Embodying Meaning Visually: From Perceptual Dynamics to Motion Kinematics

This paper adopts an embodied cognitive perspective to review the significance of dynamic patterns in the visual expression of meaning. Drawing upon the work of Rudolf Arnheim we first show how perceptual dynamics of inanimate objects might be extended in order to structure abstract meaning in fixed images such as paintings. Second, we evaluate existing experimental work that shows how simple kinematic structures within a stationary frame might embody such high-level properties as perceptual causality and animacy. Third and last, we take inspiration from these experiments to shed light on the expressiveness of dynamic patterns that unfold once the frame itself becomes a mobile entity (i.e., camera movement). In the latter case we will also present a filmic case study, showing how filmmakers might resort to these dynamic patterns so as to embody a film’s story content, while simultaneously offering a further avenue for film scholars to deepen their engagement with the experimental method.

MOVE STRUCTURES AND THEIR RHETORICAL VERBS OF RESEARCH ARTICLE ABSTRACTS ACROSS ENGLISHES

Genre-based studies on the move structure of research article (RA) abstracts have established variations across cultures. However, previous studies included at most two countries for comparisons of abstracts written by native against non-native speakers. With the advent of World Englishes, it is deemed more practical to examine abstracts across Englishes to determine the writing conventions of the L1, L2 and EFL speakers of English. Consequently, the present study is a structural move analysis of RA abstracts focusing on the macro-structural moves across the Englishes and the lexical verbs employed used in each move. It examined 36 RA abstracts from linguistics and language and education fields, consisting of 12 abstracts each from the Inner, Outer and Expanding Circles of English by Kachru (1992). Each abstract was segmented into moves using the Five-Move Model of Santos (1996), which includes moves: (1) Situating the Research (STR); (2) Presenting the Research (PTR); (3) Discussing the Methodology (DTM); (4) Summarizing the Findings, (STF), and (5) Discussing the Research (DTR). The study found that the Inner Circle of English has the structure: Abstract  (STR) + PTR + DTM + (STF) + (DTR). The Outer Circle has the structure: Abstract  (STR) + PTR + (DTM) + STF + DTR. The Expanding Circle has the structure: Abstract  (STR) + PTR + DTM + (STF) + (DTR). The formulaic structures of abstract moves revealed that the only common move across Englishes is PTR. Following the approach of Musa et al. (2015), the lexical verbs realizing the purpose of each of the rhetorical moves were listed in order to come up with lists of rhetorical verbs which can be used in structuring an RA abstract. The study concludes with implications for academic writing instruction that calls for future abstract analyses that are world Englishes-inspired.

MENTAL CONSTRUCT “MEANDER” AS A UNIVERSAL PROTOTYPICAL SYMBOL IN LANGUAGE AND CULTURE

In this article, the mental construct "meander" is described from the standpoint of cognitive science and the theory of sign systems, it is considered as a universal prototypical symbol in language and culture. "Meander" is qualified as a deep sign, the mental fields of which are actualized by universal metaphorically structured images. Being an ambivalent "universal" Word, the "meander" in its deep structuring is objectified by mental fields of both positive and negative connotations. Based on the well-known position of Yu. S. Stepanov, according to which language as a construct and it consists of a core, social and mental shells, we were able to not only analyze and describe, but also to show the deep nature and potential capabilities of the prototypical symbol of the "meander". No less important for this work is the thesis that language is "a system capable of generating an infinite number of texts". "Meander" is characterized by a complex system of symbols, in which each element carries deep meanings and senses. Understanding the complexity of the prototypical symbol system, it should be noted that the study of such a scientific object as a "meander" should not be limited only from the position of linguistic disciplines. At the same time, "Meander" is attributed to both a stereotype and a prototypical symbol, since both concepts are associated with the content side of language and culture, that is, they are understood as mental constructs that correlate with the picture of the world. The purpose of this article is to describe the multi-component mental construct "meander" from the point of view of its deep structuring. “Meander” as a “stereotype” and a prototypical symbol incorporates the meanings of language and culture, and therefore is understood as a mental construct that adequately reflects the linguistic image of the world. "Stereotypes" and "prototypical symbols", to which we also refer the mental construct "meander", are transmitted by cognitive mechanisms, and, accordingly, are verbalized by one or another sense and meaning. Since the "meander" is a deep abstract prototypical symbol, it is able not only to combine many similar forms of the same object, but also to structure abstract connotative images that are categorized at a deep level. And in this sense, "Meander" is considered by us both as a prototypical symbol, and as a stereotype, and as a pattern, since it is structured according to a model that is often repeated. The results of the analysis showed that the universal, "common human" symbol "meander" is a deeply structured mental construction objectified by meanings and meanings in languages and cultures.

Metaphors in educational texts: A case study on history and chemistry teaching material

It is by now a long established fact that academic and educational discourse (as any other kind of discourse) is full of metaphorical language. On the one hand, metaphors are part of educational discourse because of embodied metaphorical conceptualizations and therefore highly conventionalized and unconsciously used linguistic patterns (such as orientational metaphors like MORE IS UP or ontological metaphors like personifications), but on the other hand metaphors can also be used as a conscious teaching strategy in order to structure abstract things in terms of more concrete domains that are closer to direct experiences. In my paper, I will show that certain subjects in school are characterized by educational texts using highly conventionalized metaphors that are most likely not even recognized as such, whereas in others metaphorical language is less frequent and much less evenly distributed among the text. Based on the analysis of educational texts from history and chemistry text books for schools, I will show that these different distribution patterns of metaphorical language in texts point to systematic differences styles of thinking and teaching in the humanities and the sciences.

Finding source domain triggers

Much recent research on figurative language and conceptual metaphor theory derives from corpus examination, and analysts are increasingly focused on the development of quantificational tools to reveal co-occurrence patterns indicative of source and target domain associations. Some mappings between source and target are transparent and appear in collocation patterns in natural language data. However, other metaphors, especially those that structure abstract processes, are more complex because the target domain is lexically divorced from the source. Using economic discourse as a case study, this paper introduces new techniques directed at the quantitative evaluation of metaphorical occurrence when target and source relationships are nonobvious. Constellations of source-domain triggers are identified in the data and shown to disproportionately emerge in topic-specific discourse.

Chapter V: Of Oaths

Oaths of office and duty—their absurdity—their immoral consequences.—Oaths of evidence: less atrocious.—Opinion of the liberal and resolved respecting them.—Their essential features: contempt of veracity—false morality.—Their particular structure—abstract principles assumed by them to be true—their inconsistency with these principles. The same arguments that prove...