Abstract of thesis entitled A Comparative Study of Linguistic Devices in Expressing Verticality in English and Chinese Submitted by Zhu Jing, Peggy, M-B24159-4 for the degree of Master of Arts in English Studies at the University of Macau As one of the most privileged elements in space, verticality influences human cognition towards space. Spatial expressions of English and Chinese language often fail to match up exactly with each other. This study provides an analysis of linguistic devices in English and Chinese in spatial expressions. It addresses an organized and systematic way to distinguish similarities and differences between English and Chinese in expressing verticality. Adopting a cognitive linguistics (CL) approach and semantic analysis, this study investigates how English prepositions and Chinese coverbs and locative particles have in common and how they differ in spatial use by focusing on typical English spatial prepositions (such as "above", "under", "over" and "below") and Chinese locative particles (such as "-E shång (on top of, above)" and "F xiå (under, below)"). This study adopts Johnson's (1987) and Lakoff s (1987) image-schema and Evans and Tyler's (2005) proto-scene model in clarifying and analyzing English prepositions and Chinese coverbs and locative particles. Furthermore, this study examines vertical expressions in non-spatial domains as well. To verify similarities and differences between English and Chinese vertical expressions, this paper attempts to show how space cognition shapes language and how languages differ in spatial expressions. It is found that English expresses its verticality in spatial and non-spatial domains by the use of prepositions, adjectives, adverbs and compound words. In comparison, Chinese vertical expressions are indicated by the use of postpositions, the combination of coverbs and locative postpositions, the combination of coverbs and locative noun phrases, and compounds. Key Words: verticality, cognition, preposition, coverb, spatial dimension, non-spatial dimension