Manual action motivates networked meanings of a productive construction in Mandarin

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steffi H. Hung
Keyword(s):  
Language Use ◽  
Action Verb ◽  
Clear Cut ◽  
Semantic Extension ◽  
Light Verb ◽  
Multiple Meanings

Abstract This study analyzes the manual action verb dǎ as part of the [dǎ – NP] construction in Chinese corpora. Drawing on constructionist perspectives on language productivity (Goldberg 2006; Gries 2012), I show that [dǎ – NP] is a productive construction the multiple meanings of which are conceptually motivated by manual action. The type-token distributions show the productivity of the [dǎ – NP] schema and the semantic clusters in a network of meanings show a gradation of manual action experiences with no clear-cut boundaries. Usage productivity goes hand in hand with semantic extension, which gives rise to the emergence of the light verb dǎ. Contra previous morpheme-based studies that viewed dǎ a polysemy in its own right, isolation from its network of collocates, I argue that polysemy is a consequence and an epiphenomenon of constructional productivity resulting from language use and exemplar propagation.

scholarly journals فاعلية السياق وحيز المعنى عند ستيفن أولمان/ The effectiveness of context on the realm of meaning according to Stephen Ullmann

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 62-83
Author(s):  
Kamal Allush
Keyword(s):  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Emotional Context ◽  
Temporal Aspects ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Multiple Meanings ◽  
Valuable Role ◽  
Context Theory

ملخص البحث:   تتطلع أهداف هذه الورقة البحثية إلى مقاربة مفاهمية للسياق عند ستيفن أولمان، وفاعليته في المعنى المرتبط بحيز زماني ومكاني وفضاء دلالي موجود على مستوى الذهن هو جزء من هذا الأخير، وأثر كل من السياق والمعنى  في توجيه دلالات الخطاب، وسيعتمد البحث المنهج الوصفي وتفعيل أداة التحليل للتعامل مع مقولاته المتعلقة بالمعنى النفسي الخاضع للسياق العاطفي، ومنطقة المعنى وتناوب المعنى وتعدده، وخضوع المعنى لقانون التضاؤل التدريجي، ومن ثمة يمكن اعتماد منهجية ترتكز إلى التدرج في طرح مادة البحث والإضافات التي قدمها وكانت سبباً في ارتقائها وتطورها تدريجياً مقارنة بما قدمه مؤسسها جون فيرث. توصلت الدراسة إلى ما يأتي:  شيد ستيفن أولمان بقيمة نظرية السياق وما حققته من إنجازات فعلية في التعامل مع المعنى وتقديم نظرية تغطي حاجات الباحثين من علماء الدلالة وتحليل الخطاب واللسانيات بفروعها، وتجلت لمسته الخاصة فيما أضافه لهذه النظرية حتى يكتمل بناؤها؛ إذ أسس قيمة للسياق العاطفي المتضمن المعاني النفسية المشحونة بانفعالات منتجي الخطاب ومتلقيه، وأعطى للمعنى توجهاً نفسياً يمكن للسياق الخطابي أن يعدل في توجيهه على الرغم من ذلك الحيز الذي يشغله فضاء المعنى المفروض من قبل الاستعمال اللغوي، وبإمكانه أن يتعرض في بعض الحالات إلى قانون التضاؤل التدريجي فيفقد تلك الشحنة العاطفية المتدرجة أثناء لحظات إنتاج الخطاب . الكلمات المفتاحية: السياق-الفاعلية-المعنى-منطقة المعنى-تضاؤل المعنى.   Abstract This paper intends to conceptually approach Stephen Ullmann’s notion about the context and its contribution to the spatial-temporal aspects related meaning, mentally present within the semantic frame. The present study looks also at the influence of both the context and meaning in directing the message of the discourse. The approach will be hence applied according to the context theory presented in his book entitled “The Role of the Word in the Language". The study tackles the topic descriptively through analyzing his views on the psychological meaning influenced by the emotional context, the meaning zone, the alternative, and multiple meanings as well as the subjection of meaning to the rule of gradual diminishing of meaning. Subsequently, a methodology can be focused to subsequently approach the subject of the study and the additions that he put forward as they are the reason in their eventual progress in comparison with what has been presented by Firth as its founder. The study concludes with the following:  Ullman had established a theory of context that explains actual actions in dealing with meaning. He had also presented a theory that covers the needs of researchers among the scholars of semantics, discourse analysis and other branches of linguistics. His personal touch is in the additions he made that contributed to the completion of the theory. This was when he establishes the valuable role of the emotional context that comprises psychological meanings that are charged with the emotions of the text producer and its receivers. He also gave psychological orientation to meaning that would enable the context of discourse to incline to in its orientation albeit the biases that occupies the realm of meaning as imposed by the language use as it can be exposed on some occasions to the rule of eventual diminishing that would lose the emotional charge while in the process of producing the text.   Keywords: Context - Effectiveness – Meaning realm - Area of meaning - Diminishing meaning.   Abstrak Kajian ini bertujuan secara konsepnya untuk membincangkan pendapat Ullman berkenaan dengan konteks dan sumbangannya terhadap aspek masa dan tempat yang berkaitan dengan masa yang secara sedarnya terangkum di dalam kerangka semantik. Kajian ini turut membincangkan pengaruh kedua-dua konteks dan maksud dalam membentuk tujuan mesej dalam sesebuah wacana. Pendekatan ini akan digunakan mengikut teori konteks yang terdapat di dalam buku beliau yang berjudul “Perana Perkataan dalam bahasa”. Kajian ini juga menteliti isu ini secara deskriptif dengan menganalisa pendapat beliau tentang aspek psikologi makna yang dipengaruhi konteks emosi, zon makna, alternatif perkataan dan kepelbagaian makna juga bagaimana semuanya adalah tertakluk kepada pengarauh undang-undang kehilangan makna secara berperingkat. Seterusnya, satu pendekatan kajian boleh difokuskan untuk  mendekati subjek kajian  dan tambahan pendapat-pendapatnya yang dilihat sebagai sebab perkembangan teori koteks jika dibandingkan dengan apa yang telah dikemukakan oleh Firth sebagai pengasas teori tersebut. Kajian ini merumuskan yang berikut: Ullman telah memulakan satu teori berkenaan konteks yang menerangkan perlakuan sebenar dalam menangani makna. Beliau juga mengemukakan satu teori yang meliputi keperluan para pengkaji dalam kalangan pakar semantik, analisa wacana dan lain-lain cabang-cabang lain dalam linguistic. Sentuhan peribadai beliau dalam tambahan-tambahan pendapat yang beliau buat telah menyumbang kepada penyempurnaan teori tersebut. Ini adalah apablia beliau menekankan peranan penting konteks emosi yang  mengandungi maksud psikologi yang penuh dengan emosi penghantar dan penerima mesej. Disamping itu belau juga memberikan orientasi psikologi kepada makna yang akan membenarkan konteks sesuatu wacana cenderung kepada kebiasaannya walaupun terdapat kecenderungan dalam dunia makna yang dikawal oleh bahasa itu sendiri yang boleh dikaitkan dengan undang-undang kehilangan makna secara berperingkat yang akan membuatkan kesan emosi itu ketika dalam proses menghasilan sesuatu teks.   Kata kunci: Koteks – Keberkesanan – Dunia Makna – Jangkauan Makna – Makna yang menghilang.

