scholarly journals Flannel and beggar’s blanket: metaphors or conceptual blends? A cognitive analysis of selected common names of mullein in English

2021 ◽  
Vol 33 ◽  
pp. 131
Author(s):  
Agnieszka Bożena Mierzwińska-Hajnos

The paper offers a cognitive analysis of selected common English names of mullein (Verbascum thapsus L.) motivated by the appearance of the plant. While analyzing such names as flannel and beggar’s blanket, the author strives to portray the way they are conceptualized by recalling Conceptual Metaphor Theory and Conceptual Integration Theory, in particular the Brandt and Brandt six-space model of conceptual integration, also known as a cognitive-semiotic approach to metaphor. In the course of the analysis, the author also makes reference to those aspects which seem indispensable from the standpoint of cognitive linguistics, viz. (i) the role of human experience and embodied thought in the conceptualization process, (ii) the dynamic and context-dependent meaning construction and (iii) the role of linguistic worldview in decoding meaning.

2013 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 141-161 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rafał Augustyn

Neosemantic noun-to-verb conversions such as beer → to beer, door → to door, pink → to pink, etc., constitute a particularly interesting field of study for Cognitive Linguistics in that they call for a discourse-guided and context-based analysis of meaning construction. The present article takes a closer look at the cognitive motivation for the conversion process involved in the noun-verb alterations with a view to explaining the semantics of some conversion formations in relation to the user-centred discourse context. The analysis developed in this article draws from the combined insights of Fauconnier and Turner’s (2002) Conceptual Integration Theory and Langacker’s (2005, 2008) Current Discourse Space.


2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Joanna Jabłońska-Hood

Conceptual integration theory (henceforth CIT), aka conceptual blending, was devised by Fauconnier and Turner (2002) as a model for meaning construction and interpretation. It is based on the notion of a mental space, which originated in Fauconnier's early research (1998). Mental spaces are structures that constitute information pertaining to a particular concept (Fauconnier and Turner 2002: 40). Interestingly, mental spaces can be linked together and blended so as to produce a novel quality not previously present. In this manner, conceptual integration serves the purpose of a theoretical model which throws light on creativity in language use. In my paper, I will apply CIT to British humour in order to use its multiway blending together with its dynamic, online running of the blended contents for the purpose of comedy elucidation. It is crucial to observe that British humour is a complex phenomenon which pertains to many different levels of interpretation, i.e. a linguistic, cultural or a discourse one. CIT possesses a well suited cognitive apparatus which can encompass the complexity of British humour with all its layers. The primary goal of the article is to analyse a selected scene from a sitcom entitled Miranda in order to show the validity of the theory in respect of humour studies. In particular, I will undertake to demonstrate that CIT, with a special emphasis on its principles such as compression and the emergent structure of the blend can deal with many processes that accumulate within British humour and result in laughter. Simultaneously, I will try to demonstrate that frame-shifting, as proposed by Coulson (2015: pp. 167-190), can be of help to CIT in humour explanation.


2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (XIX) ◽  
pp. 245-255
Author(s):  
Michał Góral ◽  
Juani Guerra

The aim of this paper is to map cognitive dynamics of meaning constructionin Spanish language as articulated in Ortega y Gasset’s philosophical essay Ladeshumanización del arte / The Dehumanization of Art [1925]. We will focus on howthe human element is conceptualized, i.e., created and understood by the author. Ourmethod is based on the application of cognitive models of conceptual analysis foundin Cognitive Linguistics known as Idealized Cognitive Models – ICMs [Lakoff & Johnson1980] like Image Schema, Metaphor, Metonymy, and their developments as conceptualblends in Conceptual Integration Theory – CIT [Fauconnier & Turner 2002].The high philosophical complexity of this text’s nuclear conceptual structure HUMANand DEHUMANIZATION makes it necessary to initially map them from theoreticallyestablished cognitive approaches to language organization. In this paper we developsuch analysis as groundwork for a subsequent study involving a more dynamicist viewof their emergent meanings in the framework of Biopoetics [Guerra 2013, 2016].


2020 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 777
Author(s):  
Natália Elvira Sperandio

Abstract: Almost forty years ago, the proposal of the Conceptual Metaphor Theory represented a milestone for Cognitive Linguistics studies. From this point, many pieces of research were developed around the analytical category of metaphor. However, the majority of these papers are still in the monomodal field, intending to build a concept resulting from the source and target domains that come specifically from the verbal structures. Taking this into consideration, this paper intends to focus on the metaphorical occurrence in diverse semiotic modes that constitute multimodal texts. In order to fulfill this aim, we outlined a corpus of five editorial cartoons about “fake news”. Our specific objective is to, making use of the concept of multimodal metaphors proposed by Forceville (1996, 2009), presented how the different semiotic modes, in this case the verbal and the visual ones, are interwoven in the building of these metaphors. In this way, in our study, besides validating the thesis proposed by Forceville (2009) about the occurrence of metaphors not only in the verbal mode, it was also possible to verify the importance of multimodal metaphors for the meaning construction process in the analyzed genre.Keywords: metaphors; multimodal metaphors; fake news.Resumo: Há quase quarenta anos atrás um marco nos estudos da Linguística Cognitiva, em especial em sua semântica, ocorreu: a proposta da Teoria da Metáfora Conceitual. A partir desse trabalho, muitas pesquisas foram desenvolvidas em torno da categoria analítica da metáfora. Porém, grande parte desses trabalhos ainda encontra-se no campo dos denominados textos monomodais, visando apenas a construção conceitual resultante de domínios fonte e alvo oriundos especificamente do modo verbal. Diante disso, o presente artigo propõe-se a promover um trabalho dedicado à ocorrência metafórica nos diferentes modos semióticos que constituem os textos multimodais. Para cumprirmos tal objetivo, delineamos como corpus cinco charges que versam sobre o conceito fake news. Nosso objetivo específico consiste em apresentar, através do conceito de metáforas multimodais, proposto por Forceville (1996, 2009), a forma pela qual diferentes modos semióticos, nesse caso em especial o verbal e o imagético, imbricaram-se na construção dessas metáforas. Assim, em nosso estudo, além de vislumbrarmos a validação da proposição de Forceville (2009) sobre a não ocorrência do processo metafórico apenas no modo verbal, foi possível a verificação da importância das metáforas multimodais para a construção dos sentidos do gênero em análise.Palavras-chave: metáforas; metáfora multimodal; fake news.


