scholarly journals Ça roule ! — un pragmatème à décortiquer. Une étude contrastive franco-italienne

2020 ◽  
Vol 32 ◽  
pp. 173-191
Author(s):  
Ryszard Wylecioł ◽  
Karolina Adamczyk

The aim of this paper is to present, after a short introduction to what pragmateme, or pragmatic phraseologism, is and how we understand it as a fixed expressive phrase with affective and emotive load, the results of the Polonium project entitled “Pragmatemes in contrast: from linguistic modeling to lexicographic coding”. In particular, we want to divulgate information concerning analysis of the French pragmateme Ça roule ! and its Italian corresponding phrase A posto!. Furthermore, equivalents of both pragmatemes are also investigated. However, as we consider cognitive linguistics tools as those which may give greater response to what the meaning of pragmatemes is, we broaden the project results with analysis of the trajector-landmark relation and of conceptual metaphors, that are the basis of the imagery for the aforementioned linguistic elements. In this way, we may also try to discern similarities and discrepancies in how close but still different cultures depict the same scene in similar speech events.

2021 ◽  
Vol 33 ◽  
pp. 1-22
Author(s):  
Ryszard Wylecioł

The purpose of this paper is to perform a brief cognitive analysis of speech events containing information about the coronavirus SARS-COV 2 and the disease its causes, COVID-19. As the author acknowledges primacy of cognitive linguistics research tools towards explanation of how language is used and how the extralinguistic reality is perceived, the object of research comprises M Johnson and G. Lakoff’s conceptual metaphors, which are to be extracted among seven chosen articles derived from the digital version of the Italian journal La Stampa. The results of such performed research should deliver a list of structural, ontological and orientative metaphors, which, in this context, are not just pure eristic speech figures but mental constructs which indicate people’s way of reasoning and of conceptualizing the surrounding extralinguistic world, in this case the pandemic situation affecting us all.


2021 ◽  
Vol 66 (2) ◽  
pp. 215-238
Author(s):  
Zsuzsa Máthé

"What Time Does in Language: a Cross-Linguistic Cognitive Study of Source Related Variation in Verbal Time Metaphors in American English, Finnish and Hungarian. Such a universal yet abstract concept as time shows variation in metaphorical language. This research focuses on metaphorical language within the framework of the cognitive metaphor theory, investigating time through a contrastive cross-linguistic approach in three satellite-framed languages. By combining qualitative and quantitative methods, this study attempts to identify what time does in language in a metaphorical context, with a focus on verbs in causative constructions (e.g. time heals) as well as manner of motion verbs (e.g. time rushes), through an empirical corpus-based study complemented by the lexical approach. The two main conceptual metaphors that are investigated in this study are TIME IS A CHANGER and TIME IS A MOVING ENTITY. While these two conceptual metaphors are expected to be frequent in all three languages, differences such as negative/positive asymmetry or preference of a type of motion over another are expected to be found. The primary objective is to explore such differences and see how they manifest and why. The hypothesis is that variations among the three languages related to the source domain (CHANGER and MOVING ENTITY), are more likely to be internal and not external. The purpose is to investigate these variations and to determine what cognitive underpinnings they can be traced back to, with a focus on image schemas. The study reveals that source internal variation does prevail over source external variation. The results show that cross-linguistic differences of such a relevant concept as time do exist but more often through unique characteristics of the same source domain rather than new, distinctive domains. Keywords: cognitive linguistics, corpus linguistics, conceptual metaphor theory, metaphorical entailments, source domain "


Author(s):  
Sabine De Knop

AbstractThe study of German posture verbs has attracted the interest of many linguists, e.g. Berthele (2004 and 2006), Fagan (1991), Kutscher-Schultze-Berndt (2007) and Serra-Borneto (1996). It is surprising that most studies disregard the posture verbThe study aims at making up for these deficits. With examples from the German corpora from the Digitales Wörterbuch der Deutschen Sprache (DWDS), it first describes the different uses of the verbIn the framework of Cognitive Linguistics the study also proposes some ‘conceptual tools’ to facilitate the learning of the more abstract uses of the verb sitzen. These tools are semantic networks, visuals, and conceptual metaphors. Spatial distinctions such as those between container and contact are extended to more abstract areas of experience, especially in the context of situations describing abstract states. Here one of the main issues for the learner is to find out whether the abstract goal is conceptualized as a container, a contact or still another basic spatial relation. The efficiency of these conceptual tools is tested with a cloze test conducted with French-speaking students.