Language use and educational success: An empirical response to Joan Tough's the Development of Meaning’ (1977)

1977 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 9-34 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gordon Wells
Keyword(s):  
Social Class ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Strong Relationship ◽  
Educational Success ◽  
Negotiation Of Meaning ◽  
Clear Cut ◽  
Curriculum Project ◽  
One Year ◽  
Published Research

Tough's recently published research on children's use of language, which forms the basis for a large-scale curriculum project, sets out to demonstrate a strong relationship between complexity of language use and social class. This paper1 reports a partial replication of Tough's approach, based on data collected in the Bristol longitudinal study of language development. The main findings are that, using Tough's scheme for analysing language, there is no clear-cut relationship between language use and either social class or educational success after one year of schooling. The discrepancies between the results of the two studies are attributed to (a) the distortion introduced into Tough's study by the comparison of polarised social-class groups, and (b) the non-interactive conception of communication that underlies her analysis of language use. It is suggested that what differentiates children in their preparedness for school is the extent of their experience of ‘negotiation of meaning’ through language, and that such experience can be found in homes from all social classes.

Secret language and resistance to borrowing in Chini

2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 83-94
Author(s):  
Joseph Brooks
Keyword(s):  
Language Use ◽  
New Guinea ◽  
Linguistic Practice ◽  
Semantic Extension ◽  
The Creation ◽  
Degree Of Overlap ◽  
Do So

Abstract In Chini, a language of northeastern New Guinea, speakers rely on principles of semantic extension including metonymy, metaphor, and other types of association to create new terms using material from the vernacular. They do so in a special sociolinguistically marked register referred to here as ‘secret language’, a linguistic practice not unheard of in New Guinea. The same principles at work in secret language can also be seen in the creation of terms for new, modern concepts in the sociolinguistically unmarked register of the language. There is additionally some degree of overlap between the two registers, since what were originally secret language terms have entered into use in the unmarked register. This suggests that secret language has been a resource for resistance to borrowing and brings into focus the larger point that any understanding of borrowability should be rooted in the local sociolinguistic context, to the locally relevant ideologies at work and the particular creative principles of language use that speakers employ.

scholarly journals On some problems of meaning - polysemy between sense enumeration and core meaning paradigms

2014 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 146-163
Author(s):  
Nikola Dobric
Keyword(s):  
Language Use ◽  
Mental Lexicon ◽  
Lexical Item ◽  
The Other ◽  
Everyday Language ◽  
Phonological Form ◽  
Theoretical View ◽  
Multiple Meanings ◽  
Cognitive Frameworks ◽  
Core Meaning