Open Theology ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-45
Author(s):  
Jason P. Roberts

Abstract The field of cognitive linguistics has generated a powerful set of theoretical tools for analyzing the ways in which we understand, communicate, and create concepts. In the conceptual integration theory of Gilles Fauconnier and Mark Turner, the cognitive process known as double-scope blending provides a highdefinition model for the phenomenological hermeneutics of Paul Ricoeur. In particular, Ricoeur’s notion of developing a second naivete through the blending of ancient and contemporary worlds of meanings can be viewed as the double-scope integration of concepts across disparate conceptual frames. This re-modeling of Ricoeur’s hermeneutics gives it a new level of clarity and precision in cognitive scientific terms, which in turn may be utilized in service of theological and other forms of discourse. Conceptual integration theory also sheds light on other Ricoeur-inspired hermeneutical models and makes a case for the revelatory character of scripture through the meaning-making process of interpretation. The interpretation of the image of God concept in an evolutionary worldview serves as a heuristic example of second naivete as double-scope blending.


2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 4
Author(s):  
Nihada Delibegovic Dzanic ◽  
Sanja Berberovic

The aim of the paper is to uncover the extent to which different forms of political Internet humour can criticise current political affairs in a developing democracy such as Bosnia and Herzegovina. Specifically, applying a cognitive linguistic theory of meaning construction, namely conceptual integration theory, the paper analyses the construction of meaning of humorous Internet forms, such as memes, demotivational posters, hashtag posts, and memetic photographs, representing innovative ways of providing political commentaries on current political affairs. The meaning of political humour is constructed in conceptual blending as a basic cognitive mechanism. As it is claimed (Coulson & Pascual 2006, Coulson & Oakley 2006, Coulson 2006, Oakley & Coulson 2008) that blending can be used as a rhetorical tool influencing the audience to change the reality and even act upon it, the analysis of the construction of meaning of political humour as products of conceptual integration can reveal hidden ideologies in political discourse.


2019 ◽  
Vol 27 ◽  
pp. 139-158
Author(s):  
Marta Buján Navarro

Linguistic humour studies have been undertaken from different perspectives. The present paper offers a review of the most influential theories seeking synergies and convergence between them under the umbrella of cognitive linguistics, and, more specifically, resorting to Langacker’s (2001) current discourse space (CDS) as the overall framework which can accommodate and encompass those perspectives, along with Fauconnier and Turner’s (2003) Conceptual Integration Theory. A sketch of various theories is included (Raskin, 1985; Attardo, 1994; Coulson, 2005a; Veale, 2015, etc.), along with an analysis of points of convergence and similarities as the rationale for bringing them together against the backdrop of the CDS.


2017 ◽  
Vol 52 (1) ◽  
pp. 53-71
Author(s):  
Daniele Borgogni

Abstract In this article, two major paradigms within cognitive stylistics, the Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT) and the Conceptual Integration Theory (CIT), are applied as largely complementary approaches to discuss the scope and implicatures of the central metaphorical image of Copp’s Return to the wayes of Truth (1651), a text written by one of the most famous radical preachers of the Civil War period as a plea to be released from prison. The article will focus on how the linguistic and cultural contexts of Coppe’s prophetic writing, in their interaction with the dynamic conceptual relationships of a conceptual integration network, open up new possibilities of perspectivizing and insinuating radically different meanings and implicatures: the use of blends in Coppe’s text has a direct effect on the structure of the analogies that can be made between mental spaces, thereby triggering new meaning effects, supplementary symbolizing patterns, and unpredictable perlocutionary effects.


2016 ◽  
Vol 4 (5) ◽  
pp. 109-124
Author(s):  
Jia Wen

Based on the conceptual integration theory, this thesis makes a cognitive analysis on the meaning construction of Chinese XHY. Particularly, the author conducts case studies at length of four pieces of XHY in accordance with the categories of conceptual networks, i.e. simplex network, mirror network, single-scope network and double-scope network. Additionally, the analysis of the XHY is conducted in combination with the contextual information or the cultural entrenchment. Above all, this thesis makes a preliminary attempt to apply the conceptual integration theory to the construal of Chinese XHY in order to prove the explanatory power of the theory so that further relevant research can be conducted.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document