2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 6
Author(s):  
Yolanda García Hernández

Today we live in the era of globalization. We define our world by the coexistence of various different cultures. The present article seeks to clarify the concept of intercultural competence when teaching foreign languages and the new trends in the context of Higher Education in Spain. We will start with a short introduction on the various studies and research on the relationships between language and culture However, the main aim in this article will be to point out the new roles played by teacher and learners in the process, the creation of new materials to support the intercultural dimension and the new types of activities that could be done inside and outside the classroom, such as the use of tele-collaboration, social networks and others. In other words, the elements that make up and give meaning to a new methodology for language teaching and learning and that help language teaching to be an open window towards other cultures and to develop a new and open-minded attitude towards diversity. Therefore, we will try to study some of the main current methodological approaches, stereotypes and contents linked to that intercultural competence.


2017 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 110-130 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Finzel ◽  
Hans-Georg Wolf

Abstract With the spread of English in many parts of the world, numerous local varieties have emerged, shaped by the sociocultural contexts in which they are embedded. Hence, although English is a unifying element, these varieties express different conceptualizations that are deeply rooted in culture. For the most part, these conceptualizations come in the form of conceptual metaphors, which not only influence our perception of the world (Lakoff & Johnson 1980), but also reveal cultural specifics of a particular society. One of the latest approaches in the field of conceptual metaphor research suggests that conceptual metaphors are actually multimodal, i.e., that they are expressed not only in language, but also, e.g., in gestures, facial expressions, sounds or images (Forceville 2009). Films are an ideal source of data for such multimodal metaphors. In the form of a pilot study, this paper applies this novel approach to metaphor to the field of World Englishes. While adding to the range of research that has already used the methodological toolbox of Cognitive Linguistics or its cognate discipline Cultural Linguistics in the investigation of the cultural dimension of varieties of English (e.g., Kövecses 1995; Liu 2002; Malcolm & Rochecouste 2000; Sharifian 2006; Wolf 2001; Wolf & Polzenhagen 2009), we provide a new exploratory angle to that investigation by using cinematic material for the analysis. Specifically, this study focuses on conceptualizations pertaining to the target domains woman and homosexuality. The data we have selected are from Great Britain, India and Nigeria, because these countries have important film industries, and British English, Indian English and Nigerian English constitute culturally distinct varieties.


Author(s):  
Jonathan De Souza

This chapter takes performances by the deaf Beethoven as an instance of body-instrument interaction. Prior research in music theory, drawing on cognitive linguistics, suggests that Beethoven’s music was shaped by conceptual metaphors, which are both culturally specific and grounded in the body. Yet this chapter shows that players’ experience is not simply embodied but also technical. To that end, the chapter explores cognitive neuroscience, ecological psychology, and phenomenology. Patterns of auditory-motor coactivation in players’ brains are made possible by the stable affordances of an instrument. These auditory-motor connections support performative habits, and they may be reactivated and recombined in perception and imagination—supporting Beethoven’s auditory simulations after hearing loss, for example.


