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- Volume 6, Issue 1, 2019
Cognitive Linguistic Studies - Volume 6, Issue 1, 2019
Volume 6, Issue 1, 2019
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Uncovering historical semantic connections with the help of image schemata
Author(s): Irén Hegedűs and Gábor Győripp.: 1–21 (21)More LessAbstractStandard etymological dictionaries agree that Modern English some, same and their Old English cognate sam- ‘half’ descend from the same etymon. However, while explaining their phonological development from the same proto-form is unproblematic, their divergent meanings make the reconstruction of their semantic evolution more challenging. The paper examines the historical semantic connection between these three morphemes from a cognitive perspective and attempts to provide an explanation of how they are conceptually linked to each other. Based on a cognitive semantic analysis of the meanings of these forms, we propose that all three concepts are understood on the basis of and embedded in one and the same image schematic domain – comprised by the general unity/multiplicity schema – and derive from entailments of its subschemata. Such an image schematic account of the conceptual connections between these meanings provides an explanation for the various paths of semantic development from the original etymon leading to the established later meanings. This approach will also facilitate the semantic reconstruction of the ancestral Proto-Indo-European form and help identify the exact cognate relationships between some, same and sam-.
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The decline of the Deontic nci construction in Late Modern English
Author(s): Dirk Noëlpp.: 22–57 (36)More LessAbstractStarting from a traditional corpus-based investigation of an example of constructional attrition, i.e. of a sustained drop in the frequency of use of a construction in a language’s history, this paper argues that usage data which make abstraction from individual speakers can no more account for this kind of constructional change than they can for constructionalization, the creation of new constructions. A more ‘radically’ usage-based approach to diachronic construction grammar implements the cognitive commitment of this subdiscipline of cognitive linguistics and ultimately explains all constructional change with reference to individual speakers’ grammars. Since no two speakers’ experience-based constructicons are identical, it is hypothesized that, very similar to constructionalization, constructional attrition starts from interpersonal variation and the paper encourages the use of idiolectal historical corpora to find corroboration for this. The case of constructional attrition presented in descriptive detail is that of the English Deontic nci construction, which is instantiated by such forms as be compelled to, be forbidden to, be obliged to and be permitted to. Previous research established this schema to have grown in frequency and productivity from the 14th until the 18th century and the current paper documents the start of its subsequent decline with data from the Corpus of Late Modern English Texts. It goes on to ask whether a usage-based approach should stop at offering cultural explanations for such developments and proposes a more genuinely cognitive line of explanatory attack.
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Meaning hides in the confusion of the construction
Author(s): Konrad Szcześniakpp.: 58–83 (26)More LessAbstractThis study revisits constructionist (CxG) views concerning detailed and often unusual semantics of schematic constructions, especially those located toward the closed-class end of the lexicon-grammar continuum. The discussion is based mainly on a previously unstudied grammatical construction with interesting semantic properties, and it is shown that although clear semantic patterns can be observed in its most common uses, the construction is capable of expressing meanings that go beyond a preliminary characterization suggested by typical attestations. It is hypothesized that two kinds of meanings can be observed in grammatical constructions. One is the typically grammatical, relatively general meaning known to be conveyed by closed-class forms. The other includes highly detailed readings found in clearly productive patterns, which function within a construction; these relatively rich meanings are not necessarily the content of a construction. Based on uses of a number of constructions discussed here, it is suggested that many characterizations of the semantic content of schematic constructions proposed in the literature may be too detailed. The study concludes in proposing a correlation, under which the degree of specificity of a construction’s meaning depends on the amount of fixed lexical material found in it.
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Death in a multicultural society
Author(s): Dennis Taypp.: 84–102 (19)More LessAbstractObituaries are a tractable source of metaphorical depictions of death, which in turn offer unique insights into the near-universality versus culture and context-specificity of metaphors. In multicultural settings, they can shed further light on the underexplored question of how metaphor use interacts with linguistic and religious identities. This paper is a case study of newspaper obituaries (N = 337) in the multicultural and multilingual context of Singapore. It uses a mixed-methods approach to uncover the types of death-related metaphors across languages and religions, their near-universal and culture-specific aspects, and significant associations between religion and metaphor use/non-use (χ² (2, N = 337) = 84.54, p < 0.001, Cramer’s V = 0.501, Log (BF10) = 47.14), language and metaphor use/non-use (χ² (1, N = 337) = 71.2, p < 0.001, Cramer’s V = 0.46, Log (BF10) = 42.25), and religion and language of the deceased (χ² (2, N = 337) = 48.11, p < 0.001, Cramer’s V = 0.378, Log (BF10) = 19.7). The findings extend prevailing discussion from the substantive contents of metaphors to the intra-societal pragmatics of their use, connecting metaphor explicitly with the construction of religious and linguistic identities.
