When two Horses Become Minji na Ndengũ (Peas and Green Grams): A Cognitive Integration Analysis of Blended Idioms of Political Campaign in Kenyan Newspapers

Political campaigns are emotive activities that rely on language to attract the attention of the public. In fact, electioneering periods in Kenya are heavily laced with idiomatic expressions such that one would be required to use the interrelatedness between language and cognition to understand the utterances of a speaker. It is against this backdrop that the present study analyzes the cognitive processes of the idiom minji na ndengũ (peas and green grams) vis-à-vis the canonized form. The idiom minji na ndengũ (peas and green grams) drew a lot of attention during the Kenyan official electioneering period (May and October, 2017) and was extensively used in both the print and social media platforms. The study is anchored in three objectives: to categorize the idiom minji na ndengũ (peas and green grams) in terms of compositionality; to establish the vital relation between the blended idiom and the canonical form; and to interpret the blend using the Conceptual Integration Theory. The study employed the descriptive research design. The study purposively sampled the blended idiom minji na ndengũ (peas and green grams) which is a blended form of the idiom two horse race. Using content analysis, the study classifies and presents a diagrammatic conceptual interpretation of new knowledge based on metaphorical mappings to illustrate the emergent structure. A general finding of this study is that political campaigns create new meanings using deliberately blended idioms of war to improve figurative competencies. Further, one needs to immerse themselves in pragmatic inference in order to reveal the meaning of a blended idiomatic expression. The findings of this study imply that whenever the provisions of grammar prove deficient in unpacking certain messages, cognitive linguists, idiom theorists and researchers should apply the postulates of Cognitive Linguistics. The study concludes that blended idioms of political campaigns achieve creativity and novelty. Further, the comprehension of blended expressions requires the understanding of pragmatic inferences of the local context. The study recommends that for a better understanding of blended idiomatic expressions, one should consider the local contexts expressed in language.

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Conceptual integration theory and British humour: an analysis of the sitcom Miranda

European Journal of Humour Research ◽

10.7592/ejhr2019.7.4.jablonska ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 7 (4) ◽

Author(s):

Joanna Jabłońska-Hood

Keyword(s):

Language Use ◽

Meaning Construction ◽

Integration Theory ◽

Conceptual Blending ◽

Conceptual Integration ◽

Mental Space ◽

Mental Spaces ◽

Emergent Structure ◽

Conceptual Integration Theory ◽

Different Levels

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.

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On the construction of the concept ‘language’: Entrenched Conceptual Integration Networks Encountered in Evolutionary Biology and Studies of Language Evolution

10.17077/conf.005749 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Roslyn M Frank

Keyword(s):

Biological Sciences ◽

Evolutionary Biology ◽

Language Change ◽

Language Evolution ◽

Biological Evolution ◽

Feedback Mechanism ◽

Integration Theory ◽

Conceptual Integration ◽

Emergent Structure ◽

Conceptual Integration Theory

<p>In recent years the relationship between language change and biological evolution has captured the attention of investigators operating in different disciplines, particularly evolutionary biology, AI and A-Life (Zeimke 2001, Hull 2001), as well as linguistics (Croft 2000; Sinha 1999), with each group often bringing radically different conceptualizations of the object under study, namely, “language” itself, to the debate. Over the centuries, meanings associated with the expression “language” have been influenced by mappings of conceptual frames and inputs from the biological sciences onto the entity referred to as “language”. At the same time the prestige of the “science of linguistics” created a feedback mechanism by which the referentiality of “language”, at each stage, was mapped back into the field of evolutionary biology along with the emergent structure(s) of the resulting “blend”. While significant energy has been spent on identifying ways in which biological evolution has been linked to concepts of language evolution (Dörries 2002), little attention has been directed to the nature of the conceptual integration networks that have been produced in the process. This paper examines the way conceptual integration theory can be brought to bear on the “blends” that have been created, focusing primarily on examples drawn from 19th century debates concerning the “language-species-organism analogy” in the emerging field of comparative-historical philology.</p><p>In recent years the relationship between language change and biological evolution has captured the attention of investigators operating in different disciplines, particularly evolutionary biology, AI and A-Life (Zeimke 2001, Hull 2001), as well as linguistics (Croft 2000; Sinha 1999), with each group often bringing radically different conceptualizations of the object under study, namely, “language” itself, to the debate. Over the centuries, meanings associated with the expression “language” have been influenced by mappings of conceptual frames and inputs from the biological sciences onto the entity referred to as “language”. At the same time the prestige of the “science of linguistics” created a feedback mechanism by which the referentiality of “language”, at each stage, was mapped back into the field of evolutionary biology along with the emergent structure(s) of the resulting “blend”. While significant energy has been spent on identifying ways in which biological evolution has been linked to concepts of language evolution (Dörries 2002), little attention has been directed to the nature of the conceptual integration networks that have been produced in the process. This paper examines the way conceptual integration theory can be brought to bear on the “blends” that have been created, focusing primarily on examples drawn from 19th century debates concerning the “language-species-organism analogy” in the emerging field of comparative-historical philology. The document includes Supplemental Materials: Resource Guide and Commentaries.</p>

