Metaphor, Embodied Realism, and Sacramental Truth

This chapter and the next provide an introduction to the field of cognitive linguistics. This chapter focuses on core concepts including conceptual metaphor, metonymy, polysemy, and prototype theory (conceptual blending is explored in Chapter 3). Based on this overview, the author argues that language “means” not through referential correspondence to objective, observer-independent reality but by prompting for embodied simulation on the part of hearers and readers. Language, then, is true insofar as these simulations are apt to reality as experienced by embodied human beings. The chapter proposes that this epistemological perspective of “embodied realism” is congruent with the critical realism endorsed by many recent theologians and with a sacramental worldview in which the material world can be the arena for God’s self-communication.

A Few Remarks on Prototype Theory in Cognitive Linguistics

The purpose of the present paper is to demonstrate both the historical background of the prototype theory and its definitional problems. It presents two fundamental tenets of cognitive linguistics and the origin of prototype theory. Eleonor Rosch introduced her theory (1975) in order to explain how semantic categories are perceived by our mind.

A Semantic Analysis of the Top Ten Network Buzzwords of China in 2020 from the Perspective of the Prototype Theory

With the further development of the Internet and the rapid growth of the number of netizens, there are always new network buzzwords appearing during online communication. Most of these buzzwords don’t come out of nowhere but are variants of the extant words or expressions. They inherit, extend or sometimes overturn the original meanings. To some extent, these semantic variations not only influence the language system, expanding the semantic category of words, but also reflect people’s cognition and emotions. Therefore, based on the prototype theory, this paper aims to analyze the semantic variations of the top ten network buzzwords of China in 2020 from three aspects: horizontally, the extension of meanings of the basic-level words; vertically, the emergence of new subordinate-level words; and the combination of the two ways of variation. The analysis of these words shows complex emotions of people, including positive life attitudes, nostalgia to the past and helplessness under huge pressures in real life.

Vista conoscenza, parola: lo “Schema del contenitore” applicato a un caso di polisemia indoeuropea

"View, Knowledge, Word: The Container Image-Schema Applied to a Case of Proto-Indo-European Polysemy. The present discussion aims at reconsidering the theoretical process of knowledge in some ancient Indo-European languages in the light of the prerequisites offered by cognitive linguistics and prototype theory. Thanks to the dynamic pattern of the Container Image-Schema – which is a primitive mental structure – some historical outcomes of a polysemic Indo-European root will be discussed in order to place them within the continuum of the semantic space in which the container is located. Keywords: Conceptual metaphor; polysemy; Image-Schema; Indo-European; semantics. "

Categorized and Mapping the Lexical Meaning that Describing Sexual Harassment (Obscenity/Lewd) Crimes in Malay Tabloid Press

The categorization of meanings against lexical items that have multiple meanings or that undergo an expansion of meaning often poses problems to language users. This is because language users are often confused and unsure of the true meaning of a lexical item based on the context of its use. Studies on lexical semantics have been extensively conducted but most of the studies conducted focus on the meaning of adjectives, idioms and verbs only. Studies linking word meaning to sexual crime using newspaper data are still considered new and still lacking in number. This study, which uses Prototype Theory, will utilize digital newspaper data, namely Harian Metro, which is expected to fill the existing gaps. This prototype theory is proven to help unravel the cognitive processes involved as the reader tries to understand the true meaning of the word meaning that describes this obscene sexual crime. This study also proves that the use of cognitive semantics by utilizing prototype theory as well as the concept of lexical mapping has helped the process of utterance comprehension take place. All these cognitive processes are used in helping the reader understand the true meaning of a word. This study proves that the lexical used to describe the obscene crime is easily understood by the reader but there are other features that can be used by the author to describe the obscene sexual crime. This aims to further facilitate the reader's understanding of obscene sexual crimes. Overall, the results of this study found that the lexical used is appropriate to the concept of the crime of obscenity.

Zentrum und Peripherie in der deutschen Syntax.

The present paper is the first part of a larger essay which, due to space constraints, will be published in two separate parts. Using evidence of two small corpora, I develop a centre-periphery model inspired by the prototype theory and apply it to the syntax of German. In doing so I proceed in two steps. In the first part, published here, the graded four-level model of linguistic variation presented below (with the categories “prototype”, “variants”, “competitive forms” and “free stylistic variation”) is tested and refined on two already well-researched grammartical phenomena, namely conditionality and passive structures. In the second part (to be published in the next issue of Linguistik online) I apply the model to the more complex subject of sentence types in German, in particular the so-called minor sentence types. A complete description of a language should not only list the grammatical categories, but also contain quantitative information, on both the frequency of occurrence of a particular category and on the position and relative share of this category in the field of its competing means of linguistic expression. A grammar of contemporary German, which not only records the structures, but shows the “structures in use” in different domains and text types, still remains a desideratum.

Transforming Family Resemblance Concepts into Fuzzy Sets

This article aims to clarify fundamental aspects of the process of assigning fuzzy scores to conditions based on family resemblance (FR) structures by considering prototype and set theories. Prototype theory and set theory consider FR structures from two different angles. Specifically, set theory links the conceptualization of FR to the idea of sufficient and INUS (Insufficient but Necessary part of a condition, which is itself Unnecessary but Sufficient for the result) sets. In contrast, concept membership in prototype theory is strictly linked to the notion of similarity (or resemblance) in relation to the prototype, which is the anchor of the ideational content of the concept. After an introductive section where I elucidate set-theoretic and prototypical aspects of concept formation, I individuate the axiomatic properties that identify the principles of transforming FR structures into fuzzy sets. Finally, I propose an algorithm based on the power mean that is able to operationalize FR structures considering both set-theoretic and prototype theory perspectives.

Cognitive Theories of Concepts and Wittgenstein's Rule-Following

In this article, the authors try to answer the following questions: How can an object/instance seen for the first time extend a category or update a concept? How is it possible to determine the reference of a concept that represents a behaviour? In the first case, the authors discuss the learning of inferential linguistic competence used to update a concept through an approach based on prototype theory. In the second case, the authors discuss the learning of referential linguistic competence used to determine the reference of a concept (i.e., determination of an actual behaviour) through an approach based on embodied cognition. The authors show how combining prototype-based and embodied categorization in Wittgenstein's rule-following praxis (the individual and community dimension), linguistic learning of a concept (inferential competence), and determination of its reference (referential competence) can be traced back to the same model.

Classification of Chinese Cardinal Numerals Based on the Accuracy and Integrity of the Numbers They Denote

The article considers the classification of cardinal numerals denoting integer numbers, fractions, multiple and approximate numbers, as well as decimals. Taking into account the critical analysis of the earlier classifications of these numerals, a unique view on the class entry, which is based on such characteristics of the denominated numbers as accuracy and completeness, was suggested. In the former case, based on the quantitative aspect accuracy, all numerals fall into definite and indefinite (followed by singling out of the relevant groups) and the word 半 (bàn ‘half’). As to the indefinite numerals, they are arranged depending on their ability to express numeric and non-numeric quantification. Beyond that, the article considers the problem of defining words that may be recognized as numerals. The solution is suggested to be within the framework of the prototype theory. The theory supposes that there is a core member of the lexico-grammatical category (a prototype) which possesses the full spectrum of typical features. As a result, the article concludes that the words that possess the numeric quantification represent the core of the category of numerals, and the words that possess a non-specific numeric quantification are at the periphery of the category.