Abstract:
The purposes of this study are 1) to subcategorize the meanings of được acquire 2) to analyze semantic and syntactic properties of the verb 3) to study the relationship between these meanings and 4) to analyze the cognitive processes for meaning extension of the verb. This study is based on the cognitive semantic approach. The theory of Principled Polysemy is applied as criteria for meaning sub-categorization and the theory of Four Categories of Polysemy is used in order to analyze the process of meaning extension. The results show that the meaning of the verb được extends into 2 major types of meanings; 1) lexical meaning and 2) grammatical meaning. They can be divided into 12 minor meanings; (1) to possess the target object (2) to win (3) to have a sex relation (4) to be alright (5) to possess a chance to do something (6) passive marker (7) accomplishment aspect marker (8) achievement aspect marker (9) agent-oriented modality (10) root possibility modality (11) speaker-oriented modality and (12) epistemic modality. The meanings of được are related to one another radially and form as a semantic network. Meaning (1), which is the most basic, is considered to be the central meaning that give rise to meanings (2) (5), while only meanings (6) (12) that extend from meaning (2). The meaning extension of the verb is activated by 2 cognitive processes, namely metonymy and grammaticalization. Metonymy plays an important role in bringing about semantic extension of lexical meanings, while grammaticalization causes được to change its status from verb into grammatical marker.