Towards an interface between Pragma‑Dialectics and Relevance Theory

2007 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 179-201 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steve Oswald
Keyword(s):  
Relevance Theory ◽  
Meaning Construction ◽  
Formal Logic ◽  
Cognitive Mechanisms ◽  
Cognitive Perspective ◽  
Pragmatic Turn

This paper investigates the tentative compatibility of two pragmatic approaches, Pragma-Dialectics (PD) and Relevance Theory (RT). The development of pragmatics historically led to conceptions of communication that supplied answers formal logic approaches had trouble capturing. Within argumentation studies, PD took this pragmatic turn while at the same time pursuing a normative agenda. This gives evidence of an external approach to language (in that argumentation follows norms imposed by the theorist) excluding, though not closing the door to cognitive insights. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the extent to which PD can operate from an internal cognitive perspective — i.e., with explicit ambitions of dealing with cognitive mechanisms of meaning construction and belief fixation.

scholarly journals Conceptualizations of the Heart in Jordanian Arabic: A Cognitive Perspective

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 65
Author(s):  
Omar Bani Mofarrej ◽  
Ghaleb Rabab'ah
Keyword(s):  
Human Body ◽  
Human Heart ◽  
Conceptual Metaphor ◽  
Cognitive Mechanisms ◽  
Conceptual Metaphor Theory ◽  
Cognitive Perspective ◽  
Jordanian Arabic ◽  
Metaphor Theory ◽  
Idiomatic Expressions ◽  
Levantine Arabic

The present paper examines the metaphorical and metonymical conceptualizations of the heart in Jordanian Arabic (JA) within the framework of Conceptual Metaphor Theory developed by Lakoff and Johnson (1980). The main aim is to explore how the human heart is conceptualized in JA, and to test the applicability of the different general cognitive mechanisms proposed by Niemeier (2003 and 2008) to those found in JA. The data were extracted from Idioms and Idiomatic Expressions in Levantine Arabic: Jordanian Dialect (Alzoubi, 2020), and other resources including articles, dissertations and books of Arabic proverbs. The findings revealed that all the four general cognitive mechanisms suggested by Niemeier (2003 and 2008) are applicable to JA. The findings also showed that the similarity derives from the universal aspects of the human body, which lends tremendous support to the embodiment hypothesis proposed by cognitive linguists. 

The role of echoing in meaning construction and interpretation

2020 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-41
Author(s):  
Alicia Galera Masegosa
Keyword(s):  
Meaning Construction ◽  
Theoretic Approach ◽  
Cognitive Mechanisms ◽  
Cognitive Operation ◽  
The Relationship

Abstract Echoic mention was initially proposed as part of the relevance-theoretic approach to irony (Sperber & Wilson, 1986). The aim of this article is to present an account of echoing as a cognitive operation that goes beyond (and yet includes) the interpretation of ironic remarks. For this purpose, we explore the cognitive mechanisms that underlie the production and interpretation of echoic uses of both ironic and non-ironic language. In the light of the examples under scrutiny, we claim that echoic mentions afford metonymic access to the echoed scenario, which is then contrasted with the observable scenario. The relationship between the two scenarios, which ranges from identity to contrast, passing through type-token similarity and metaphorical resemblance, determines the communicative purpose of the speaker, which may convey different kind of attitudes.

The referential-attributive distinction

2001 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 69-98 ◽  
Author(s):  
George Powell
Keyword(s):  
Mental Representation ◽  
Mental Representations ◽  
Relevance Theory ◽  
Definite Descriptions ◽  
Cognitive Perspective ◽  
Procedural Semantics ◽  
The World ◽  
Different Types

In this paper my aim is to approach the referential–attributive distinction in the interpretation of definite descriptions, originally discussed by Donnellan (1966), from a cognitive perspective grounded in Sperber and Wilson’s Relevance Theory (Sperber and Wilson 1986/95). In particular, I argue that definite descriptions encode a procedural semantics, in the sense of Blakemore (1987), which is neutral as between referential and attributive readings (among others). On this account, the distinction between referential and attributive readings arises as a result of the differing links that exist between different types of mental representation and the world, rather than as a result of the differing links between language and mental representations.

scholarly journals Metapher, Metonymie und mentales Bild als Motiviertheitsmechanismen in der Phraseologie

2018 ◽  
Vol 143 ◽  
pp. 341-358
Author(s):  
Anna Sulikowska
Keyword(s):  
Mental Image ◽  
Meaning Construction ◽  
Research Topic ◽  
Cognitive Mechanisms ◽  
Cognitive Mechanism

