scholarly journals Manual Action Metaphors in Chinese A Usage-Based Constructionist Study

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaoyu Liu ◽  
Heidi H. Shi ◽  
Jing-Schmidt Zhuo
Keyword(s):  
Social Cognition ◽  
Object Manipulation ◽  
Source Domain ◽  
Literal Sense ◽  
Corpus Data ◽  
Causative Construction ◽  
Manual Manipulation ◽  
Qualitative Analyses ◽  
Semantic Domains ◽  
Sense Of Urgency

This article examines Chinese manual motor metaphors involving manual object manipulation as the source domain. Specifically, we use corpus data to investigate two transitive constructions [抓紧zhuājĭn ‘grab tightly, clutch’ NP] and [把住 băzhù ‘grasp firmly’ NP] and a causative construction [把bă NP捧pĕng COMPL] ‘lift NP with deliberation’ where the referent of the NP does not lend itself to manual manipulation in the literal sense and must be interpreted as metaphoric in the unity of semantic domains. Results from both quantitative and qualitative analyses show that the two transitive grasping actions are systematically used to abstract actions requiring a keen sense of urgency and/or importance and that the causative action of lifting systematically conceptualizes over-promotion of an undeserving entity. The findings point to the bodily origin of social cognition and the embodiment of conceptualization.

Measuring the alternation strength of causative verbs

2017 ◽  
Vol 31 ◽  
pp. 219-242 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laurence Romain
Keyword(s):  
Careful Analysis ◽  
Subject Position ◽  
Object Position ◽  
Causative Alternation ◽  
Low Degree ◽  
Central Elements ◽  
Causative Construction ◽  
Qualitative Analyses ◽  
Causative Verbs

Abstract This paper presents a method for quantitative and qualitative analyses of the causative alternation in English, where verbs may alternate between a transitive (causative) construction (Santa crinkled his eyes) and an intransitive (non-causative) construction (His eyes crinkled).1 The aim of this paper is to present a method designed to measure the alternation strength of causative verbs, i.e. the extent to which they alternate between the two constructions. One of the central elements this paper investigates is the Theme, i.e. the participant that is in subject position in the intransitive construction and object position in the transitive construction. A distinctive collostructional analysis (Gries and Stefanowitsch 2004) shows that certain verbs are significantly attracted to one of either two constructions while others are equivalently distributed in the two constructions. However, after careful analysis it appears that very few Themes actually overlap between the two constructions (Lemmens forthcoming) which indicates that each construction seems to be rather restrictive regarding which Themes they recruit. The low degree of alternation of the Themes leads us to ask ourselves the extent to which the alternation is part of a speaker’s knowledge of their language.

The use of heaps as quantifier and intensifier in New Zealand English

2017 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 531-556
Author(s):  
ANDREEA CALUDE
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Statistical Tests ◽  
Semantic Role ◽  
Multivariate Statistical ◽  
Corpus Data ◽  
Qualitative Analyses

This article documents novel uses of the noun heaps in New Zealand English, namely as quantifier and intensifier, by means of quantitative and qualitative analyses of corpus data. Closely following in the footsteps of lots, heaps is the second most frequent size noun in New Zealand English. On the basis of exhaustive coding of four corpora of New Zealand English (spoken and written), the article describes and exemplifies the various uses of heaps in this English variety. Results show heaps is preferred in speech compared to writing, and that its most common use is as a quantifier, followed by an extension to an intensifying use, which has received comparatively less attention in the literature (and never specifically in the context of New Zealand English). An examination of early New Zealand English in the ONZE Corpus testifies to this incoming change, with heaps grammaticalizing into an adverb and bearing the semantic role of intensifier. Multivariate statistical tests show that innovative uses of heaps are largely driven by younger speakers.

scholarly journals Évolution sémantique des prépositions spatiales de l’ancien au moyen français

2003 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 311-338
Author(s):  
Benjamin Fagard
Keyword(s):  
Partial Answer ◽  
Semantic Change ◽  
Middle French ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Semantic Development ◽  
Corpus Data ◽  
Semantic Domains

Summary The aim of this paper is to investigate a particular aspect of semantic change. Many theories have tried to capture the regularity in semantic change. In this respect, some linguists have claimed that space is the necessary starting point of any semantic development, and others have stated that space is situated at the same distance from the “semantic core” of a given lexeme as other semantic domains, such as time. I will formulate a partial answer to the question of the primacy of space. Using diachronic corpus data, I will examine prepositions in Old and Middle French (11th to 16th centuries). The prepositions I have focused on are vers, envers, devers, and pardevers, chosen from a wider corpus of prepositions (which I have studied in the same way) because of their semantic behavior, which is particularly complex, and which I try to explain here in detail.

Mapping out the Source domain

2013 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 302-355 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hanne Martine Eckhoff ◽  
Olga A. Thomason ◽  
Peter de Swart
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Domain ◽  
Empirical Approach ◽  
Ancient Greek ◽  
Source Domain ◽  
Parallel Corpus ◽  
European Languages ◽  
Semantic Maps ◽  
Corpus Data

This paper takes a strictly empirical approach to the encoding of spatial notions in the four ancient Indo-European languages Ancient Greek, Latin, Gothic and Old Church Slavonic. By generating semantic maps on the basis of parallel corpus data, without any semantic pre-analysis, we use methods well tested in typology to study the basic divisions in the spatial domain in the four closely-related languages, and to determine the finer subdivisions within the Source domain. We find that the four languages are similar, but clearly independent of each other, each carving up the spatial domain in different ways. We also find substantial encoding overlaps between the Source and Location domains.

