scholarly journals Semantic analysis of body parts in emotion terminology: Avoiding the exoticisms of “obstinate monosemy” and “online extension”

2002 ◽  
Vol 10 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 85-106 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Semantic Analysis ◽  
Linguistic Meaning ◽  
Body Parts ◽  
Conceptual Category ◽  
Methodological Issues ◽  
Central Concern ◽  
Emotion Experience ◽  
Linguistic Evidence ◽  
Established Fact ◽  
Is Failure

Investigation of the emotions entails reference to words and expressions conventionally used for the description of emotion experience. Important methodological issues arise for emotion researchers, and the issues are of similarly central concern in linguistic semantics more generally. I argue that superficial and/or inconsistent description of linguistic meaning can have seriously misleading results. This paper is firstly a critique of standards in emotion research for its tendency to underrate and ill-understood linguistic semantics. It is secondly a critique of standards in some approaches to linguistic semantics itself. Two major problems occur. The first is failure to distinguish between conceptually distinct meanings of single words, neglecting the well-established fact that a single phonological string can signify more than one conceptual category (i.e., that words can be polysemous). The second error involves failure to distinguish between two kinds of secondary uses of words: (1) those which are truly active “online” extensions, and (2) those which are conventionalised secondary meanings and not active (qua “extensions”) at all. These semantic considerations are crucial to conclusions one may draw about cognition and conceptualisation based on linguistic evidence.

Semantic analysis of body parts in emotion terminology

2002 ◽  
Vol 10 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 85-106 ◽  
Author(s):  
N.J. Enfield
Keyword(s):  
Semantic Analysis ◽  
Linguistic Meaning ◽  
Body Parts ◽  
Conceptual Category ◽  
Methodological Issues ◽  
Central Concern ◽  
Emotion Experience ◽  
Linguistic Evidence ◽  
Established Fact ◽  
Is Failure

Investigation of the emotions entails reference to words and expressions conventionally used for the description of emotion experience. Important methodological issues arise for emotion researchers, and the issues are of similarly central concern in linguistic semantics more generally. I argue that superficial and/or inconsistent description of linguistic meaning can have seriously misleading results. This paper is firstly a critique of standards in emotion research for its tendency to underrate and ill-understood linguistic semantics. It is secondly a critique of standards in some approaches to linguistic semantics itself. Two major problems occur. The first is failure to distinguish between conceptually distinct meanings of single words, neglecting the well-established fact that a single phonological string can signify more than one conceptual category (i.e., that words can be polysemous). The second error involves failure to distinguish between two kinds of secondary uses of words: (1) those which are truly active “online” extensions, and (2) those which are conventionalised secondary meanings and not active (qua “extensions”) at all. These semantic considerations are crucial to conclusions one may draw about cognition and conceptualisation based on linguistic evidence.

scholarly journals Experiencer as quasi-agent: «from meaning to the linguistic form»

2020 ◽  
Vol 40 ◽  
pp. 112-136
Author(s):  
М.А. Fomina ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Semantic Analysis ◽  
Linguistic Analysis ◽  
Functional Approach ◽  
Conceptual Category ◽  
Linguistic Representation ◽  
Linguistic Form ◽  
Grammatical Subject

The paper focuses on the category of semantic subject within the framework of a functional approach to linguistics. The variety of roles subject may have in a sentence accounts for the radially structured category of subject. With the agent subject being the center of the category, other members – Possessor, Experiencer, Neutral, etc. – appear to be scattered within the syntactical category of subject being more central or peripheral. The paper deals with the Experiencer subject. The author stresses the key role of a well-elaborated metalanguage in linguistic analysis and assumes that a thorough analysis of the relevant conceptual category, its structure and content, should precede the stage of developing a metalanguage. The paper 1) differentiates between similar though not interchangeable notions such as semantic subject, grammatical subject, and the bearer of predicative feature, 2) features the peripheral status of the Experiencer within the category of semantic subject, 3) reveals the means of its linguistic representation, 4) makes a structural and semantic analysis of the models with the Experiencer.

“Reciprocity”

2009 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 103-174 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Wierzbicka
Keyword(s):  
Evolutionary Psychology ◽  
Conceptual Analysis ◽  
Semantic Analysis ◽  
Explanatory Power ◽  
Linguistic Typology ◽  
Semantic Approach ◽  
Shared Intentionality ◽  
Linguistic Evidence ◽  
Considerable Detail

This paper develops a semantic approach to the study of “reciprocity” — an area increasingly seen as central to linguistic typology. “Reciprocal” and “reflexive-reciprocal” constructions from five languages — English, Russian, Polish, French and Japanese — are analyzed in considerable detail. The different, though interrelated, meanings of these constructions are explicated, and the proposed explications are supported with linguistic evidence. The paper challenges current approaches which tend to lump formally and semantically distinct constructions under one arbitrary label such as “RECIP”, and it seeks to show how linguistic typology can be transformed by joining forces with rigorous cross-linguistic semantics. It also challenges the Nijmegen School approach, which privileges extensionalist “video-clipping” over conceptual analysis. The analysis presented in the paper demonstrates the descriptive and explanatory power of the NSM methodology. The results achieved through semantic analysis are shown to be convergent with hypotheses about “shared intentionality” put forward by Michael Tomasello and colleagues in the context of evolutionary psychology, and to throw new light on social universals (“human sociality”).

