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ysemous，which means that they have at least two meanings that are related to eachother. The word “polysemy” was first created by French semanticist Michael Breal(Nerlich, 2003: 49), but the study of polysemy can be tracked back to the ancientGreek times. Taylor (1995) defines "polysemy" as the phenomenon of parallelismbetween one lexical form and more than two senses. Langacker (1991) defines it asthe phenomenon of parallelism between one abstract meaning and different language6 uses of it.From the angle of cognitive semanticist and combined with the research need ofthis thesis, our definition of polysemy is as follows: polysemy is a conceptualphenomenon as well as a linguistic phenomenon; at conceptual level, polysemy is anetwork of lexical concepts among which there is usually a central or typical conceptthat relates all the other concepts; at the linguistic level, polysemy is the phenomenonwhere at least two related senses share the same lexical form; as the guiding principleof cognitive semantics indicates, the linguistic phenomenon of polysemy is one wayhuman beings externalized the mental world of conceptual organization.
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2.2 Traditional Research Issues

2.2.1 Semantic Change
The study of semantic change is the study of how word meaning changes withthe evolution of language system. It is traditionally perceived as a general mechanismfor the generation of polysemy. Within the study of semantic change, meaning changeof words is studied in a diachronic way in a broad context. Traditional researches identify various types of mechanism for semantic change.Stem (1931) identifies seven types of mechanism for semantic change. They aresubstitution, analogy，shortening，nomination, regular transfer，permutation, andadequation. However, his classification does not neatly distinguish between processesand causes of semantic change. The most widely accepted classification scheme formechanisms of semantic change is suggested by Bloomfield (1933) as followed:narrowing，widening, metaphor, metonymy，synecdoche, hyperbole, meiosis,degeneration, and elevation. More recent researches by Blank (1999) and Grzega(1997) further complete and enlarge the list of mechanisms for semantic change intheir work respectively.Among the various mechanisms for semantic change, metaphor and metonymyare the two most frequently-listed and distinct types of mechanism for generating newmeanings. Bloomfield (1933) regards metaphor as change based on similarity of thingand metonymy as change based on nearness in space or time. For example,"broadcast" originally meant 'to cast seeds out"; however，with the advent of radioand television, the words was extended to indicate the transmission of audio and videosignals. This is how metaphor works in the process of semantic change. Blank (1999)regards metaphor as change based on similarity between concepts and metonymy aschange based on contiguity between concepts. And according to Blank (1999)，themotivations which trigger semantic change can be summarized as linguistic forces,psychological forces，sociocultural force, and encyclopedic forces. Earlier researcheson semantic change such as studies of Stem or Bloomfield treat the variousmechanisms as creative forces of language only; but recent trend such as Blank'swork on this subject tend to approach mechanisms of semantic change in a cognitiveway.
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