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A COGNITIVE-CONCEPTUAL MAPPING OF THE HUMAN ELEMENT IN ORTEGA Y GASSET´S ESSAY LA DESHUMANIZACIÓN DEL ARTE (1925). TOWARDS A BIOPOETIC APPROACH1

Acta Neophilologica ◽

10.31648/an.685 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 1 (XIX) ◽

pp. 245-255

Author(s):

Michał Góral ◽

Juani Guerra

Keyword(s):

Conceptual Analysis ◽

Cognitive Linguistics ◽

Cognitive Models ◽

Integration Theory ◽

Conceptual Integration ◽

Conceptual Mapping ◽

Cognitive Dynamics ◽

Human Element ◽

Image Schema ◽

Conceptual Integration Theory

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].

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Conceptual Blending, the Second Naïveté, and the Emergence of New Meanings

Open Theology ◽

10.1515/opth-2018-0003 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 4 (1) ◽

pp. 29-45

Author(s):

Jason P. Roberts

Keyword(s):

Cognitive Linguistics ◽

Meaning Making ◽

Image Of God ◽

Integration Theory ◽

Conceptual Blending ◽

Conceptual Integration ◽

God Concept ◽

New Meanings ◽

Conceptual Integration Theory ◽

The Image Of God

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.

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Humour in interaction and cognitive linguistics: critical review and convergence of approaches

Complutense Journal of English Studies ◽

10.5209/cjes.63314 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 27 ◽

pp. 139-158

Author(s):

Marta Buján Navarro

Keyword(s):

Critical Review ◽

Cognitive Linguistics ◽

Integration Theory ◽

Conceptual Integration ◽

Conceptual Integration Theory

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.

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A Metaphor Analysis of Love Allusions in A Dream of Red Mansions

International Linguistics Research ◽

10.30560/ilr.v3n4p1 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 3 (4) ◽

pp. p1

Author(s):

Lin Qiuming ◽

Li Danyang

Keyword(s):

Cognitive Linguistics ◽

Integration Theory ◽

The Novel ◽

Metaphor Analysis ◽

Narrative Space ◽

Critical Metaphor Analysis ◽

Human World ◽

Conceptual Integration Theory ◽

Cao Xueqin ◽

Literary Classics

The paper explores two love allusions, ‘the pledge between plant and stone’ and ‘Jin’s marriage’ in the Chinese literary classics A Dream of Red Mansions written by Cao Xueqin and provides new explanations to the theme of the novel. Nearly 20 metaphorical expressions in the novel are selected through Critical Metaphor Analysis with 6 specifically representational examples analyzed in the paper by building integration networks based on Conceptual Integration Theory (CIT). The findings are as follow: 1) the counterculture of ‘plant and stone’ is embodied in the mythological stories at the beginning of the novel. 2) a ‘nested integrational network’, originally proposed by the researchers, links the mythological narrative space and the fictional human world space. 3) the comparison between integration networks of the two love allusions shows anti-feudalism of the author Cao Xueqin. This paper offers an interpretation of the novel from the aspect of cognitive linguistics, which, in turn, could promote the development of CIT within this field.

