Toward a Poetics of the Biblical Mind: Language, Culture, and Cognition

2009 ◽  
Vol 59 (2) ◽  
pp. 222-243 ◽  
Author(s):  
Job Jindo
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Linguistics ◽  
Cognitive Approach ◽  
Biblical Literature ◽  
Work In Progress ◽  
Culture And Cognition ◽  
Cognitive Linguistic ◽  
Ancient Israel ◽  
The World ◽  
Complex Relationships ◽  
Linguistic Account

AbstractThis article shows how cognitive investigation of biblical metaphors enables us to fathom the basic categories through which biblical writers conceived of God, humans, and the world. This investigation is part of a work-in-progress that employs recent studies in cognitive linguistics to explore the Weltanschauung of ancient Israel as reflected in the use of language in biblical literature. The article first explains the cognitive linguistic account of metaphor; it next illustrates how this discipline can be applied to the study of the complex relationships between language, culture, and cognition; and it then exemplifies how this cognitive approach can enhance our understanding of such relationships in biblical literature.

Metaphor and metonymy in jokes

2019 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 650-684
Author(s):  
Javier Herrero Ruiz
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Linguistics ◽  
Cognitive Linguistic ◽  
And Shifts ◽  
Linguistic Account ◽  
Metaphor And Metonymy

Abstract Over the last few years there has been a rapprochement between Cognitive Linguistics and semantic theories of humour based on the notion of script or frame. By drawing on Ritchie’s version of the theory of frame-shifting (2005) and reviewing the cognitive linguistic account of humour, we shall demonstrate how the interpretation of jokes containing a metaphor or a metonymy involves two cognitive-pragmatic tasks: the completion of the metaphorical/metonymic mapping that results in a new frame, and the resolution of the joke’s incongruity via a contrast with the surrounding frames of the joke. We also develop a classification of frame shifts according to their ontological structure (non-metaphorical/metonymic shifts and shifts based on metaphorical and/or metonymic reasoning) and the degree of the interpreter’s inferential activity (conceptual filling out and metaphor/metonymy replacement). In doing so, we attempt to identify some of the defining features of humorous metaphors and metonymies, as well as other phenomena that may also characterise jokes.

scholarly journals The Problems of Conceptualization and Categorization in English Terminology

Discourse ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 115-124
Author(s):  
S. V. Kiseleva ◽  
M. Yu. Mironova ◽  
N. А. Trofimova
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Linguistics ◽  
Scientific Work ◽  
Cognitive Approach ◽  
New Words ◽  
System A ◽  
The World ◽  
Central Elements ◽  
Basic Concepts ◽  
Communication Needs

Introduction. The paper focuses on the linguistic concepts of terminology and a term system, provides the views of linguists on the definition and differentiation of these terms, explains the semantics of the word and the term, as well as the role of the cognitive approach in modern terminology. The scientific work defines a concept and a category, and describes the role of the processes of conceptualization and categorization in English terminology. As more than 90 % of new words appearing in modern languages is vocabulary for special purposes, it is increasingly important to study the ways of their formation. The research is relevant since it provides a deeper understanding of the structure and content of concepts that underlie the formation of language categories, the mechanisms of interaction between cognitive and language structures in the process of forming the terminological meaning.Methodology and sources. In light of the cognitive approach to understanding the semantics of a word the authors emphasize anthropocentrist thinking, language picture of the world and lexical-semantic variants of the word. The cognitive approach allows us to reveal the causes and mechanisms of dynamic processes in the field of professional nomination, taking into account the changing cognitive and communication needs of people. The research is made using corpora data.Results and discussion. It has been found out, that cognitive categories are linked to conceptually defined prototypes that are crucial for the formation of categories. The necessary to define the central elements of prototypical categories has been proved, as they make the category logical, understandable and convenient, since all members of the category meet a given list of characteristics. As a result of the research it has been proved that in an investment terminological system a prototype turns out to be the best representative of a category.Conclusion. It has been concluded that the study of conceptualization and categorization processes is extremely important when analyzing terminological systems in general, and investment terminological system of English, in particular, because it allows to identify the basic concepts underlying the formation of terminological systems. The study of the principles and mechanisms of categorization of language units makes it possible to identify and analyze their prototypical semantics in terms of their common properties with the prototype of the category. This possibility is of paramount importance for research in the field of cognitive linguistics, since it is the prototypical semantics of language units that largely determines their use in a sentence to convey a particular meaning.

