scholarly journals The Semantics of Purity in the Ancient Near East: Lexical Meaning as a Projection of Embodied Experience

2014 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 87-113 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yitzhaq Feder
Keyword(s):  
Real World ◽  
Cognitive Linguistics ◽  
Semantic Analysis ◽  
Near East ◽  
Biblical Hebrew ◽  
Semantic Structure ◽  
Embodied Experience ◽  
Abstract Concepts ◽  
Lexical Meaning ◽  
Embodiment Theory

This article analyzes the primary terms for purity in Biblical Hebrew, Ugaritic, Sumerian, Akkadian and Hittite. Building on insights from cognitive linguistics and embodiment theory, this study develops the premise that semantic structure—even of seemingly abstract concepts—is grounded in real-world bodily experience. An examination of purity terms reveals that all of them can be related to a concrete sense pertaining to radiance (brilliance, brightness, shininess). The article then traces the semantic development of purity terms in distinct experiential contexts and shows how semantic analysis can elucidate the inner logic of fundamental religious concepts.

scholarly journals The Notion "Weapon" in Arabic Idioms

1970 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. 125-141
Author(s):  
Ludmila Torlakova
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Linguistics ◽  
Figurative Language ◽  
Semantic Analysis ◽  
Language Theory ◽  
Semantic Structure ◽  
Standard Arabic ◽  
World Picture ◽  
The World ◽  
And Behavior ◽  
Modern Standard

This study presents a group of Arabic idioms that have as at least one of their components a word denoting a weapon. Handling and using weapons together with exploring their potential is one of the primary experiences people have had. Thus it is worthwhile to investigate how ‘weaponry’ idioms contribute to expanding figuratively the world picture included in the realm of Arabic phraseology. Weaponry idioms are considered here within the framework of general cognitive linguistics and ‘conventional figurative language theory’ as developed by Dmitri Dobrovol’skij and Elisabeth Piirainen. An attempt is made to test whether this framework can accommodate semantic analysis of Arabic idioms containing the concept weapon. Selected phrasemes denoting situation and behavior are examined in order to look into their semantic structure and type of motivation. Since the majority of the idioms studied have been collected from dictionaries, an attempt is made to present a contemporary evaluation and assessment of their use in Modern Standard Arabic based on Internet sources.

Pohľad Na Pomenovanie Cez Prizmu Teoretických Rámcov A Slovníkového Hesla

2018 ◽  
Vol 69 (3) ◽  
pp. 277-301
Author(s):  
Alexandra Jarošová
Keyword(s):  
Corpus Linguistics ◽  
Cognitive Linguistics ◽  
Linguistic Meaning ◽  
Extended Model ◽  
Theoretical Frameworks ◽  
Departure Point ◽  
Lexical Meaning ◽  
Linguistic Pragmatics ◽  
Situational Contexts ◽  
Methodological Procedures

Abstract The first part of this paper outlines the relevant aspects of functional structuralism serving lexicographers as a departure point for building a model of lexical meaning useable in the Dictionary of Contemporary Slovak Language. This section also points to some aspects of Klára Buzássyová’s research on lexis and word­formation that have enriched the functional­structuralist paradigm. The second section shows other theoretical and methodological frameworks, such as linguistic pragmatics, cognitive linguistics and corpus linguistics (all of them departing in some respect from the structuralism and, in other aspects, being complementary with it) that can enhance the structuralist basis of the model. The third section outlines an extended model of lexical meaning that represents a synthesis of all those theoretical frameworks and, at the same time, represents a reflection of three language constituents: 1. The social constituent is present in consideration of communicative functions of utterances, naming functions of lexical units, functional styles and registers, language norms, and situational contexts; 2. The psychological component takes the form of consideration of the prototype effect, the abolition of boundaries between linguistic meaning and other parts of cognition; 3. Thanks to the structural/systematic component, a description of paradigmatic and syntagmatic behaviour of words can be performed, and an inventory of formal­content units and categories (lexemes, lexies, word­forming and grammatical structures) can be provided. In our dictionary practice, the above­mentioned model is reflected in the methodological procedures as follows: 1. Systemization of repetitive (regular, standardized) phenomena; 2. Prototypicalization of meaning description; 3. Contextualization/encyclopedization of meaning description; 4. Pragmatization of meaning description; 5. Continualized presentation of language phenomena, i.e., introduction of numerous phenomena of transient and indeterminate nature and indicating the existence of a semantic­pragmatic and lexical­grammatical continuum; 6. “Discretization” of combinatorial continuum, i.e., identification and description of entrenched word combinations with naming functions.

BAD as a semantic primitive

1999 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 375-403 ◽  
Author(s):  
Uwe Durst
Keyword(s):  
Present Author ◽  
Semantic Analysis ◽  
English Word ◽  
Biblical Hebrew ◽  
Linguistic Form

In an article entitled "Is BAD a semantic primitive?" (1996), John Myhill suggested that the concept 'bad' should be removed from the list of semantic primitives put forward by Anna Wierzbicka and Cliff Goddard. Myhill argued (1) that 'bad' is semantically decomposable, (2) that there is no word in Biblical Hebrew that corresponds to the English word bad and, thus, no linguistic form that represents the primitive BAD in this language, and (3) that 'bad' is dispensable in the semantic analysis and can be replaced with other components without any loss or change of meaning. Discussing and illustrating some fundamental questions in the search for universal semantic primitives, the present author reconsiders these findings and finds a different answer to John Myhill's question.

