Mental spaces and types of interiority

2021 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Spaces

Mental Spaces

1994 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gilles Fauconnier ◽  
Eve Sweester ◽  
George Lakoff
Keyword(s):  
Mental Spaces

Theoretical Approaches to the Functions of Indefinite Pronouns

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Haspelmath
Keyword(s):  
Semantic Features ◽  
Semantic Change ◽  
Intrinsic Properties ◽  
Theoretical Approaches ◽  
Mental Spaces ◽  
Logical Semantics ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Indefinite Pronouns

This chapter focuses on various theoretical approaches to the semantic and syntactic functions of indefinite pronouns. It begins with a discussion of structuralist semantics, which suggests that language is a system whose parts must be defined and described on the basis of their place in the system and their relation to each other, rather than on the basis of their own intrinsic properties. It then considers some of the problems associated with structuralist semantics, including the unclear status of the semantic features; significant overlap of the functions of grammatical items in many areas, including indefinite pronouns; and structuralist semantics makes wrong predictions about semantic change. The chapter proceeds by analysing logical semantics and the issues raised by this approach, along with syntactic approaches, the theory of mental spaces, pragmatic scales and scale reversal. Finally, it explains the relationship between focusing and sentence accent.

scholarly journals On the Ethics of Interpretation: are Young Readers to Blame?

2018 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 264
Author(s):  
Indrė Žakevičienė
Keyword(s):  
Ethical Issues ◽  
Literary Texts ◽  
Original Form ◽  
Young Readers ◽  
Literary Ethics ◽  
Mental Spaces

The author of the article will discuss the problem of validity thinking about the basic statements of Literary Ethics. Though the problems Literary Ethics emphasizes are global and at the same time rather abstract, the efforts of literary researchers to educate readers with the help of novels are understandable but seem ineffectual. Young readers are not capable of understanding complicated texts of the previous century because of the different contents of their mental spaces or the different schemes of thinking. Literary Ethics speaks about the importance of the role of emotions while reading novels, but the spectrum of primary emotions young readers experience while reading complicated literary texts blocks all the ways to deeper understanding and the ability to analyze specific ethical issues encoded in the novels. The theory of emotions explains the situation and in a way rehabilitates young readers. Nevertheless, particular transformations of genres or of the original form of literary texts could evoke the readers’ interest and make them think deeper or extend the realm of interpretations by relating particular “genre markers” and rethinking their codes.

Alternativity in poetry and drama

2010 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 165-184 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barbara Dancygier
Keyword(s):  
Julius Caesar ◽  
Primary Role ◽  
Poetic Discourse ◽  
Mental Spaces ◽  
Poetic Style

This paper considers the use of alternativity and stance in dramatic and poetic discourse. After a brief look at negation as a phenomenon based on alternative mental spaces, I show how negation can be viewed as ‘intersubjective’. The paper then looks at the intersubjective aspects of negation in a scene from Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar (I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him). In the next sections, the poetic style of Wislawa Szymborska comes under investigation. In particular, the discussion highlights mechanisms such as frame-evocation, counterfactuality, causation, blending, and the alternativity of or. I argue throughout that the primary role of negation and alternativity in dramatic and poetic discourse is making available uncommunicated mental spaces and construals which are then used in the resulting interpretation.

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

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.

scholarly journals Fictive Deixis, Direct Discourse, and Viewpoint Networks

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barbara Dancygier
Keyword(s):  
Composite Structure ◽  
Ad Hoc ◽  
Conceptual Structure ◽  
Political Campaigns ◽  
Direct Discourse ◽  
Close Analysis ◽  
Mental Spaces ◽  
Set Up ◽  
Tight Correlation ◽  
Speech Situation

This paper proposes a renewed and more textured understanding of the relation between deixis and direct discourse, grounded in a broader range of genres and reflecting contemporary multimodal usage. I re-consider the phenomena covered by the concept of deixis in connection to the speech situation, and, by extension, to the category of Direct Discourse, in its various functions. I propose an understanding of Direct Discourse as a construction which is a correlate of Deictic Ground. Relying on Mental Spaces Theory and the apparatus it makes available for a close analysis of viewpoint networks, I analyze examples from a range of discourse genres - textual, visual and multimodal, such as literature, political campaigns, internet memes and storefront signs. These discourse contexts use Direct Discourse Constructions but usually lack a fully profiled Deictic Ground. I propose that in such cases the Deictic Ground is not a pre-existing conceptual structure, but rather is set up ad hoc to construe non-standard uses of Direct Discourse–I refer to such construals as Fictive Deictic Grounds. In that context, I propose a re-consideration of the concept of Direct Discourse, to explain its tight correlation with the concept of deixis. I also argue for a treatment of Deictic Ground as a composite structure, which may not be fully profiled in each case, while participating in the construction of viewpoint configurations.