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Conceptual structuring of the English prepositions between, among, and amid, and their Spanish equivalent entre
Author(s): Javier Morras and Antonio Barcelonapp.: 103–129 (27)More LessAbstractSpatial language has been traditionally understood as encoding purely spatio-geometric information. However, much more than that must be considered for a full account of the semantics of space. It turns out that spatial arrangements manifest functional consequences which are non-spatial, so prepositional vehicles cannot be equated solely with spatial elements (Vandeloise 1991, 1994). These non-spatial parameters in turn, play a major role in spatial, non-spatial, and temporal conceptions. This provides solid ground to propose a motivation behind these types of meanings that prepositions usually convey. This paper attempts to show how the conceptual basis for each preposition proposed, is a key component within conceptual processes such as elaboration and extension (Langacker 1987). Such an analysis provides a better understanding of the spatial configuration of the English and Spanish prepositions, as well as an account for the semantic extension of non-spatial and temporal conceptions. Using a corpus-driven methodology to evidence the prepositions’ use types, the results obtained favor the hypothesis that non-spatial conceptions are ultimately motivated by spatial ones. This in turn, shows the language-specific character of parameterization due to the clear differences that exist between the English prepositions between, among, and amid, and their Spanish equivalent entre. The cognitive linguistic analysis showed in this research may also offer a new perspective in the area of Language Teaching. The paper concludes with suggestions for further research on the plausibility of psycholinguistic validation and pedagogical applications of the conceptual bases proposed.
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Communicating attitudes through metaphor
Author(s): Jurga Cibulskienėpp.: 130–157 (28)More LessAbstractMetaphor analysis in real-world discourse is increasingly becoming the focus of many cognitive studies. Accordingly, this paper seeks to investigate how euro adoption in Lithuania in 2015 was metaphorically communicated by the media. The study is carried out within the framework of Critical Metaphor Analysis (CMA), which was developed by Charteris-Black (2005, 2011), Musolff (2008), Hart (2010). Thus, a three-step metaphor analysis procedure (Identified→ Interpreted→ Explained) was employed in order to analyze the attitude towards euro adoption presented in Lithuanian media. The findings show that the euro is most frequently conceptualized as a living organism with different scenarios (active agent and passive agent) being realized linguistically. In the final stage – explanation – metaphors were analyzed from a rhetorical perspective, which means that an attempt was made to look into how metaphors communicate positive or negative attitudes about euro adoption in the media. The results demonstrate that personification of the euro makes the idea of euro adoption more understandable, it activates a range of emotions and evaluates it. This leads to further insights about the way the media exercises its power in an attempt to persuade people and manipulate their attitudes, emotions and opinions.
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A metaphor-based account of semantic relations among proverbs
Author(s): El Mustapha Lemgharipp.: 158–184 (27)More LessAbstractThe paper deals with semantic relations in the field of proverbs from the standpoint of Conceptual Metaphor Theory. Our main claim is that proverb understanding is conceptually complex, involving many construal operations, namely metaphor. Metaphor is assumed to play a crucial role in framing and relating proverbs to one another via various semantic relationships. Three semantic relations will be highlighted: synonymy, antonymy and polysemy. Synonymous proverbs will be shown to be structured by similar metaphors, whereas antonymous proverbs by contradictory metaphors. As regards polysemous proverbs, our focus will be on a specific polysemy, consisting of contradictory meanings. Overall, we will attempt to build a cognitive model for proverbs semantic relationships, based on three main assumptions: first, proverbs have relatively stable meaning. Second, rather than sharply distinct, conventionalized meaning and contextual meaning of proverbs form a continuum, residing in their common conceptual base. Third, such a common conceptual base is metaphor-dependent.
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Language as a ‘game changer’ for spontaneous trait inference
Author(s): Daniel Marcelo, Leonel Garcia-Marques and Inês Duartepp.: 185–209 (25)More LessAbstractThis paper provides a summary of the project regarding language and spontaneous trait inference (STI) interaction. For 40 years, different methodologies had been used to study STI. However, these methodologies used sentences to elicit the inference, but they were never controlled from a linguistic point of view. We studied STI behavior when sentences were modified by adverbs of manner and checked linguistic parameters to verify which had more importance when the inference occurred. Results show that not only these adverbs modify the strength for STI, but they sometimes also change which trait is preferably inferred by the participants, adding new traits which were not available if the adverbs were not inferred.
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Andreas Musolff (2016), Political Metaphor Analysis: Discourse and Scenarios
Author(s): Charles J. Forcevillepp.: 210–214 (5)More LessThis article reviews Political Metaphor Analysis: Discourse and Scenarios
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Federica Ferrari. (2018) Metaphor and Persuasion in Strategic Communication: Sustainable Perspectives
Author(s): Molly Xie Panpp.: 215–219 (5)More LessThis article reviews Metaphor and Persuasion in Strategic Communication: Sustainable Perspectives
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Uncanny resemblance
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