Formalizing Cognitive Grammar by Introducing Analogical-Operatorial (A-O) Mode of Language Use and its Implications for Audience Analysis

1997 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 163-175 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dorota Zielinska
Keyword(s):  
Language Use ◽  
Cognitive Grammar ◽  
Present Formulation ◽  
Semantic Meaning ◽  
Audience Analysis ◽  
Conceptual Structures ◽  
Linguistic Units

Formalization of cognitive grammar depends in an important way on modeling the process of assessing similarity. This article points out that such formalization is difficult to achieve within the present formulation [1] of the grammar and introduces a modification that will allow modeling the process of similarity. Next, it is suggested that the mechanism of assessing similarity in the modified analogical-operatorial version of cognitive grammar be that of analogical modeling presented in Skousen [2]. Finally, it indicates some consequences of the proposition for the practice of communication. The modification, the analogical-operatorial mode of language use, allows linguistic units, in addition to their function of representing the semantic meaning of these units, to serve as operators differentiating among semantic or other conceptual structures. This introduces inhomogeneity to the content purported with linguistic units and leads to preserving linguistic compositionality understood in a new sense. It also allows one to treat the pragmatic meaning in the same way as the semantic one, and accounts for a compact use of linguistic units. Using linguistic units to differentiate allows one to convey information not contained in the encoded meaning of these structures. This can be utilized to communicate more efficiently but also poses the danger of purporting unwanted meaning.

Tvorbeni Potencial Glagolskih Novotvorjenk Na -Ing + -Irati V Slovenščini

2018 ◽  
Vol 69 (3) ◽  
pp. 572-580
Author(s):  
Irena Stramljič Breznik
Keyword(s):  
Language Use ◽  
Cognitive Grammar ◽  
Slovene Language

Abstract The paper focuses on new verbal formations in Slovene coined from borrowed nouns ending in -ing with the Slovenian morpheme -irati (e.g. šoping-irati) on the basis of analogous phonological and semantic structures in the language, and examines their spread in the sphere of informal language use. The word­formational potential of such verbs is further examined with the basic categories of cognitive grammar, such as morphemic transparency, schematicity of the word­formational pattern and the established status of the phonemic sequence *ingira* in the previously existing lexical units of the Slovene language.

scholarly journals La concettualizzazione del verbo ‘mettere’ in italiano

2021 ◽  
Vol 33 ◽  
pp. 1-17
Author(s):  
Aleksandra Paliczuk
Keyword(s):  
Visual Perception ◽  
Natural Language ◽  
Cognitive Linguistics ◽  
Cognitive Grammar ◽  
Conceptual Structures ◽  
Conceptual Relations ◽  
Linguistic Structures

The conceptualization of space is manifested in language through diverse linguistic structures. Space, one of the most significant analytical categories not only in linguistics, introduces a variety of senses and conceptual relations in the construction of communicative meaning. While there are several approaches to linguistic studies, the most obvious choice for this type of analysis seems to be Cognitive Linguistics, with some of its theoretical currents and the Cognitive Grammar of Ronald W. Langacker (1987, 1991a, 1991b, 1995, 2008) in particular. In his works, Langacker often refers to spatial and visual relationships that provide useful illustrations to depict different conceptual structures and relationships. Indeed, the relations between visual perception and conceptualization concerns numerous aspects of the semantics of natural language (E. Tabakowska, 1999: 59). The paper aims to analyse the concept of the Italian verb ‘mettere’ (‘to put’), apparently simple and yet, as it will be shown, rich and varied in meaning.

Linguistic units and their systems

2019 ◽  
Vol 43 (2) ◽  
pp. 281-300
Author(s):  
Ross Krekoski
Keyword(s):  
Social Action ◽  
Philosophy Of Mind ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Theoretical Explanation ◽  
Linguistic Theory ◽  
Rule Based ◽  
Fundamental Properties ◽  
Formal Systems ◽  
Linguistic Units ◽  
Self Reference

Abstract A theoretical discussion of units in linguistic theory would be, in a sense, incomplete without a discussion of the systems, whether overt or implied, that the units are associated with. This paper traces conceptualizations of units and their accompanying systems in several disciplines. We identify some important problems with rule-based accounts (Parsons 1937) of social action and discuss the transition to non-rule-based theory afforded by ethnomethodology (e.g. Garfinkel 1963, 1967; Heritage 1984, 2011). We draw direct parallels between these issues and analogous developments in mathematical logic (Gödel 1992) and philosophy of mind (Fodor 1968, 1983; Lucas 1961; Putnam 1960, 1967 etc.), and argue that these stem directly from fundamental properties of a class of all formal systems which permit self-reference. We argue that, since these issues are architectural in nature, linguistic theory which postulates that linguistic units are the outputs of a consistent, self-referential, rule-based formal systems (e.g. Hauser, Chomsky & Fitch 2002) will inevitably run into similar problems. This is further supported by examples from actual language use which, as a class, will elude any theoretical explanation grounded in such a system.

scholarly journals ANGER, LOVE, SADNESS: DO EMOTION WORDS HAVE THE SAME SEMANTIC MEANING ACROSS AGE-GROUPS?