scholarly journals Geo-environmental Factors in Three Persian Folk Stories: A Preliminary Study

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 78-85
Author(s):  
Fatemeh Shafiei ◽  
Habibollah Ghassemzadeh
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Processing ◽  
Narrative Analysis ◽  
Cognitive Activity ◽  
Embodied Experience ◽  
Climatic Zones ◽  
Content Analysis Method ◽  
Preliminary Study ◽  
Essential Function ◽  
Mental Spaces ◽  
Folk Stories

Stories mirror the essential function of human cognitive activity. In the present preliminary study, we hypothesized that the mental spaces that make up the stories can be influenced by the environmental conditions of their creators. For this purpose, three stories from three different climatic zones in Iran were selected and a content analysis method was used to analyze their components. Results showed significant differences between the mental spaces of different geographic regions in these three stories.  This finding could be considered as a step taken to show the extent to which an individual’s cognition and cognitive processing in general and the creation of meaning in particular, is an extension and representation of embodied experience. We have discussed the subject in the framework of narrative analysis as well as cognitive semantics.

scholarly journals An Analysis of the Figures of Speech in Mental Spaces: A Cognitive Semantic Study

2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nabaz Ismael Hamad ◽  
Prof. Dr. Suhayla Hameed Majeed ◽  
Asst Prof. Dr. Wirya Ezzaddin Ali
Keyword(s):  
Figures Of Speech ◽  
Cognitive Semantic ◽  
Mental Spaces

scholarly journals Travelling to the described present: mago-space in the Strugatskys’ Monday starts on Saturday

2021 ◽  
Vol 46 (2) ◽  
pp. 93-104
Author(s):  
Наталья Тулякова ◽  
Наталья Никитина
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Heritage ◽  
Science Fiction ◽  
Spatial Organization ◽  
Classical Literature ◽  
Mental Space ◽  
Mental Spaces ◽  
Do So

Fantasy and science fiction genres extensively use imaginary settings and locations different from realistic ones but striving to look real. Arkady and Boris Strugatsky, pioneers of the science fiction genre in Russia, actively exploited the potential of both genres in their early tale, Monday starts on Saturday (1964), which combines features of the two space types. The present paper analyses the principles of creating ‘mago-space’ in the book. To do so, we look at the spatial organization of the events involved in the plot and the personages’ ideas regarding space. The research will enable us to clarify the role of space in conveying the authors’ message, which in this tale is quite explicit. We argue that the space changes significantly within the book, accompanying genre transformations and the development of the protagonist. Since the tale uses ‘mental sublocations’ as the main units of spatial organization, each part is determined by a certain type of cultural heritage. In the first part, it is the mental space of folklore and classical literature, in the second – that of mythology and science fiction, and in the final – philosophy and science. Mental spaces that coexist and follow various laws form a narrative which turns out to be a journey to the described present in the variety of its forms.

Between commitment and certainty

2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Iksoo Kwon
Keyword(s):  
Main Clause ◽  
Epistemic Modal ◽  
Conceptual Structures ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Mental Spaces ◽  
Embedded Clause

Abstract In accord with Verhagen’s (1996) insights regarding epistemic uses of the predicator promise (e.g., Tomorrow promises to be a fine day), this paper identifies another type of these epistemic uses. It focuses on constructional cues in complex-clause utterances of the form I promise X: whether or not the subject of the embedded clause X is congruent with ‘I’ in the main clause and whether the tense of X is past or non-past. It investigates how it is used epistemically, especially in its colloquial uses; how the constructional cues (the kind of subject and the tense information) influence its construal; and how the different conceptual structures underlying the construals of the commissive and the epistemic modal senses of the construction can be modeled within Mental-spaces theory. It also discusses that the conceptual structures may be differently reified cross-linguistically briefing on the Korean constructs yaksokha- ‘(I) promise’ and cangtamha- ‘(I) assure’.

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