El Concepto De La lingüística Cognitiva En La Poesía Traducida Análisis Semántico Según La Teoría del Esquema Básico De La Referencia

2021 ◽  
Vol 29 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ahmed Hameed Abdulmajeed Abeer Hussein Abid
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Linguistics ◽  
Semantic Analysis ◽  
Research Work ◽  
Speech Community ◽  
Search For Meaning ◽  
Basic Scheme ◽  
Scheme Theory ◽  
The Common ◽  
Symmetry Relations ◽  
Shed Light

This research work is part of a project to get an M.A. degree. Some of the linguistic sciences specialized in the search for meaning in the text, such as semantics, pragmatics, cognitive linguistics and etc. will be clarified. Besides, we shed light on the elements of semantic analysis with examples according to the basic scheme theory of reference, which indicates that the language is of a fictional nature. As it is a variety of similarity and symmetry relations between the form of the word and its meaning, whether it is phonetic or written or related to metaphor, metonymy or analogy, and it is not a random relationship. In all these genres, a very important role is played by imaginative comprehension, which subsequently acquires a traditional character and spreads due to the common collective understanding of the word among speakers of the speech community.

scholarly journals Lexeme Glück in German Dictionaries of the 16th — 19th Centuries: Lexicographic Representation and Interpretation of Its Conceptual Content

2021 ◽  
pp. 9-22
Author(s):  
Andrey Ivanov ◽  
◽  
Rimma Ivanova ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Social Life ◽  
Semantic Analysis ◽  
18Th Century ◽  
Full Range ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Spiritual Needs ◽  
Semantic Structure ◽  
Middle High German ◽  
13Th Century ◽  
Gradual Evolution

The article discusses the concept “happiness” as represented and interpreted in lexicography. The aim of the study is to compare existing theories about the origin of the word Glück, to trace the development of its semantics from one generalized meaning to a set of meanings that reflects a gradual evolution of people’s ideas about happiness, and to identify ways of representing these ideas by lexicographic means. Using methods of historical-linguistic, compara-tive, etymological, definitional, and semantic analysis, the authors examine German dictionaries and lexicons published in the period from 1513 to 1888 and establish that in those four centuries the concept “happiness,” represented in the German vocabulary by the lexeme Glück, underwent significant transformation, as material and spiritual needs of people kept changing against the background of gradual humanization of their social life, which, in its turn, led to added complexity in the semantic structure of the lexeme Glück that embodies this concept. Descriptions of the lexeme Glück in dictionaries dating from the beginning of the 16th to mid-18th century are very concise due to the type of these dictionaries (nomenclators, translated dictionaries) and do not involve detailed comments on the full range of meanings that the lexeme had. The main elements of the semantic structure of the lexeme are ‘(temporary) well-being,’ ‘bliss,’ ‘luc ,’ and ‘fortune (fate)’ (glu c fall, glu c elig eit, wol tand, zeit-liche Wolfart). Analyzing interpretations of the lexeme Glück in the mid-18th — late 19th century dictionaries, the authors conclude that the semantic structure of the lexeme became more complicated due to philosophical rethinking of the concept and its integrated dissemination through dictionaries. The etymology of the word Glüc is still unclear. It is assumed that the word appeared in the 13th century and retained a neutral meaning until the end of the Middle High German period when a positive connotation began to prevail in the semantics of the word.

scholarly journals THE MEANING OF SEMANTIC ANALYSIS WITHIN SONG’S LYRICS “A HEAD FULL OF DREAMS” ALBUM BY COLDPLAY

Lire Journal ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 35-40
Author(s):  
Lilis Sholihah
Keyword(s):  
Social Life ◽  
Figurative Language ◽  
Semantic Analysis ◽  
Moral Values ◽  
Data Sources ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Research Focus ◽  
Lexical Meaning ◽  
Song Lyrics ◽  
Human Social Life

This research is intended to analyze the meanings of semantic and moral values found in songs lyrics in the album by Coldplay. The result of this research is expected to be valuable research in enlarging the knowledge of semantics field especially in analysis of song. In this case the meanings and moral values found in the Coldplay’s Album songs lyrics. In this case, the researcher collects the data in following steps. Firstly, collecting the script of song lyrics taken from the internet. Secondly, assembling data from the sources. Thirdly, reading all the data sources. Lastly, classifying the lyric based on the lexical meaning and moral values and classified them according to the research focus. After analyzing the data, the lexical terms found in this song contains 6 denotations, 5 connotations, 1 ambiguity, 10 antonyms and 11 synonyms. Furthermore, there are many kinds of figurative languages found in some lyrics of the song such as simile, hyperbole, personification, symbol, metaphor, apostrophe, synecdoche, paradox and antithesis, etc. Specifically, the figurative language which found in lyrics a head full of dreams album , there are 1 metaphor, 2 similes, 2 symbol, 2 hyperboles and 1 irony. Then, the five song lyrics in a head full of dreams album by Coldplay tell us about human social life which contained about love, sadness, happiness, spirit and adventure of life.

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 A Semantic Study of Dummy Subjects in Dickens’ Novel Hard Times

2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 383
Author(s):  
Zainab Hussein Alwan
Keyword(s):  
Charles Dickens ◽  
Semantic Structure ◽  
Semantic Meaning ◽  
Lexical Meaning ◽  
Hard Times ◽  
General Semantic

To be required for some grammatical properties, dummy elements have lost their lexical meaning. They have no sense of their own. However, such items have meaning in context. They play essential roles in the general semantic structure of sentences. This study attempts to confirm that dummy constructions can have some semantic meaning and there is no matter how abstract they are. It also highlights the functions of inserting these elements to satisfy the structural and semantic needs in Charles Dickens’ novel Hard Times.

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.

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