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S841-S842
Author(s):  
Madeline J Nichols ◽  
Jennifer A Bellingtier ◽  
Frances Buttelmann
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Age Differences ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Past Research ◽  
Semantic Meaning ◽  
Younger Adults ◽  
Emotion Words ◽  
Emotion Word ◽  
Age Related

Abstract Every day we use emotion words to describe our experiences, but past research finds that the meanings of these words can vary. Furthermore, historical shifts in language use and experiential knowledge of the emotions may contribute to age-differences in what these emotion words convey. We examined age-related differences in the valence, arousal, and expression connoted by the words anger, love, and sadness. We predicted age-related differences in the semantic meanings of the words would emerge such that older adults would more clearly differentiate the positivity/negativity of the words, whereas younger adults would report higher endorsement for the conveyed arousal and expression. Participants included American and German older adults (N=61; mean age=68.98) and younger adults (N=77; mean age=20.77). Using the GRID instrument (Swiss Center for Affective Sciences, 2013), they rated each emotion word for its valence, arousal, and expression when used by a speaker of the participant’s native language. Across emotions and dimensions, older adults were generally more moderate in their understanding of emotion words. For example, German older adults rated anger and sadness as suggesting the speaker felt less bad and more good than the younger adults. American older adults rated love as connoting the speaker felt more bad and less good than younger adults. Arousal ratings were higher for German younger, as opposed to older, adults. Cultural differences were most pronounced for sadness such that German participants gave more moderate answers than American participants. Overall, our research suggests that there are age-related differences in the understanding of emotion words.

Integrating constructional semantics and conceptual metaphor

2016 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 141-165 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karen Sullivan
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Linguistics ◽  
Conceptual Metaphor ◽  
Conceptual Structure ◽  
Unified Model ◽  
Cognitive Grammar ◽  
Frame Semantics ◽  
Conceptual Metaphor Theory ◽  
Conceptual Structures ◽  
Metaphoric Language ◽  
Metaphor Theory

Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT) aims to represent the conceptual structure of metaphors rather than the structure of metaphoric language. The theory does not explain which aspects of metaphoric language evoke which conceptual structures, for example. However, other theories within cognitive linguistics may be better suited to this task. These theories, once integrated, should make building a unified model of both the conceptual and linguistic aspects of metaphor possible. First, constructional approaches to syntax provide an explanation of how particular constructional slots are associated with different functions in evoking metaphor. Cognitive Grammar is especially effective in this regard. Second, Frame Semantics helps explain how the words or phrases that fill the relevant constructional slots evoke the source and target domains of metaphor. Though these theories do not yet integrate seamlessly, their combination already offers explanatory benefits, such as allowing generalizations across metaphoric and non-metaphoric language, and identifying the words that play a role in evoking metaphors, for example.

A meaning potential perspective on lexical meaning: the case of bit

2015 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 85-106
Author(s):  
JENNY HARTMAN
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Processes ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Lexical Semantics ◽  
English Word ◽  
Lexical Item ◽  
Raw Material ◽  
Lexical Meaning ◽  
Meaning Potential ◽  
Conceptual Structures ◽  
Per Se

This article offers a description of a particular lexical item, the English word bit, from a meaning potential perspective making use of the framework lexical meaning as ontologies and construals (LOC). The lexical semantics for bit is described not in terms of meanings per se, but rather in terms of potential for cueing conceptual structures of varying schematicity, put to use through a range of cognitive processes, or construals. The article concludes that some conceptual structures are quite fundamental to bit’s use and that their construal is highly flexible and contextually sensitive. The semantic structures evoked by bit are realized through particular communicative and discursive settings, and these semantic structures provide the raw material for all its situated meanings in response to communicative demands. Ultimately, a meaning potential perspective, in particular the model for describing and explaining lexical meaning adopted in this article, facilitates a rich and explicatory description of bit, both as regards its fundamental structures and their construal in attested language use.