Body and emotion

2002 ◽  
Vol 10 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 341-367 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ning Yu
Keyword(s):  
Semantic Analysis ◽  
Cultural Models ◽  
Body Part ◽  
The Body ◽  
Body Parts ◽  
Emotional Experiences ◽  
Emotional Symptoms ◽  
Internal Organs ◽  
Internal Body ◽  
External Body

This study presents a semantic analysis of how emotions and emotional experiences are described in Chinese. It focuses on conventionalized expressions in Chinese, namely compounds and idioms, which contain body-part terms. The body-part terms are divided into two classes: those denoting external body parts and those denoting internal body parts or organs. It is found that, with a few exceptions, the expressions involving external body parts are originally metonymic, describing emotions in terms of their externally observable bodily events and processes. However, once conventionalized, these expressions are also used metaphorically regardless of emotional symptoms or gestures. The expressions involving internal organs evoke imaginary bodily images that are primarily metaphorical. It is found that the metaphors, though imaginary in nature, are not really all arbitrary. They seem to have a bodily or psychological basis, although they are inevitably influenced by cultural models.

scholarly journals The Famous Poet in Harpur’s Poem

ATAVISME ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-30
Author(s):  
Henriono Nugroho
Keyword(s):  
Subject Matter ◽  
Semantic Analysis ◽  
Research Result ◽  
Literary Work ◽  
Linguistic Meaning ◽  
Stylistic Analysis ◽  
Semiotic System ◽  
Literary Meaning ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Descriptive Method

This research aims to discuss literary work through stylistic analysis based on sistemic functional linguistics and literature semiotic system. The research methods used are the librarian study, descriptive method and objective intrinsic approach. The research result shows that the semantic analysis has produced the automatized linguistic meaning and foregrounded linguistic meaning. Next, the first meaning produces the subject matter and the secong meaning produces the literary meaning. Later, the literary meaning produces theme. Finally, it is proved that the subject matter tells about harmony; the literary meaning is about Shelley’s fame; and, the theme is about a famous poet. Abstrak: Penelitian ini bertujuan mengkaji karya sastra melalui analisis stilistika berdasarkan ilmu bahasa fungsional sistemik dan sistem semiotik karya sastra. Metode penelitian menggunakan studi pustaka, metode deskriptif, dan pendekatan intrinsik objektif. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa analisis semantik menghasilkan makna bahasa latar belakang (the automatized linguistic meaning) dan makna bahasa latar depan (the foregrounded linguistic meaning). Makna pertama menghasilkan masalah utama (subject matter) dan makna kedua menghasilkan makna sastra (literary meaning). Makna sastra menghasilkan tema. Masalah utama berkisah tentang harmoni, makna sastra tentang ketenaran Shelley, dan tema tentang seorang penyair terkenal. Kata kunci: makna bahasa latar belakang, makna bahasa latar depan, makna sastra, tema.

scholarly journals An Assessment of (Mentalist) Cognitive Semantics

2016 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-42 ◽  
Author(s):  
Esa Itkonen
Keyword(s):  
Semantic Analysis ◽  
Mental Representations ◽  
The Other ◽  
Linguistic Meaning ◽  
Cognitive Semantics ◽  
Fundamental Issue ◽  
Statistical Explanation ◽  
Level Of Consciousness ◽  
The One ◽  
Linguistic Behaviour

Common claims within cognitive semantics (e.g. Johnson 1987; Lakoff 1987; Langacker 1987) are that “the most fundamental issue in linguistic theory is the nature of meaning” and “meaning is a matter of conceptualization”. But the latter claim creates a problem. On the one hand, for many cognitive semanticists conceptualization takes place under the level of consciousness. On the other hand, semantic analysis is carried out on the level of consciousness, namely by means of (conscious) intuition-cum-introspection. What is, then, meaning? As Wittgenstein argues, meaning is use, understood as a web of intersubjective norms, comparable to rules of a game and accessible to conscious intuition. In this article I elaborate on this claim, and thus offer critique to those who equate linguistic meaning with conceptualizations understood as private mental representations. Furthermore, I argue that the non-causal study of norms (langue) must be kept separate from the causal study of (norm-following or norm-breaking) behaviour (parole). Because of its variationist nature, linguistic behaviour demands statistical explanation.

