A view from cognitive linguistics

1999 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 625-625 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ronald W. Langacker
Keyword(s):  
Visual Perception ◽  
Cognitive Linguistics ◽  
Conceptual Structure ◽  
Cognitive Semantics ◽  
Conceptual Content ◽  
Linguistic Structure ◽  
Central Tenet ◽  
Basic Ideas ◽  
General Architecture

Barsalou's contribution converges with basic ideas and empirical findings of cognitive linguistics. They posit the same general architecture. The perceptual grounding of conceptual structure is a central tenet of cognitive linguistics. Our capacity to construe the same situation in alternate ways is fundamental to cognitive semantics, and numerous parallels are discernible between conceptual construal and visual perception. Grammar is meaningful, consisting of schematized patterns for the pairing of semantic and phonological structures. The meanings of grammatical elements reside primarily in the construal they impose on conceptual content. This view of linguistic structure appears to be compatible with Barsalou's proposals.

The conceptual structure of deontic meaning: A model based on geometrical principles

2010 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 191-220 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Chilton
Keyword(s):  
Geometrical Structure ◽  
Conceptual Structure ◽  
Second Order ◽  
Cognitive Semantics ◽  
Space Theory ◽  
Modal Verbs ◽  
Conceptual Space ◽  
Basic Ideas ◽  
Order Reflection ◽  
Natural Way

AbstractDeontic meanings have frequently been considered in relation to epistemic meanings and the present paper introduces a novel framework for investigating this relationship. The paper first introduces the basic ideas in Deictic Space Theory (DST), illustrating the geometrical elements involved with respect to counterfactual conceptualisations. This framework is then used to explore deontic conceptualisations in relation to epistemic conceptualisations. Following the implications of the geometrical structure logic of DST, epistemic concepts are taken as fundamental and as presupposed in deontic meanings. It is argued that counterfactuality, which can be modelled as a geometrical reflection transformation, is crucial to the modelling of the conceptual space of obligation concepts expressed in English modal verbs. It is further argued that a second-order reflection transformation can model permission concepts. Deontic ‘force’ is modelled in a natural way as force vectors, an already assumed ingredient of DST's geometrical framework. Finally the paper considers ways in which this framework does and does not run counter to existing claims about deontic and epistemic meaning in Cognitive Semantics.

scholarly journals A Reflection of Thai Culture in Thai Plant Names

MANUSYA ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 79-97
Author(s):  
Unchalee Singnoi
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Linguistics ◽  
Plant Taxonomy ◽  
Folk Taxonomy ◽  
Linguistic Structure ◽  
Thai Language ◽  
Plant Names ◽  
Traditional Societies ◽  
Cognition And Culture ◽  
Printed Materials ◽  
Thai Culture

The present study focuses on the plant naming system in the Thai language based on 1) Brent Berlin’s general principles of categorization of plants and animals in traditional societies (Berlin, 1974, 1992) which suggest that it is worthwhile to think about a plant taxonomy system on the basis of plant names since the names provide the valid key to folk taxonomy and 2) Lakoff’s central guiding principles of cognitive linguistics (Lakoff and Johnson, 2003 and Lakoff 1987). Data on plant names collected from printed materials are selectively analyzed. The study examines the linguistic structure, folk taxonomy and conceptualization of plant terms in the Thai language. It is found that there exists in the Thai language a complex and practical plant naming system establishing a relationship between language, cognition and culture.

Zur Entstehung und Entwicklung des begriffes „Konzept“ in der kognitiven Semantik

2021 ◽  
pp. 251-259
Author(s):  
Nedas Jurgaitis ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Cognitive Linguistics ◽  
Word Meaning ◽  
Cognitive Semantics ◽  
Subjective Perception ◽  
Scientific Discussion ◽  
European Languages ◽  
The One ◽  
Meta Analyses ◽  
Linguistic Units

