverbal prepositions. So does the deverbal conjunctions. This process is called grammaticalization. From the perspective of prototype theory in cognitive linguistics, The paper attempts to define and classify those deverbal prepositions/ conjunctions which have been widely used. Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA) is used to explore the frequency and distribution of the deverbal prepositions/ conjunctions in different genres which can reveal the variation among various deverbal prepositions/ conjunction as well as their feature. 

Key words:deverbal preposition/ conjunction; prototype theory; corpus; genre variation

Contents

Abstract

中文摘要

1. Introduction-1

 1.1 Abroad Previous Studies-1

 1.2 Domestic Previous Studies-2

 1.3 Deficiencies of Previous Studies-3

2. Deverbal Preposition as a Category-3

 2.1 Prototype Theory and Preposition Category-3

 2.2 Classification of Deverbal Prepositions/ Conjunctions-5

  2.2.1 Typical Deverbal Prepositions/ Conjunctions-6

  2.2.2 Intermediate Deverbal Prepositions/ Conjunctions-6

  2.2.3 Peripheral Deverbal Prepositions/ Conjunctions-7

3. A Based-on Corpus Study of Genre Variation of Deverbal Preposition/ Conjunction-7

 3.1 Corpus Description-7

 3.2 Variation of Deverbal Preposition/ Conjunction in Different Genres-9

  3.2.1 Genre Variation of Typical Deverbal Prepositions/ Conjunctions-9

  3.2.2 Genre Variation of Intermediate Deverbal Prepositions/ Conjunctions-13

  3.2.3 Genre Variation of Peripheral Deverbal Prepositions/ Conjunctions-17

4. Conclusion-19

References