Aspects of a theory of language acquisition

1980 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 157-179 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne Erreich ◽  
Virginia Valian ◽  
Judith Winzemer
Keyword(s):  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Phrase Structure ◽  
Methodological Issues ◽  
The Third ◽  
Hypothesis Space ◽  
Linguistic Evidence ◽  
Syntax Acquisition ◽  
Testing Theory ◽  
Initial Hypothesis ◽  
Theory Of Language

ABSTRACTThis paper presents a hypothesis-testing theory of syntax acquisition. The first section presents our model. We claim that: (1) children learn a transformational grammar, including a set of phrase structure and transformational rules; (2) linguistic universals and Occam's razor constrain the initial hypothesis space available to the device; (3) hypotheses tested by the device consist of candidate phrase structure and transformational rules; (4) linguistic evidence confirms or disconfirms hypotheses. Specific examples of incorrect phrase structure and transformational hypotheses are presented.The second section briefly surveys other approaches to language acquisition – both syntactic and non-syntactic – and compares them to our model. In the third section, we address several methodological issues: (1) the relevance of linguistic theory to the model; (2) how the model is tested; (3) the domain of the theory.

scholarly journals Niedzwiedzia Przysluga?Bear’s Favor? Hidden Garden behind the Concrete Proverbs: Cognitive-Semantic Analysis of Proverbs in Persian, Polish and Spanish

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 20
Author(s):  
Rajdeep Singh
Keyword(s):  
Content Analysis ◽  
Human Body ◽  
Semantic Analysis ◽  
Generation Gap ◽  
Body Parts ◽  
Modern Life ◽  
Holistic View ◽  
Cognitive Semantic ◽  
Value Ethics ◽  
The Way

Proverbs help us understand how the society works at large and what are the main concerns regarding the environment, people-to-people exchange and notions of liberty, freedom and values.  In some cultures such as the Iranian one, the way one uses proverbs depends on the generation one finds herself in. Generation-gap provides opportunity to transfer some abstract and complicated concepts, not available in modern life, through the use of proverbs. From childhood, by hearing proverbs from parents and grand-parents, children begin grasping some important national and even religious concepts. In order to represent a rather international, holistic view and not language-specific, we analyzed further Polish, French and Spanish proverbs, whenever deemed necessary. The present paper through cognitive-semantic and content analysis aims to reveal the implied systems of value, ethics and morality realized through proverbs. The results clearly indicate that proverbs cover different systems of values through elements such as artifacts, animals, human body parts and even imaginary, nature-derived elements.

scholarly journals Semantic fieldwork and lexical universals

2014 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
pp. 80-127 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cliff Goddard ◽  
Anna Wierzbicka
Keyword(s):  
Semantic Analysis ◽  
Endangered Languages ◽  
Methodological Issues ◽  
Practical Procedure ◽  
Semantic Communication ◽  
Shed Light

The main goal of paper is to show how NSM findings about lexical universals (semantic primes) can be applied to semantic analysis in little-described languages. It is argued that using lexical universals as a vocabulary for semantic analysis allows one to formulate meaning descriptions that are rigorous, cognitively authentic, maximally translatable, and free from Anglocentrism. A second goal is to shed light on methodological issues in semantic fieldwork by interrogating some controversial claims about the Dalabon and Pirahã languages. We argue that reductive paraphrase into lexical universals provides a practical procedure for arriving at coherent interpretations of unfamiliar lexical meanings. Other indigenous/endangered languages discussed include East Cree, Arrernte, Kayardild, Karuk, and Maori. We urge field linguists to take the NSM metalanguage, based on lexical universals, into the field with them, both as an aid to lexicogrammatical documentation and analysis and as a way to improve semantic communication with consultants.

scholarly journals Somatisms in the Structure of the Paremiological Means of the Kyrgyz Language

2021 ◽  
pp. 35-39
Author(s):  
Sabira Zhamalbekovna Zhancharbekova
Keyword(s):  
Semantic Analysis ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Cultural Value ◽  
Body Parts ◽  
Abstract Concepts ◽  
Group Status ◽  
Systematic Analysis ◽  
Cultural Concepts ◽  
The People ◽  
The World

This article provides a semantic analysis of somatisms in the proverbs of Kyrgyz folklore, examines the ability of somatic units to metaphorize and convey in an allegorical form the cultural and everyday features of the life of the people. Proverbs from Kyrgyz folklore containing a somatic component were selected for analysis. The purpose of the study is to carry out a semantic analysis of somatisms and determine their role in the linguistic picture of the world of native speakers of the Kyrgyz language. It is shown that the most significant somatic concepts reflect the cultural, value and worldview guidelines of the people, their centuries-old history and everyday life. In the analysis, special attention is paid to the ability of somatisms to metaphorize complex everyday, historical, and cultural concepts. The scientific novelty of the work lies in the fact that the systematic analysis of various somatic groups in the proverbs of Kyrgyz folklore (communicative, denoting the senses, etc.) has been led for the first time. As a result, it was revealed that the image of "corporeality" is widely represented in the linguistic picture of the world of Kyrgyz speakers, somaticisms are an effective way of conceptualizing objects and phenomena of the surrounding world, as well as abstract concepts. It is concluded that the communicative function is often conveyed in Kyrgyz proverbs using the somatism “language”; somatism “head” replaces concepts similar in meaning (“mind”, “intellect”). The functional and external characteristics of body parts are used in folklore to denote a person's role in a social group, status, age, etc. Somatisms reveal complex folk images and metaphors that make up the linguistic picture of the world of native speakers of the Kyrgyz language.

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