The present article deals with the genesis of the notion “concept” in German cognitive semantics. The aim of the study is to present the origin and development of the notion “concept” from a diachronic perspective. The genesis of the notion “concept” in linguistics, particularly cognitive semantics, is an object of discussion. It reveals a connection between ancient ideas about word meaning and trends in modern linguistics. The roots of the notion can be traced back to ancient Greek philosophy – the concept debuts as a primal notion of mental experiences in Aristotle’s writings. However, the controversial translation of ancient works leaves room for scientific discussion regarding the prototype of the notion. In the Middle Ages, the word concept originated in European languages from Latin, later establishing itself in scientific discourse through the influence of Neo-Scholasticism, Frege’s conception of logic and the semiotic triangle, as well as the principle of the arbitrariness of linguistic signs. Finally, the notion concept gains importance in the transition from objective to the subjective perception of the meaning of linguistic units (the shift from structuralism to cognitivism) and becomes under the influence of cognitive psychology, the central term in cognitive linguistics in the 1970s and 1980s. The unconventional use of the notion in linguistic studies, on the one hand, makes meta-analyses of the semantics of certain concepts more difficult; on the other hand, it favours disciplinary and methodological diversity in today’s linguistic research.

scholarly journals PECULIARITIES OF ENGLISH FAIRY TALE SEMANTIC STRUCTURE

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (16) ◽  
pp. 137-143
Author(s):  
N. F. Yeremeieva
Keyword(s):  
Knowledge Representation ◽  
Fairy Tale ◽  
Conceptual Analysis ◽  
Cognitive Linguistics ◽  
Mental Representations ◽  
Cognitive Semantics ◽  
Semantic Structure ◽  
New Approach ◽  
Psychological Space ◽  
Conceptual Space

The article deals with semantics of English folk fairytales. Conceptual analysis is considered to be a new approach to the learning of folk fairytales. This analysis is performed in terms of cognitive linguistics which deals with structures of knowledge representation, which form language signs and speech patterns. The purpose of the investigation is to identify the patterns of structuring of mental representations which form conceptual (psychological) space of folk fairytale texts. They are considered to be the main prerequisite for both the folk fairytale formation and its understanding. While investigating the folk fairytale texts we have used the frame approach for modeling the conceptual space of a folk fairytale as a sign which is characterized by certain semantics .Our investigation develops Propp’s ideas and is connected with conceptual (cognitive) semantics Nowadays formal apparatus for modeling verbalized knowledge is developed within this field of science.

scholarly journals La concettualizzazione del verbo ‘mettere’ in italiano

2021 ◽  
Vol 33 ◽  
pp. 1-17
Author(s):  
Aleksandra Paliczuk
Keyword(s):  
Visual Perception ◽  
Natural Language ◽  
Cognitive Linguistics ◽  
Cognitive Grammar ◽  
Conceptual Structures ◽  
Conceptual Relations ◽  
Linguistic Structures

The conceptualization of space is manifested in language through diverse linguistic structures. Space, one of the most significant analytical categories not only in linguistics, introduces a variety of senses and conceptual relations in the construction of communicative meaning. While there are several approaches to linguistic studies, the most obvious choice for this type of analysis seems to be Cognitive Linguistics, with some of its theoretical currents and the Cognitive Grammar of Ronald W. Langacker (1987, 1991a, 1991b, 1995, 2008) in particular. In his works, Langacker often refers to spatial and visual relationships that provide useful illustrations to depict different conceptual structures and relationships. Indeed, the relations between visual perception and conceptualization concerns numerous aspects of the semantics of natural language (E. Tabakowska, 1999: 59). The paper aims to analyse the concept of the Italian verb ‘mettere’ (‘to put’), apparently simple and yet, as it will be shown, rich and varied in meaning.

Salient ordering of free verse and its translation

2000 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 170-181 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elzbieta Wójcik-Leese
Keyword(s):  
Visual Perception ◽  
Cognitive Linguistics ◽  
Cognitive Strategies ◽  
Visual Design ◽  
Semantic Structure ◽  
Free Verse ◽  
Poetic Form ◽  
Late 20Th Century ◽  
Sensory Imagery ◽  
Ground Organization

