About as boring as flossing sharks: Cognitive accounts of irony and the family of approximate comparison constructions in American English

IF 1.8 1区 文学 0 LANGUAGE & LINGUISTICS Cognitive Linguistics Pub Date : 2021-02-01 DOI:10.1515/cog-2020-0018
Claudia Lehmann
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引用次数: 1

Abstract

Abstract This paper reports a case study on a family of American English constructions that will be called the family of approximate comparison constructions. This family has three members, all of which follow the syntactic pattern about as X as Y with X being an adjective, but which allow three related functions: literal comparison, simile and irony. Two cognitive frameworks concern themselves with irony, the cognitive modelling approach and viewpoint approach, and the paper will show that, while the ironic approximate comparison construction calls central assumptions of the cognitive modelling approach to question, the viewpoint account can be refined to handle these cases. In doing so, it furthers our understanding of the cognitive underpinning of irony. The paper provides a corpus-based analysis on the Y slot as well as collostructional analyses on the adjectival X slot in the family of approximate comparison constructions. The results thereof suggest that the ironic approximate comparison construction, in comparison to its literal counterpart, prefers adjectives that convey positively connotated, nuanced attitudes and is formally less variable in the Y slot. The preference for particular adjectives lends further support to the assumption that hearers understand the construction as ironic or literal before speakers complete their utterance. Given that, it is argued that the ironic approximate comparison construction communicates an inherent viewpoint.
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就像用牙线剔牙的鲨鱼一样无聊:对美国英语中反讽和近似比较结构家族的认知描述
摘要本文对美国英语中的一类结构进行了个案研究,这些结构被称为近似比较结构族。这个家族有三个成员,它们都遵循X和Y的句法模式,其中X是一个形容词,但它们有三个相关的功能:字面比较,明喻和讽刺。两种认知框架——认知建模方法和观点方法——都与反讽有关,本文将表明,尽管反讽近似比较结构对认知建模方法的中心假设提出了质疑,但观点解释可以被改进以处理这些情况。在此过程中,它进一步加深了我们对讽刺的认知基础的理解。本文对Y槽进行了语料库分析,并对近似比较结构族中的形容词X槽进行了语料库分析。结果表明,反语近似比较结构与字面比较结构相比,更倾向于表达积极内涵、微妙态度的形容词,并且在Y槽中的形式变化较小。对特定形容词的偏好进一步支持了这样一种假设,即听者在说话者完成话语之前就将其理解为讽刺或字面意思。鉴于此,我们认为讽刺近似比较结构传达了一种内在的观点。
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来源期刊
CiteScore
3.30
自引率
17.60%
发文量
21
期刊介绍: Cognitive Linguistics presents a forum for linguistic research of all kinds on the interaction between language and cognition. The journal focuses on language as an instrument for organizing, processing and conveying information. Cognitive Linguistics is a peer-reviewed journal of international scope and seeks to publish only works that represent a significant advancement to the theory or methods of cognitive linguistics, or that present an unknown or understudied phenomenon. Topics the structural characteristics of natural language categorization (such as prototypicality, cognitive models, metaphor, and imagery); the functional principles of linguistic organization, as illustrated by iconicity; the conceptual interface between syntax and semantics; the experiential background of language-in-use, including the cultural background; the relationship between language and thought, including matters of universality and language specificity.
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