scholarly journals Translating meaning as cognitive socio-cultural systems.A conceptual approach to the translation of plurilingualism in postcolonial literary discourse in Portuguese

Author(s):  
Rebeca Hernández

Recent approaches to language, meaning and cognition contend that par-ticipants in linguistic interaction construct a mental representation of their understanding of discourse on the basis of linguistic expressions, world or experiential knowledge, socially-shared beliefs, and the imagination. Fo-cusing on the implications the coexistence of different languages has for the construction of a cognitive culture system, this paper argues that choosing monolingualism for the translation of postcolonial plurilingual texts impos-es semantic limitations, which may result in a dissimilar, domesticated, representation of the recreated reality. Besides taking an ethical stand, this paper also claims that preserving the plurilingualism of these texts responds to the wish to invite readers to open new mental spaces, where the cognitive system of the translated culture can be located. The analysis of examples from the translation into English of postcolonial texts in Portuguese will show strategies to achieve this aim.

Philosophia ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 48 (5) ◽  
pp. 1825-1836
Author(s):  
Sebastian Gäb

Abstract In this paper, I analyze the concept of ineffability: what does it mean to say that something cannot be said? I begin by distinguishing ineffability from paradox: if something cannot be said truly or without contradiction, this is not an instance of ineffability. Next, I distinguish two different meanings of ‘saying something’ which result from a fundamental ambiguity in the term ‘language’, viz. language as a system of symbols and language as a medium of communication. Accordingly, ‘ineffability’ is ambiguous, too, and we should make a distinction between weak and strong ineffability. Weak ineffability is rooted in the deficiencies of a particular language while strong ineffability stems from the structure of a particular cognitive system and its capacities for conceptual mental representation. Mental contents are only sayable if we are able to conceptualize them and then create signs to represent them in communication.


2006 ◽  
Vol 51 (3) ◽  
pp. 545-550
Author(s):  
Kazem Lotfipour-Saedi

Abstract The special literary patterns have already been studied under the general category of literary textual strategies where it has been argued how these textual strategies would set the special literary processes in motion in the cognitive system of the receiver leading to the formation of a special literary meaning, i.e. the literary effect (cf. Lotfipour-Saedi 1992a). The present paper will examine two types of literary textual strategies and the way they function in the activation of the special literary discourse process.


2020 ◽  
Vol 43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kellen Mrkva ◽  
Luca Cian ◽  
Leaf Van Boven

Abstract Gilead et al. present a rich account of abstraction. Though the account describes several elements which influence mental representation, it is worth also delineating how feelings, such as fluency and emotion, influence mental simulation. Additionally, though past experience can sometimes make simulations more accurate and worthwhile (as Gilead et al. suggest), many systematic prediction errors persist despite substantial experience.


Author(s):  
Anastasia M. Raymer ◽  
Beth McHose ◽  
Kimberly Graham

Purpose: Luria (1970) proposed the use of intersystemic reorganization to use an intact system to facilitate improvements in a damaged cognitive system. In this article, we review literature examining the effects of gesture as a modality to promote reorganization to improve verbal production in apraxia of speech and anomia. Methods: A gestural facilitation training paradigm is described and results of a recent systematic review of apraxia of speech treatment are reviewed. The interplay between apraxia of speech and anomia are considered in response to gestural facilitation training. Results & Conclusions: Gestural facilitation effects are strongest in individuals with moderate apraxia of speech. Several factors appear to mitigate the effects of gestural facilitation for verbal production, including severe apraxia of speech and semantic anomia. Severe limb apraxia, which often accompanies severe apraxia of speech, appears to be amenable to gestural treatment, providing improvements in gesture use for communication when verbal production gains are not evident.


Author(s):  
Gilles Fauconnier ◽  
Eve Sweester ◽  
George Lakoff
Keyword(s):  

2001 ◽  
Vol 60 (1) ◽  
pp. 11-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lucia Savadori ◽  
Eraldo Nicotra ◽  
Rino Rumiati ◽  
Roberto Tamborini

The content and structure of mental representation of economic crises were studied and the flexibility of the structure in different social contexts was tested. Italian and Swiss samples (Total N = 98) were compared with respect to their judgments as to how a series of concrete examples of events representing abstract indicators were relevant symptoms of economic crisis. Mental representations were derived using a cluster procedure. Results showed that the relevance of the indicators varied as a function of national context. The growth of unemployment was judged to be by far the most important symptom of an economic crisis but the Swiss sample judged bankruptcies as more symptomatic than Italians who considered inflation, raw material prices and external accounts to be more relevant. A different clustering structure was found for the two samples: the locations of unemployment and gross domestic production indicators were the main differences in representations.


2008 ◽  
Vol 67 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sabine Krolak-Schwerdt ◽  
Margret Wintermantel ◽  
Nadine Junker ◽  
Julia Kneer

Three experiments investigated the processing of person descriptions that consisted of a number of statements about the characteristics of a person. In one condition, each statement referred to a single person attribute and in the other condition, causal and additive conjunctions to verbally link the statements were introduced. Evidence was found that the introduction of verbal links enhanced participants’ memory about the characteristics of the described person. On-line measures of processing showed that the comprehension of person information was strongly facilitated by the introduction of verbal links. Furthermore, the results were due to the introduction of causal connections between person attributes. These findings are discussed in terms of their implications for models of person memory and representation.


2014 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 15-30 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maya Machunsky ◽  
Thorsten Meiser

This research investigated whether relative ingroup prototypicality (i.e., the tendency to perceive one’s own ingroup as more prototypical of a superordinate category than the outgroup) can result from a prototype-based versus exemplar-based mental representation of social categories, rather than from ingroup membership per se as previously suggested by the ingroup projection model. Experiments 1 and 2 showed that a prototype-based group was perceived as more prototypical of a superordinate category than an exemplar-based group supporting the hypothesis that an intergroup context is not necessary for biased prototypicality judgments. Experiment 3 introduced an intergroup context in a minimal-group-like paradigm. The findings demonstrated that both the kind of cognitive representation and motivational processes contribute to biased prototypicality judgments in intergroup settings.


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