In the first Polish attempt to systematically describe free verse Urbafska (1995) argues that this poetic form requires ‘visual perception during mental (silent) reading’. As free verse gradually adapts to late 20th-century culture, where the visual supersedes the oral, the intonation and rhythm of a poem increasingly come to depend on its graphic segmentation. Consequently, the visual design of the poem constitutes its meaning. As cognitive linguistics admits that sensory imagery, also visual, ‘plays a substantial role in conceptual and semantic structure’ (Langacker, 1983), it seems possible to employ the cognitive parameters of focal adjustments to analyse a poem composed in free verse. If we assume that reading such a poem involves ‘scanning through a domain’ of the page and ‘along a line’ of the poem ‘until a contrast is registered’ (Langacker, 1983), then we can discuss the whole poem in terms of the figure/ground organization. The whole poem can thus be treated both as the figure in itself and as the background to each of the verses, which demands from its readers constant readjustment of the viewpoint. Therefore the awareness of the cognitive strategies of focal adjustments may help to analyse syntactic and stylistic resources of the salient ordering offered by free verse. Moreover, it may assist the translation of poems composed in free verse and the assessment of translated texts.

Iconiciteit als taalkundig anker

Lampas ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 51 (4) ◽  
pp. 312-325
Author(s):  
Arjan Nijk
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Linguistics ◽  
Rhetorical Theory ◽  
Linguistic Meaning ◽  
Conceptual Content ◽  
Written Discourse ◽  
Sound Effects ◽  
Communicative Strategy ◽  
Formal Properties ◽  
Iconic Language ◽  
Conceptual Meaning

Abstract One of the central precepts in classical rhetorical theory is that form should match content. In many places, classical rhetoricians encourage their readers to use iconic language, which means that the speech or written discourse resembles the conceptual content in its form (for example, through sound effects, rhythmic patterns, clause length). This presupposes that the processing of the formal properties of the discourse (mainly a perceptual operation) interferes with the processing of the linguistic meaning it conveys (a conceptual operation). The question is how this interaction between the two types of operation can be described in linguistic terms. I argue that a meaningful answer to these questions can be given within the framework of Cognitive Linguistics. In this paradigm, iconicity can be understood as a communicative strategy whereby the depictive aspects of the discourse facilitate the processing of its conceptual meaning.

The Notion of Approximation in Language

2017 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 95-120 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zeki Hamawand
Keyword(s):  
Semantic Content ◽  
The State ◽  
The Other ◽  
Cognitive Semantics ◽  
Conceptual Content ◽  
The World ◽  
Different Dimensions

This paper seeks to explicate the notion of approximation in language: the state of being close or near to a desired number or amount. Approximation is used to reflect a lack of exact knowledge. This paper adopts Cognitive Semantics and attempts to apply two of its fundamental claims to the description of markers denoting approximation. One claim is that all linguistic elements posited in language have semantic content. On the basis of this claim, the paper argues that a marker of approximation has conceptual content of its own which conditions its presence in a construction. Each marker adds semantic import to the construction in which it occurs. The other claim is that the use of a lexical expression is the outcome of the specific construal imposed on a situation. On the basis of this claim, the paper argues that the uses of approximating markers represent different dimensions of construal. Each marker signals a different perspective of the speaker in describing the world. The aim is to show, based on examples, that approximating markers are not random choices. Each marker has a distinct message in the language.

Metaphorical conceptualization of emotion in Spanish

2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 20-41 ◽  
Author(s):  
Florencia Reali ◽  
Catalina Arciniegas
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Linguistics ◽  
Conceptual Metaphor ◽  
Conceptual Structure ◽  
The Body ◽  
Corpus Analysis ◽  
Conceptual Metaphor Theory ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Metaphor Theory ◽  
Bounded Space ◽  
Concrete Concepts

Over the last two decades, accumulating work in cognitive science and cognitive linguistics has provided evidence that language shapes thought. Conceptual metaphor theory proposes that the conceptual structure of emotions emerges through metaphorization from concrete concepts such as spatial orientation and physical containment. Primary metaphors for emotions have been described in a wide range of languages. Here we show, in Study 1, the results of a corpus analysis revealing that certain metaphors such as EMOTIONS ARE FLUIDS and EMOTIONS ARE BOUNDED SPACEs are quite natural in Spanish. Moreover, the corpus data reveal that the bounded space source domain is more frequently mapped onto negative emotions. In Study 2, we consider the question of whether the instantiation of metaphorical framing influences the way we think about emotions. A questionnaire experiment was conducted to explore this question, focusing on the Spanish case of locura (‘madness’). Our results show that when madness was framed as a fluid filling a container (the body), people tended to rate symptoms as less enduring and as more likely to be caused by social and environmental factors, compared with when it was framed as a place in space. Results are discussed in the light of conceptual metaphor theory.

