Abstract：Affixation is a word-forming mechanism helping to expose the internal element of a typical unit of word. Serving as a grammatical element, an affix puts more emphasis on the morphological structure rather than the semantic meaning of the word. With the influence of cultural fusion and inheritance in language system, cognitive pattern of affixation in inpiduals’ mindsets has taken shape. Although English affixation possesses too much theoretical knowledge, to study the involved cognitive patterns stresses more pragmatic significance in the use of English affixes and affixation.

The study on the cognitive patterns of English affixation from a pragmatic perspective benefits language learners in effectively promoting their degree of understanding and ability of mastery. What’s more, it will have a direct effect on the internal development of lexicon and the whole language system. The practicality of affixation cognition makes communication among humans briefer as well as more accurate.

Based on the Prototype Theory, this paper firstly posts a general illustration of English affixes and its development, involving three main positions of a word (pre-, post- and in-). After summarizing the cognitive patterns in affixation through typical cases in works of literature as well as everyday conversations, the researcher makes an exhaustive analysis on affixational effects generated by cognitive patterns from the theory of cognitive linguistics, namely the emergence of quasi-affixes, the impact of regulations by affixational cognition in different circumstances and the significance of affixational cognition in both literary and social fields. Besides, a comparison between English and Chinese affixes aims to find out the cognitive patterns involved in both word formation systems. Finally, a summary and the insufficiency of this research are provided to highlight the pragmatic significance of the research and to call for more fervent attention to the relevant issues and studies.

Key Words: English affixes, affixation, theories of cognitive linguistics, cognitive patterns, pragmatic significance

摘要：词缀法是针对词的内部成分所研究的构词方法，英语中将词作为最小的单位，也叫做词素，汉语中称之为语素。一个单词作为一个词素单位来看待时，更注重的不是该词语作为整体所发挥出的作用，而是探讨构成该词的各个“小零件”——单词的组成成分的性质和意义，以及通过词缀构词法如何让这些成分相匹配并且形成新词。同时，随着不同语言文化的传承与交融对人们思维模式的影响，人们对这些新产生的词语认知度也逐渐提高，并且逐渐形成一种认知机制，有规律的将它们广泛地应用于学习工作还有生活的各种场合。英语词缀法也许偏向理论化，但人们对英语词缀法的运用所形成的认知规律却更具有现实意义。

对词缀法构词中认知规律的现实意义研究，不但有利于进一步认识英语语言学构词形式的普遍性和特殊性，提高语言学习者在英语语言学习上的掌握度和理解程度，也会在很大程度上增强对英语词汇的认知、理解，而且研究它的现实意义对于社会内在发展也有一定推动作用，能够随着社会的发展趋势不断地产出符合时代特点和形式要求的新词语。通过认知规律的产生使其在现实中具有一定的可操作性并且有一定的价值，使人们的沟通也能更加简洁、精确。

本文首先对英语词缀法和词缀法形成的基本要素——词缀（包括前、中、后缀）从原型范畴理论的角度进行了系统性的分析；通过具体的文学作品案例和日常生活中的对话案例，笔者从认知语言学的角度针对词缀法的认知规律做了归纳与总结，并对其认知机制所产生的影响做了具体分析，包括类词缀的产生，词缀法的认知产生的规律对语篇分析和对话的影响，以及对文学和社会领域所产生的影响；其次，以汉语为例，比较两种语言的词缀法的认知机制的异同；最后，从现实意义的角度出发，对所研究词缀法的认知规律的形成进行总结归纳，并提出本次研究的局限性以便引起更多相关领域问题的关注和研究。