Author(s):  
J. L. Heilbron

How does today’s physics—highly professionalized; inextricably linked to government and industry—link back to its origins as a liberal art in ancient Greece? The History of Physics: A Very Short Introduction tells the 2,500-year story, exploring the changing place and purpose of physics in different cultures; highlighting the implications for humankind’s self-understanding. It introduces Islamic astronomers and mathematicians calculating the Earth’s size; medieval scholar-theologians investigating light; Galileo, Copernicus, Kepler, and Newton, measuring, and trying to explain, the universe. It visits: the House of Wisdom in 9th-century Baghdad; Europe’s first universities; the courts of the Renaissance; the Scientific Revolution and 18th-century academies; and the increasingly specialized world of 20th‒21st-century science.


2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (5) ◽  
pp. 1006
Author(s):  
Tingxuan Liu

Samuel Selvon (1923-1994) is a great pioneer in Creole literature. His writing in the Moses trilogy is very representative because of his preoccupation with issues of identity and culture. The Lonely Londoners, published in 1956, and Moses Ascending, published in 1975, are two of them. These two books telling Creole immigrants’ story have been recognized as a great masterpiece in Caribbean literature, which have a far-reaching influence on postcolonial literature. This thesis attempts to employ Homi Bhabha’s theory of hybridity to illustrate the Creoles’ struggle against colonization and the construction of political hybridity. The thesis consists of three parts. Part One is Introduction, which presents a short introduction to the author Samuel Selvon, his two works, the theoretical framework. Part Two depicts the process of the Creoles’ struggle against colonization in political civilization. In the aspect of politics, the Creoles experience the process from unawareness of politics to pursuing their political dream. They attempt to construct their own political system on the basis of the British mode. Part Three is Conclusion. Based on the above analyses, the thesis draws the conclusion that different cultures can influence each other. The effective way to realize decolonization is the construction of political hybridity.


2015 ◽  
Vol 44 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
María D. López Maestre

AbstractWithin the cognitive linguistics literature, many publications have dealt with conceptual metaphors about love and sexual desire (Lakoff 1987; Kövecses 2003; Barcelona 1992, 1995; Emanatian 1995, 1996.) However, a source domain that has not received the attention it merits is that of the hunt. This source domain deserves to be studied not only because of the interest in the conceptual metaphors it generates, but primarily because of the ideology and cultural values behind it. For this reason, applying a combined methodology based on cognitive linguistics and critical discourse analysis (Charteris-Black 2004; Goatly 2007), this article explores the use of the source domain of the hunt for the expression of love and sexual desire in metaphorical linguistic expressions with male hunters and female prey, paying critical attention to discourse and the ideologies about gender that are conveyed.


2021 ◽  
pp. 58-66
Author(s):  
Ilona Lechner

The subject of the study is the examination of figurative meaning in Hungarian and German. In the present study, I present the interpretation of figurative meaning within the theoretical framework of cognitive linguistics by analysing idiomatic expressions in Hungarian and German on the example of the concept of ‘time’. In this contrastive research, I primarily look for the answer to how ordinary people use cognitive tools to grasp intangible abstract concepts such as ‘time’ and what connections can be observed between literal and figurative meaning. The examined Hungarian and German idioms are the linguistic manifestations of the conceptual metaphor time is money (valuable resource). The study aims to support the assumption that in any language an abstract meaning can only be expressed with a figurative meaning. Time is an abstract concept that is present in the everyday language use of all people. The expressions time passes, the time is here, my time has come, it takes a lot of time – to mention just a few, have become so conventionalized in our language that we take their meaning literally. Nonetheless, they are based on conventional conceptual metaphors that we use to make the concept of time more tangible to ourselves. The linguistic manifestations of these conceptual metaphors are created and understood without any mental strain. In the first stage of the research, I searched for possible German equivalents of Hungarian expressions, and then I used Internet search engines and idiom and monolingual dictionaries to select the most frequently used equivalent in German. As a next step, I examined 1) the word form, 2) the literal meaning, 3) the figurative meaning, and 4) the conceptual metaphor of idioms in both languages, which were either been identical or different. Because they are different languages, the word forms are inherently different. At the end of the study, I compared the formed patterns from which I drew conclusions, which support that figurative meaning is figurative in another language as well.


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