Das Ziel des Artikels liegt in der Veranschaulichung der Komplexität von Bedeutungskonstituierungs- und Motiviertheitsmechanismen in der Phraseologie. In einer korpusbasierten semantischen Untersuchung des Idioms ein harter Brocken werden Verwendungsprofile ermittelt und kognitive Mechanismen aufgezeigt, die zur Konstruktion der Bedeutung führen und sie motivieren. Außer den etablierten Metaphern und Metonymien wird auch der Einfluss des mentalen Bildes als ein kognitiver Mechanismus aufgezeigt und diskutiert. Metaphor, metonymy and rich image as motivating mechanismsin phraseologyThe aim of the article is to show the complexity of meaning construction and motivation procedures within phraseology. The research concentrates on the idiom ein harter Brocken, on the basis of which usage profiles and cognitive mechanisms have been shown, which support the construction of its meaning and motivation. Another research topic, beyond established metaphors and metonymies, was the influence of the mental image as a cognitive mechanism.

COGNITIVE MECHANISMS OF THE QUANTITATIVE MEANING CONSTRUCTION

2020 ◽  
pp. 5-14
Author(s):  
N.N. Boldyrev ◽  
◽  
E.V. Fedyaeva ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Analogical Reasoning ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Human Mind ◽  
Meaning Construction ◽  
Quantitative Aspect ◽  
Cognitive Mechanisms ◽  
Qualitative Properties ◽  
Conceptual Structures ◽  
Life Phenomena

The article considers the cognitive and language mechanisms of quantitative meaning construction. Being a necessary tool in the research into mind and language interaction, cognitive and language mechanisms expose correlations between the conceptual structures and language units’ meanings. The purpose of this article is to show the significant role of quantity in secondary representation of knowledge about the world. The article shows that the activity of mind in understanding the quantitative characteristics of the real life phenomena and facts implies actualization of various mechanisms. The authors argue that the configuration of knowledge about the quantitative aspect of being is based on a variety of cognitive mechanisms, such as reification, analogical reasoning, portion-excerpting, abstraction, multiplexing, comparison, conceptual metaphor, focusing, defocusing, symbolization. Both individually and jointly, these mechanisms form the basis for the process of quantitative interpretation of the reality qualitative properties. Analyzing the effect of various cognitive mechanisms on the evidence derived from Russian, English and French, the authors focus on the variability of means representing quantity in language, which is a natural consequence of the human mind flexibility and ability to creatively interpret various characteristics of objects and events.

B(l)ending time, (de)compressing identity: Creative thought and meaning construction in Copy Shop (2001)

2018 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 88-107
Author(s):  
Petros Vouvaris ◽  
Dimitris Tasoudis
Keyword(s):  
Creative Thinking ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
Meaning Construction ◽  
Short Film ◽  
Conceptual Blending ◽  
Cognitive Mechanisms ◽  
Creative Thought ◽  
Dialectical Relationship ◽  
Primary Focus ◽  
The One

According to the critics of Conceptual Blending Theory (CBT), most of its creativity-related applications tend to conflate the role of producer and consumer, implicitly proposing the deduction of the former’s creative perspective from the finished product through a process of reverse-engineering the latter’s meaning-making strategies. However, given the non-linearity and multi-directionality of the actual creative praxis, the relation between these two roles as heuristic categories need not be considered so much oppositional, as dialectical. Investigating the cognitive mechanisms involved in the ongoing creative process within the context of this dialectical relationship can help us gain some insight into both perspectives, while eschewing the elusiveness of their precise demarcation. The case study presented in this article constitutes such an attempt. By adopting a CBT approach, it offers an interpretation of the creative thinking behind the 2001 short film Copy Shop, informed by the documented insights of its creators. The article proposes a shift in primary focus from the mechanics of conceptual blending to its consequences in reference to the compression and decompression of vital relations and, more particularly, Time and Identity. On the one hand, it aims at examining how the particular ways of populating and interrelating the mental spaces that input to the blend at selected time points in the film occasion Time compressions and shape temporal experience. On the other hand, it concentrates on demonstrating how Copy Shop narrativizes the same processes of (de)compressing Identity that inform the conceptual blends it proposes.