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Discourse-Driven Meaning Construction in Neosemantic Noun-to-Verb Conversions [Meaning Construction In Noun-To-Verb Conversions]

Research in Language ◽

10.2478/v10015-012-0026-4 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 11 (2) ◽

pp. 141-161 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Rafał Augustyn

Keyword(s):

Present Article ◽

Cognitive Linguistics ◽

Meaning Construction ◽

Conversion Process ◽

Integration Theory ◽

Field Of Study ◽

Conceptual Integration ◽

Discourse Context ◽

Cognitive Motivation ◽

Conceptual Integration Theory

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.

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

Etnolingwistyka Problemy Języka i Kultury ◽

10.17951/et.2021.33.131 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 33 ◽

pp. 131

Author(s):

Agnieszka Bożena Mierzwińska-Hajnos

Keyword(s):

Cognitive Linguistics ◽

Meaning Construction ◽

Integration Theory ◽

Cognitive Analysis ◽

Conceptual Integration ◽

Verbascum Thapsus ◽

Semiotic Approach ◽

Metaphor Theory ◽

Conceptual Integration Theory

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.

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What is the Impact of Multimodality and Intersubjectivity on the English Humour?

Horyzonty Wychowania ◽

10.35765/hw.1729 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 19 (52) ◽

pp. 83-92

Author(s):

Joanna Jabłońska-Hood

Keyword(s):

Research Problem ◽

Integration Theory ◽

Cognitive Integration ◽

Conceptual Integration ◽

Research Results ◽

Cognitive Linguistic ◽

Human Ability ◽

Conceptual Integration Theory ◽

The Impact

RESEARCH OBJECTIVE: The purpose of my article is to demonstrate how the terms of multimodality and intersubjectivity function within the areana of English humour, specifically in reference to a chosen sitcom. To this means I shall employ the cognitive apparatus of conceptual integration theory, aka blending. THE RESEARCH PROBLEM AND METHODS: The presented research problem centres around the notions of intersubjectivity, i.e. the human ability to display a shared perception of reality with regard to members of their own community, as well as multimodality, i.e. the use of more than one sense for the purpose of meaning rendition. Both phenomena are studied here with regard to the English humour, whose explanation is based on a cognitive linguistic method of blending. THE PROCESS OF ARGUMENTATION: Having explained the term ‘English humour’, I then clarify intersubjectivity, multimodality and cognitive integration, which will serve here as the tools for the purpose of my humour analysis. Therein I intend to show how they interlink and how their roles influence the comprehension of English humour. RESEARCH RESULTS: The result of this argumentation is constituted by the fact that intersubjectivity and multimodality together with blending can greatly enhance the comprehension of the amusing contents within English comedy. CONCLUSIONS, INNOVATIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS: The analysis confirms that conceptual integration theory, as enriched by intersubjectivity and multimodality, provides a humour researcher with a concrete apparatus for measuring humour effects. However, further research is advocated into the process of blending, as accompanied by intersubjectivity and multimodality, with recourse to English humour as well as other types of humour, e.g. the Polish comedy, in order to provide contrastive evidence for these tools and their usefulness or effectiveness.

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Deliberately misleading or unintentionally ambiguous?

Pragmatics & Cognition ◽

10.1075/pc.18014.pra ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 24 (3) ◽

pp. 346-372

Author(s):

Ewelina Prażmo

Keyword(s):

Cognitive Linguistics ◽

Linguistic Analysis ◽

Concentration Camp ◽

Integration Theory ◽

Conceptual Integration ◽

Linguistic Data ◽

Legal Situation ◽

Depth Analysis ◽

Conceptual Integration Theory ◽

Selection Of

Abstract The present paper focuses on the use of deliberately misleading or unintentionally misinformative phrases related to the so called “Polish concentration camp” issue. This problem has been gaining increasing attention in the Polish media and political sphere. In the article I present the background of the problem including the current legal situation, as well as a linguistic analysis of a selection of problematic collocations. I attempt to maintain an objective stance and refrain from passing any emotional judgement on the issue, providing, at the same time, an in-depth analysis of the linguistic data. I frame the present paper within the cognitive linguistics methodology. I combine Gilles Fauconnier and Mark Turner’s (2002) Conceptual Integration Theory with Kerstin Norén and Per Linell’s (2007) concept of meaning potentials in order to account for the emergent and modifiable nature of meanings of complex expressions.

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