A plea for a socio-cognitive perspective on the language-culture-cognition nexus in educational approaches to intercultural communicative competence

2017 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 224-252
Author(s):  
Ariadna Strugielska ◽  
Katarzyna Piątkowska
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Linguistics ◽  
Communicative Competence ◽  
Grounded Cognition ◽  
Social Aspects ◽  
Educational Context ◽  
Intercultural Communicative Competence ◽  
Cognitive Approach ◽  
Holistic Model ◽  
Culture And Cognition ◽  
The Relationship

Abstract Intercultural communicative competence (ICC) links three notions, i.e. language, culture and cognition, which are declared crucial in approaches to ICC in educational context. Despite the announced importance of the notions, none of the ICC models specifies the relationship between these elements in a motivated way and hence unjustified dichotomies arise. Educational approaches to ICC can be divided into cognitive or social ones with the former emphasizing an autonomous nature of language, culture and cognition and the latter focusing on social aspects and thus marginalizing cognition. The article aims to stress the need for a socio-cognitive approach to ICC which will view language, culture and cognition in a holistic way. While this approach is based on complexity science, cognitive psychology, grounded cognition and intercultural pragmatics, we demonstrate that cognitive linguistics can become an encompassing framework for a holistic model of ICC.

scholarly journals Why Cognitive Linguistics must embrace the social and pragmatic dimensions of language and how it could do so more seriously

2016 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 543-557 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hans-Jörg Schmid
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Linguistics ◽  
Cognitive Approach ◽  
Cognitive Linguistic ◽  
The Social ◽  
Linguistic Approach ◽  
Pragmatic Aspects ◽  
Do So ◽  
Linguistic Framework

AbstractI will argue that the cognitive-linguistic enterprise should step up its efforts to embrace the social and pragmatic dimensions of language. This claim will be derived from a survey of the premises and promise of the cognitive-linguistic approach to the study of language and be defended in more detail on logical and empirical grounds. Key elements of a usage-based emergentist socio-cognitive approach known as Entrenchment-and-Conventionalization Model (Schmid 2014, 2015) will be presented in order to demonstrate how social and pragmatic aspects can be integrated and operationalized in a cognitive-linguistic framework.

Exploring image schemas as a critical concept: Toward a critical-cognitive linguistic account of image-schematic interactions

2007 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ming-Yu Tseng
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Values ◽  
Cognitive Linguistics ◽  
Abstract Reasoning ◽  
Dynamic Nature ◽  
Cognitive Perspective ◽  
Image Schemas ◽  
Cognitive Linguistic ◽  
Image Schema ◽  
Linguistic Account

AbstractThis article aims to advance the study of “image schemas” by drawing on insights not only from cognitive linguistics but also from critical linguistics. It highlights five specific features possessed by “image schemas”: (1) their serving as a bridge between concrete, sensorimotor experience and abstract reasoning; (2) their being emergent patterns created and evoked when people engage in understanding language; (3) their function of superimposition (i. e. interactions among image schemas); (4) their insinuation of a plus-minus parameter (i. e. the tendency of the opposing parts of an image schema to be more positively or negatively valued); and (5) their static and dynamic nature. It will also briefly address how image schemas, metaphors and socio-cultural values are entwined. The critical-cognitive perspective calls for the view of “situated” image schemas in discourse. By way of illustration, I will analyze two Chinese Zen poems. The analysis will pay special attention to imageschematic patterns and their significance in the interface between discourse, cognition, and worldview.

On Agricultural Imagery in Biblical Descriptions of Catastrophes

2012 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 2-14
Author(s):  
Nili Samet
Keyword(s):  
Hebrew Bible ◽  
Mass Killing ◽  
Near Eastern ◽  
Biblical Literature ◽  
Ancient Israel

This article examines the use of agricultural imagery in biblical literature to embody the destructive force of war and other mass catastrophes. Activities such as vintage, harvest, threshing, and wine-pressing serve as metaphors for the actions of slaughtering, demolition and mass killing. The paper discusses the Ancient Near Eastern origins of the imagery under discussion, and presents the relevant examples from the Hebrew Bible, tracing the development of this absorbing metaphor, and analyzing the different meanings attached to it in different contexts. It shows that the use of destructive agricultural imagery first emerges in ancient Israel as an instance of popular phraseology. In turn, the imagery is employed as a common prophetic motif. The prophetic books examined demonstrate how each prophet appropriates earlier uses of the imagery in prophetic discourse and adapts the agricultural metaphors to suit specific rhetorical needs.