scholarly journals CONTROLLED AND NON-CONTROLLED SITUATIONS AND THEIR CONCEPTUALIZATION BY THE VERB FIND

2021 ◽  
pp. 57-66
Author(s):  
Татьяна Ивановна Семенова ◽  
Анна Александровна Чапайкина
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Linguistics ◽  
Theoretical Perspective ◽  
Cognitive Strategies ◽  
Theoretical Background ◽  
Cognitive Semantics ◽  
Cognitive Mechanisms ◽  
Lexical Meaning ◽  
The Road ◽  
Taxonomic Category ◽  
On The Road

Введение. Исследованы когнитивные основания лексической полисемии и описаны принципы организации системы значений многозначного слова. Актуальность исследования заключается в динамическом подходе к языковому значению как к способу и результату концептуализации структур знания. Объектом исследования являются конструкции с глаголом find типа Finally I found the wallet; He found a wallet on the road. Значение глагола find трактуется как когнитивный феномен, за которым стоит пропозициональная структура знания о ситуации обнаружения. Цель – выявить семантические и концептуальные характеристики прототипической когнитивной модели ситуации обнаружения и установить когнитивные факторы и механизмы, влияющие на концептуальную вариативность прототипической ситуации. Материал и методы. Использовались принципы и методы когнитивной семантики, в рамках которой значение понимается как концептуализация когнитивного взаимодействия человека с миром. Результаты и обсуждение. Выявлены параметры лексического значения глагола find, которые определяют основные механизмы образования производных значений и парадигму многозначности глагола. Обоснованы категориальные значения данного глагола. На основе признаков агентивность/неагентивность глагол find актуализирует в зависимости от когнитивного контекста либо таксономическую категорию действие с акцентом на результате, либо происшествие. Установлено, что изменение таксономической категории глагола find является механизмом семантической деривации производного неагентивного значения, посредством которого концептуализируется неконтролируемая ситуация обнаружения. Выявлены и описаны семантические, синтаксические, прагматические характеристики контролируемой и неконтролируемой ситуаций обнаружения. Когнитивно значимыми для концепта контролируемой ситуации обнаружения являются пресуппозиция поисковой деятельности и конкретно-референтный статус актантов. Концепт ситуации неконтролируемого обнаружения задает роль участника-каузатора в позиции синтаксического субъекта и активирует компонент «сопутствующая деятельность». Заключение. Результаты исследования обладают экпланаторным потенциалом для понимания когнитивных механизмов образования производных значений многозначного глагола, что вносит вклад в дальнейшее развитие концепции когнитивной семантики. Introduction. The theoretical background of the research is a set of principles and assumptions of cognitive linguistics to the study of the meaning of a linguistic form in the context of other cognitive structures. The theoretical perspective of the paper is to consider semantic shifts of the verb find. The goal of the research is to highlight cognitive mechanisms underlying alternative construal of the situations conceptualized by the verb find and reveal cognitive strategies of verbal semantic derivation. Material and methods. The research is based on the empirical data from available sources and corpora data. The study is conducted within the framework of cognitive semantics where language meaning is viewed as knowledge structure. Results and discussion. The paper considers the phenomenon of lexical polysemy from a cognitive perspective. Of particular concern is the issue of semantic extension of the polysemantic verb find. The study brings into focus such parameters of the verbal meaning as taxonomic category of the verb, semantic roles of the participants and their referential status. It is argued that the change of any parameter causes semantic shifts of the lexical meaning of the verb find. The paper discusses two taxonomic categories of the verb find “achievements” and “happenings”. The author comes to the conclusion that the semantic difference between the constructions like Finally he found the wallet and He found a coin in the dust lies in the semantic component “+control”/“–control”. The study highlights semantic and syntactic features of the controlled and non-controlled situations conceptualized by the agentive meaning and non-agentive meaning of the verb find. Conclusion. The results of the research reveal that the change of the taxonomic category of the verb is a cognitive mechanism of verbal semantic derivation. The results obtained may be helpful for further study of productive semantic derivation processes in the framework of cognitive semantics.

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