scholarly journals Contrastive Interlanguage Analysis of Discourse Markers Used by Nonnative and Native English Speakers

2014 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 47 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kazunari Shimada
Keyword(s):  
English Learners ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Discourse Markers ◽  
Native English Speakers ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Learner Corpus ◽  
Japanese Learners Of English ◽  
Corpus Data ◽  
Japanese Learners ◽  
Qualitative Analyses

In this study, the use of discourse markers (DMs) in the speech of Japanese learners of English was investigated. To explore the features of their DM use, corpora of nonnative and native English speakers’ speech were analysed using the methodology called Contrastive Interlanguage Analysis. A frequency analysis of DMs revealed significant differences between Japanese learners’ and native speakers’ speech, supporting earlier findings. Quantitative and qualitative analyses of the learner corpus data suggest that Japanese learners may use the marker so more frequently than other nonnative English learners, while also using certain interpersonal or cognitive function markers such as you know, I mean, and just less frequently. The findings suggest the need for language instructors and materials writers to understand the characteristics of Japanese learners’ interlanguage and to provide them with appropriately designed DM input. 本研究は、日本人英語学習者の話し言葉における談話標識（discourse markers: DMs）の使用を調べたものである。日本人英語学習者のDMs使用の特徴を探るために、対照中間言語分析の手法に基づき、非英語母語話者と英語母語話者の話し言葉コーパスを分析した。まず、日本人英語学習者と英語母語話者の話し言葉におけるDMsの使用頻度を分析したところ、先行研究と同じく、大きな差が見られた。次に、非英語母語話者の話し言葉を量的・質的の両面で分析した結果、日本人英語学習者が、他の非英語母語話者に比べてsoを多く使用し、you know, I mean, justなどの対人関係的、認知的機能をもつDMsをあまり使用しないことが明らかになった。その結果は、教師や教材作成者が日本人英語学習者の中間言語の特徴を理解し、学習者に対して慎重にDMsをインプットしていく必要性があることを示唆している。

Refining our understanding of the “elephant in the room”

2020 ◽  
Vol 43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Whiten
Keyword(s):  
Social Cognition ◽  
Cultural Evolution ◽  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Critical Factors ◽  
Technological Culture

Abstract The authors do the field of cultural evolution a service by exploring the role of non-social cognition in human cumulative technological culture, truly neglected in comparison with socio-cognitive abilities frequently assumed to be the primary drivers. Some specifics of their delineation of the critical factors are problematic, however. I highlight recent chimpanzee–human comparative findings that should help refine such analyses.

A little too technical: The threat of intellectualising technical reasoning

2020 ◽  
Vol 43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian Robertson
Keyword(s):  
Social Cognition ◽  
Human Reasoning ◽  
Technological Culture ◽  
Technical Reasoning

Abstract Osiurak and Reynaud (O&R) claim that research into the origin of cumulative technological culture has been too focused on social cognition and has consequently neglected the importance of uniquely human reasoning capacities. This commentary raises two interrelated theoretical concerns about O&R's notion of technical-reasoning capacities, and suggests how these concerns might be met.

Are Deficits in Social Cognition Linked to Autobiographical Memory in Patients with Alzheimer’s Disease?

2016 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 257-264 ◽  
Author(s):  
Johannes H. Scheidemann ◽  
Franz Petermann ◽  
Marc Schipper
Keyword(s):  
Alzheimer’S Disease ◽  
Alzheimer's Disease ◽  
Social Cognition ◽  
Theory Of Mind ◽  
Autobiographical Memory ◽  
Positive Relationship ◽  
Neuropsychological Test ◽  
Clinical Group ◽  
Neuropsychological Test Battery ◽  
Fluency Task

Abstract. We investigated theory of mind (ToM) deficits in Alzheimer‘s disease (AD) and its possible connection to autobiographical memory (ABM). Patients and matched controls were evaluated and compared using a video-based ToM test, an autobiographical fluency task, and a neuropsychological test battery. We found that ToM deficits were positively associated with semantic ABM in the clinical group, whereas a positive relationship appeared between ToM and episodic ABM in controls. We hypothesize that this reflects the course of the disease as well as that semantic ABM is used for ToM processing, being still accessible in AD. Furthermore, we assume that it is also less efficient, which in turn leads to a specific deficit profile of social cognition.

What Does It Take to Activate Stereotypes? Simple Primes Don’t Seem Enough

2014 ◽  
Vol 45 (3) ◽  
pp. 187-193 ◽  
Author(s):  
Florian Müller ◽  
Klaus Rothermund
Keyword(s):  
Social Cognition ◽  
Semantic Priming ◽  
Response Priming ◽  
Priming Effects ◽  
Stereotype Activation

According to social cognition textbooks, stereotypes are activated automatically if appropriate categorical cues are processed. Although many studies have tested effects of activated stereotypes on behavior, few have tested the process of stereotype activation. Blair and Banaji (1996) demonstrated that subjects were faster to categorize first names as male or female if those were preceded by gender congruent attribute primes. The same, albeit smaller, effects emerged in a semantic priming design ruling out response priming by Banaji and Hardin (1996) . We sought to replicate these important effects. Mirroring Blair and Banaji (1996) we found strong priming effects as long as response priming was possible. However, unlike Banaji and Hardin (1996) , we did not find any evidence for automatic stereotype activation, when response priming was ruled out. Our findings suggest that automatic stereotype activation is not a reliable and global phenomenon but is restricted to more specific conditions.

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