من الاشتراك الدلالي إلى تغير المعنى

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
saber lahbacha
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Linguistics ◽  
Arabic Language ◽  
Pragmatic Approach ◽  
Cognitive Approach ◽  
Meaning Change ◽  
Language And Literature ◽  
Lexical Concepts

From polysemy to meaning change: lexical cognitive perspectivesSaber Lahbacha By:PhD. Arabic language and Literature, University of Manouba, Member of association of Arabic lexicology in TunisAbstract:Many essays to find a model to study polysemy in most words emerged in several semantic, lexical, cognitive and pragmatic perspectives. Diverse dimensions of this phenomenon are activated according to the requirements of each discipline. If the lexical treatment gives priority to distinguish between polysemy (one entry) and homonymy (many entries), the pragmatic approach includes the contextual non-linguistic operators in building polysemy. The cognitive approach considers that lexical concepts are sets of semantic complicated nuances built on polysemy. This cognitive approach considers that there is no way to distinguish between meanings and the boundaries between them are ambiguous.Key words: Semantics – Polysemy – cognitive linguistics – lexicology – homonymy. ملخصلم تنقطع محاولات إيجاد منوال لمقاربة الاشتراك الدلالي (تعدّد المعاني) في معظم الكلمات عن البروز ضمن منظورات دلالية ومعجمية وعرفانية وتداولية متعددة. وبحسب مقتضيات كلّ فرع لساني، يجري تنشيط الأبعاد المختلفة للظاهرة ويتم التركيز على مناحٍ دون أخرى. فإذا كانت المعالجة المعجمية تضع أولوية اهتمامها في توضيح التمييز بين الاشتراك الدلالي (مدخل واحد) والاشتراك اللفظي (مداخل متعددة)، فإن المقاربة التداولية تؤصل مشاركة العوامل السياقية غير اللغوية في تأسيس الاشتراك الدلالي. أما المقاربة العرفانية فترى أن المفاهيم المعجمية هي مجموعات من الفروق الدلالية المتراكبة التي تقوم على الاشتراك الدلالي ولا ترى أن التمييز بين المعاني ممكن بل إن الحدود بين المفاهيم المعجمية ضبابية.الكلمات المفاتيح: علم الدلالة - الاشتراك الدلالي – اللسانيات العرفانية – المعجمية - الاشتراك اللفظي.

Reading the Bible from Below in the Era of Globalization

2020 ◽  
pp. 111-128
Author(s):  
Rainer Kessler
Keyword(s):  
Social Relations ◽  
Historical Process ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Asynchronous Development ◽  
Ancient Israel ◽  
The World ◽  
Biblical Texts ◽  
Globalized World

It is evident that the world of the Bible is pre-modern and thus distinct from the globalized civilization. This chronological gap challenges readers, whether they are feminist or not. Mainly three attitudes can be observed among scholarly and ordinary readers. For some readers, the Bible is a document of the losers of a historical process of modernization that already began in ancient Israel. For other readers, the Bible is outdated and of no use to confront the challenges of globalization. A third readerly position challenges both of these views. This essay offers four arguments to orient biblical readers in the contemporary globalized world. First, the essay posits that globalization is an asynchronous development. Thus, even today, most people living in the impoverished regions of the world face conditions similar to those dominant in the Bible. Second, the essay asserts that women are the first victims in biblical times and still nowadays. Third, the essay maintains that biblical texts display social relations that still unveil contemporary relations. Fourth, the essay suggests that intercultural Bible readings give hope, as they nurture biblical readings from “below” to strengthen people to overcome the fatal consequences of today’s globalization.

scholarly journals Humans created God in their image? An anthropomorphic projectionism in the Old Testament

2018 ◽  
Vol 74 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ndikho Mtshiselwa ◽  
Lerato Mokoena
Keyword(s):  
Social Construction ◽  
Old Testament ◽  
Main Question ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Social Construct ◽  
Ancient Israel ◽  
The World ◽  
Genesis 1 ◽  
History Of ◽  
Old Testament Studies

The Old Testament projects not only a Deity that created the world and human beings but also one that is violent and male. The debate on the depiction of the God of Israel that is violent and male is far from being exhausted in Old Testament studies. Thus, the main question posed in this article is: If re-read as ‘Humans created God in their image’, would Genesis 1:27 account for the portrayal of a Deity that is male and violent? Feuerbach’s idea of anthropomorphic projectionism and Guthrie’s view of religion as anthropomorphism come to mind here. This article therefore examines, firstly, human conceptualisation of a divine being within the framework of the theory of anthropomorphic projectionism. Because many a theologian and philosopher would deny that God is a being at all, we further investigate whether the God of Israel was a theological and social construction during the history of ancient Israel. In the end, we conclude, based on the theory of anthropomorphic projectionism, that the idea that the God of Israel was a theological and social construct accounts for the depiction of a Deity that is male and violent in the Old Testament.

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