Polysemy is a semantic phenomenon which occurs when one lexical item has more meanings which can be seen as related to each other. It is to be distinguished from the other extreme pole of ambiguity, homonymy, which occurs when two or more unrelated meanings are by means of an etymological accident tied to the same orthographic and/or phonological form. Even though polysemy can be considered as a non-issue, since discourse easily solves all of the problems of possible ambiguity for use in everyday language use, accounting for it (in an systematic manner) in terms of how polysemy is represented in the mental lexicon and how to account for the criteria governing the meaning distinctions and the interaction of meanings, for example, is a challenge still not fully met. The paper first gives an overview of the existing theoretical accounts of polysemy which arose over the course of the last two centuries to meet one of the said challenges, namely how polysemy is represented in our minds. The discussion is followed up by a conclusion of the predominant and most plausible theoretical view on multiple meanings stemming from the presented philosophical, semantic, and cognitive frameworks and models.

Linguistic Competence in Aphasia

2008 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 87-92
Author(s):  
Leonard L. LaPointe
Keyword(s):  
Language Use ◽  
Linguistic Competence ◽  
Careful Study ◽  
Feral Children ◽  
Performance Factors ◽  
Performance Loss ◽  
Linguistic Rules ◽  
Communication Goals ◽  
Aphasia Treatment ◽  
And Performance

Abstract Loss of implicit linguistic competence assumes a loss of linguistic rules, necessary linguistic computations, or representations. In aphasia, the inherent neurological damage is frequently assumed by some to be a loss of implicit linguistic competence that has damaged or wiped out neural centers or pathways that are necessary for maintenance of the language rules and representations needed to communicate. Not everyone agrees with this view of language use in aphasia. The measurement of implicit language competence, although apparently necessary and satisfying for theoretic linguistics, is complexly interwoven with performance factors. Transience, stimulability, and variability in aphasia language use provide evidence for an access deficit model that supports performance loss. Advances in understanding linguistic competence and performance may be informed by careful study of bilingual language acquisition and loss, the language of savants, the language of feral children, and advances in neuroimaging. Social models of aphasia treatment, coupled with an access deficit view of aphasia, can salve our restless minds and allow pursuit of maximum interactive communication goals even without a comfortable explanation of implicit linguistic competence in aphasia.

Shoulder Pain at Work: Causation Analysis

2017 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 11-16
Author(s):  
Joel Weddington ◽  
Charles N. Brooks ◽  
Mark Melhorn ◽  
Christopher R. Brigham
Keyword(s):  
Epidemiological Data ◽  
Case Law ◽  
Individual Case ◽  
Shoulder Injury ◽  
Work Related ◽  
Clear Cut ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Causation Analysis ◽  
Injury Causation ◽  
Relevant Factors

Abstract In most cases of shoulder injury at work, causation analysis is not clear-cut and requires detailed, thoughtful, and time-consuming causation analysis; traditionally, physicians have approached this in a cursory manner, often presenting their findings as an opinion. An established method of causation analysis using six steps is outlined in the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine Guidelines and in the AMA Guides to the Evaluation of Disease and Injury Causation, Second Edition, as follows: 1) collect evidence of disease; 2) collect epidemiological data; 3) collect evidence of exposure; 4) collect other relevant factors; 5) evaluate the validity of the evidence; and 6) write a report with evaluation and conclusions. Evaluators also should recognize that thresholds for causation vary by state and are based on specific statutes or case law. Three cases illustrate evidence-based causation analysis using the six steps and illustrate how examiners can form well-founded opinions about whether a given condition is work related, nonoccupational, or some combination of these. An evaluator's causal conclusions should be rational, should be consistent with the facts of the individual case and medical literature, and should cite pertinent references. The opinion should be stated “to a reasonable degree of medical probability,” on a “more-probable-than-not” basis, or using a suitable phrase that meets the legal threshold in the applicable jurisdiction.

Suicide and the Media

Crisis ◽  
2001 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 163-169 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Warwick Blood ◽  
Jane Pirkis
Keyword(s):  
Social Learning Theory ◽  
The Body ◽  
Media Content ◽  
Causal Association ◽  
Media Messages ◽  
Film And Television ◽  
Media Portrayal ◽  
The Media ◽  
Actual Suicide ◽  
Multiple Meanings

Summary: The body of evidence suggests that there is a causal association between nonfictional media reporting of suicide (in newspapers, on television, and in books) and actual suicide, and that there may be one between fictional media portrayal (in film and television, in music, and in plays) and actual suicide. This finding has been explained by social learning theory. The majority of studies upon which this finding is based fall into the media “effects tradition,” which has been criticized for its positivist-like approach that fails to take into account of media content or the capacity of audiences to make meaning out of messages. A cultural studies approach that relies on discourse and frame analyses to explore meanings, and that qualitatively examines the multiple meanings that audiences give to media messages, could complement the effects tradition. Together, these approaches have the potential to clarify the notion of what constitutes responsible reporting of suicide, and to broaden the framework for evaluating media performance.

Review of Critical Essays on Language Use and Psychology.

1991 ◽  
Vol 36 (7) ◽  
pp. 641-641
Author(s):  
No authorship indicated
Keyword(s):  
Language Use
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