The effect of bilingualism on the use of manual gestures

2007 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 441-454 ◽  
Author(s):  
ELENA NICOLADIS
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Speech Production ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Language Use ◽  
The Other ◽  
Clear Pattern ◽  
Second Language Teaching ◽  
Verbal Message ◽  
Linguistic Transfer ◽  
Linguistic Units

Gestures are often used while speaking to aid in the speaker's packaging of the verbal message and/or to aid the listener in decoding the message. The ways in which bilinguals use gestures are reviewed in this article. Researchers have predicted that bilinguals' gesture use is related to bilinguals' language proficiency. However, no clear pattern of a link between proficiency and gesture use has been observed across studies, probably because gestures rarely compensate for weak language proficiency, functioning instead to facilitate speech production in both first and second language use. Researchers have reported bilinguals using language-specific gestures in the other language. In addition, bilinguals have been shown to use gestures at a higher rate than monolinguals. These results suggest that cross-linguistic transfer can apply to gestures, as well as to other linguistic units. In conclusion, gestures play an important role in accessing language in the process of speech production. This conclusion has implications for second-language teaching; teaching through gestures and speech might be more effective than teaching the spoken component alone.

scholarly journals Spoken language usage events

2015 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 499-514 ◽  
Author(s):  
ALAN CIENKI
Keyword(s):  
Spoken Language ◽  
Written Language ◽  
Linguistic Meaning ◽  
Cognitive Grammar ◽  
Language Usage ◽  
Conceptual Content ◽  
Language Structure ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Linguistic Units

abstractAs an explicitly usage-based model of language structure (Barlow & Kemmer, 2000), cognitive grammar draws on the notion of ‘usage events’ of language as the starting point from which linguistic units are schematized by language users. To be true to this claim for spoken languages, phenomena such as non-lexical sounds, intonation patterns, and certain uses of gesture should be taken into account to the degree to which they constitute the phonological pole of signs, paired in entrenched ways with conceptual content. Following through on this view of usage events also means realizing the gradable nature of signs. In addition, taking linguistic meaning as consisting of not only conceptual content but also a particular way of construing that content (Langacker, 2008, p. 43), we find that the forms of expression mentioned above play a prominent role in highlighting the ways in which speakers construe what they are talking about, in terms of different degrees of specificity, focusing, prominence, and perspective. Viewed in this way, usage events of spoken language are quite different in nature from those of written language, a point which highlights the need for differentiated accounts of the grammar of these two forms of expression taken by many languages.

scholarly journals Lexis of the thematic group “food and food consumption” in the novel by Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin “The Golovlyov Family”

Litera ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 84-96
Author(s):  
Tatiana Liashenko
Keyword(s):  
Food Consumption ◽  
Literary Text ◽  
Psychological Aspects ◽  
Internal Dynamic ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Semantic Meaning ◽  
Food Image ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Rich Material ◽  
Linguistic Units

The subject of this research is lexemes of the thematic group “food and food consumption” in the novel by Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin “The Golovlyov Family”. The object of this research is the functional yield of these linguistic units in the text. The author of the article describes the functionality of food images in literature in form of the system of oppositions “external (existential) – internal (psychological)”, and “static-dynamic”. The four functions are differentiated: external static (food image as a detail scenery), external dynamic (food image as a theme-forming element), internal static (food image as an element of portrait of the character), internal dynamic (food image characterizes the dynamics of relations between the characters). It is noted that the thought on “low functionality” of gastronomic images in a literary text, which is expressed in some research, testifies to insufficient study of such rich material. Food as a literary image, as well as the motif of food consumption in a literary text always convey semantic meaning. In the novel “The Golovlyov Family”, the words with “food” semantics serve for the formation of external, existential aspect of narration, as well as internal, psychological aspects. Images of food alongside motifs of food consumption are characterological (describing portrait of the character) to a lesser degree, and more often used for demonstrating relationships between the characters.

Democratisation of Language Use in Public Domains in Nigeria

1993 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 639-656 ◽  
Author(s):  
Conrad Max Benedict Brann
Keyword(s):  
Language Use ◽  
National Policy ◽  
Unity In Diversity ◽  
Linguistic Units

The wealth of ethno-linguistic units in Nigeria has been the object of anthropological, linguistic, historical, and political study since the country was first so named at the beginning of this century. But since independence in 1960, the federal motto of ‘Unity in Diversity’ has raised a central principle of language use which has been gradually articulated in successive constitutions and white papers on national policy in the educational and cultural spheres.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document