scholarly journals In Search of Meaning: ‘The Hours’ and Meaning Construction

2019 ◽  
Vol 79 ◽  
pp. 187-202
Author(s):  
Gonzalo Calle Rosingana
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Study ◽  
Meaning Construction ◽  
Cognitive Mechanisms ◽  
Construction Of Meaning ◽  
Women's Lives ◽  
The Hours ◽  
The Way

This paper deals with the way in which certain meanings originate from the participation of a multiplicity of cues that emerge from different modalities. The analysis is based on the implementation of specific linguistic and cognitive mechanisms that trigger the generation of the audience’s unconscious construction of meaning. The corpus of the analysis concentrates on an excerpt of David Hare’s script (2002) of the movie The Hours: three women’s lives, by Stephen Daldry, that acts as the backbone of the analysis. The analysis is cross-referenced with parallel modality inputs (Kress 2009), such as specific filmic or visual details, found either in the scene or the rest of the movie. The approach of this qualitative study is mainly cognitive making special emphasis on the three types of underspecification proposed by Radden (2007a). It also draws from Langacker’s (2008) proposals related to attention and perspective to identify figure-ground relations as determinant in the molding of the characters and their ideological standpoints in the scene.

scholarly journals A Pragmatic Analysis of Efl Learners’ Social Media Interaction

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 27
Author(s):  
Yunita Uswatun Khasanah
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Online Communication ◽  
Relevance Theory ◽  
Meaning Construction ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Pragmatic Analysis ◽  
Pragmatic Awareness ◽  
L2 Pragmatics ◽  
Media Interaction ◽  
L1 And L2

<p class="Default">As a new and emerging venue of interaction, social media provide an ample opportunity for EFL learners to practice their English mastery and to enhance their socio-pragmatic awareness. However, even though some social media attempt to accommodate and mimic offline communications through their features, there are still technological and platform affordance and constraints that limit what users can do to get their message across. This situation makes a pragmatic analysis of online communication using offline measure a naïve endeavor. To confirm this notion, this paper borrows concepts from relevance theory pertaining to L1 and L2 pragmatics to reveal the patterns of online communication of 43 EFL learners in their social media interaction. The results show that there is a different pattern between online and offline interaction where they share a non-prototypical model of communication, the process of context and meaning construction, as well as their attempt to compensate for what the platform is lacking in accommodating their communication need.</p>

The impact of an embodied theory of meaning on the epistemology of semiotics

2015 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean-Marie Klinkenberg
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Meaning Construction ◽  
Cognitive Perspective ◽  
Nature And Culture ◽  
Theory Of Meaning ◽  
The Social ◽  
Harsh Criticism ◽  
The Impact

AbstractCognitive semiotics has an experiential basis: its thesis is that the origin of meaning – a problem that classical semiotics usually glosses over – lies in the sense system. This paper will outline the mechanisms that make possible such meaning construction, but its main focus will be the impact of the cognitive perspective on the epistemology of semiotics. It implies a process of naturalization of the humanities and the social sciences. This naturalization has triggered harsh criticism: its arguments are supposed to be circular; these are secretly founded on a postulate of innateness; it is at the service of an individualistic ideology in tune with a neoliberal society…. The paper will examine these pieces of criticism, which lead us to oppose and challenge both neural autonomism and the culturalist autonomism inherent in classical European semiotics. The conclusion is a plea for a continuum between nature and culture.

scholarly journals The role of cognitive mechanism in making inferences

1999 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 237 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francisco José Ruiz de Mendoza Ibáñez
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Linguistics ◽  
Relevance Theory ◽  
Cognitive Mechanisms ◽  
Language Understanding ◽  
Cognitive Mechanism ◽  
Common Concern ◽  
Conceptual Structures ◽  
Metaphor And Metonymy ◽  
The Way

Discovering the nature and role of inferential mechanisms in language understanding is a distinctly common concern in work carried out both within Cognitive Linguistics and Relevance Theory. Cognitive linguists increasingly tend to see language-related inferences as a matter of the activation of relevant conceptual structures. This is generally accepted by relevance theorists; however, they tend to play down the importance of such structures in favour of pragmatic principles. This is evident in their treatment of phenomena like metaphor and metonymy, which are explained by them as a question of deriving strong and weak implicatures. In this paper we revise this treatment and argue in favour of dealing with metaphor and metonymy as cognitive mechanisms which provide us with explicit meaning or, as relevance theorists would put it, with sets of "explicatures". This allows us to reformulate the implicature/explicature distinction and to reconsider the way it works in relation to other phenomena which are also of concern to relevance theorists, like disambiguation in conjoined utterances.

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