Pub Date : 2023-08-07DOI: 10.1163/23526416-bja10054
A. Kertész, Csilla Rákosi
Although Lakoff and Johnson’s (1980) theory of conceptual metaphor has been extremely popular and successful, it has been criticized in many respects, one of which is its alleged inconsistency. This criticism presupposes that the principle of non-contradiction is the most important pillar of scientific theorizing because its violation turns the theory into logical chaos. Against this background, the paper asks: What kinds of inconsistencies emerge in conceptual metaphor theory and how should they be evaluated? In order to give an answer, the authors introduce Kertész and Rákosi’s (2019) [2012], (2022) p-model as a metatheoretical framework, with the help of which they analyse those arguments which charge conceptual metaphor theory with inconsistency. The authors conclude that if the dichotomy between inconsistency and consistency is replaced by the sophisticated distinctions among strong p-inconsistency, well-motivated permanent p-paraconsistency, temporary p-paraconsistency, and p-consistency, then the initial question can be answered in a straightforward manner.
{"title":"Inconsistency in Conceptual Metaphor Theory","authors":"A. Kertész, Csilla Rákosi","doi":"10.1163/23526416-bja10054","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/23526416-bja10054","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000Although Lakoff and Johnson’s (1980) theory of conceptual metaphor has been extremely popular and successful, it has been criticized in many respects, one of which is its alleged inconsistency. This criticism presupposes that the principle of non-contradiction is the most important pillar of scientific theorizing because its violation turns the theory into logical chaos. Against this background, the paper asks: What kinds of inconsistencies emerge in conceptual metaphor theory and how should they be evaluated? In order to give an answer, the authors introduce Kertész and Rákosi’s (2019) [2012], (2022) p-model as a metatheoretical framework, with the help of which they analyse those arguments which charge conceptual metaphor theory with inconsistency. The authors conclude that if the dichotomy between inconsistency and consistency is replaced by the sophisticated distinctions among strong p-inconsistency, well-motivated permanent p-paraconsistency, temporary p-paraconsistency, and p-consistency, then the initial question can be answered in a straightforward manner.","PeriodicalId":52227,"journal":{"name":"Cognitive Semantics","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-08-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48511588","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-08-07DOI: 10.1163/23526416-bja10056
S. Gries
In this paper, I make two sets of suggestions of how collostructional analysis can be updated. One set of suggestions involves simplifying the analysis for descriptive/exploratory purposes while at the same time enriching it with bootstrapped confidence intervals. The other set of suggestions involves the idea that we should move away from a single kind of association measure for theoretical/exploratory purposes and instead quantify collostructional attraction as a tuple of, minimally, three ideally orthogonal dimensions, namely frequency, association, and dispersion, because only this kind of analysis will be able to address all the dimensions that are relevant to cognitive/usage-based approaches to constructions. In addition, I end with a (renewed) plea to take the notion of construction more seriously: Rather than looking at associations of constructions to forms, which many studies have basically amounted to, I would like us to ‘go back to’ looking at associations of constructions to constructions, i.e. to take the meaning/functional pole of constructions more seriously again and include sense/function in all kinds of collostructional analyses more.
{"title":"Overhauling Collostructional Analysis: Towards More Descriptive Simplicity and More Explanatory Adequacy","authors":"S. Gries","doi":"10.1163/23526416-bja10056","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/23526416-bja10056","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000In this paper, I make two sets of suggestions of how collostructional analysis can be updated. One set of suggestions involves simplifying the analysis for descriptive/exploratory purposes while at the same time enriching it with bootstrapped confidence intervals. The other set of suggestions involves the idea that we should move away from a single kind of association measure for theoretical/exploratory purposes and instead quantify collostructional attraction as a tuple of, minimally, three ideally orthogonal dimensions, namely frequency, association, and dispersion, because only this kind of analysis will be able to address all the dimensions that are relevant to cognitive/usage-based approaches to constructions. In addition, I end with a (renewed) plea to take the notion of construction more seriously: Rather than looking at associations of constructions to forms, which many studies have basically amounted to, I would like us to ‘go back to’ looking at associations of constructions to constructions, i.e. to take the meaning/functional pole of constructions more seriously again and include sense/function in all kinds of collostructional analyses more.","PeriodicalId":52227,"journal":{"name":"Cognitive Semantics","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-08-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41967104","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-08-07DOI: 10.1163/23526416-bja10057
Nancy Chiagolum Odiegwu
The purpose of this study is to account for the functions of reduplication Nigerian Pidgin in a more comprehensive way than in previous work, by shifting the focus away from de-contextualized assignments of unitary meaning, and toward a full range of context-sensitive readings. The data for the study come from Wazobia fm radio programmes, as well as interviews and focus group discussions with native speakers of the language. Reduplication is attested in word classes such as ideophones, adverbs, numerals, adjectives, nouns, verbs and pronouns in Nigerian Pidgin. Using a version of the prototype theory elaborated by Lakoff and other Cognitive linguists, I represent the various readings of reduplicative constructions for each word class as radial categories, and show that both central and peripheral meanings are attested, and are indeed motivated by varying degrees of family resemblance.
{"title":"Radial Representations of the Semantics of Reduplicative Constructions in Nigerian Pidgin (Naija)","authors":"Nancy Chiagolum Odiegwu","doi":"10.1163/23526416-bja10057","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/23526416-bja10057","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000The purpose of this study is to account for the functions of reduplication Nigerian Pidgin in a more comprehensive way than in previous work, by shifting the focus away from de-contextualized assignments of unitary meaning, and toward a full range of context-sensitive readings. The data for the study come from Wazobia fm radio programmes, as well as interviews and focus group discussions with native speakers of the language. Reduplication is attested in word classes such as ideophones, adverbs, numerals, adjectives, nouns, verbs and pronouns in Nigerian Pidgin. Using a version of the prototype theory elaborated by Lakoff and other Cognitive linguists, I represent the various readings of reduplicative constructions for each word class as radial categories, and show that both central and peripheral meanings are attested, and are indeed motivated by varying degrees of family resemblance.","PeriodicalId":52227,"journal":{"name":"Cognitive Semantics","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-08-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45731372","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-08-07DOI: 10.1163/23526416-bja10055
F. J. Minaya Gómez
Based on the most recent research on emotion and, specifically, on contemporary aesthetic emotion theories, and combining methods from cognitive and historical linguistics, this paper aims at looking into the cognitive and semantic dimension of Old English literal and figurative denominators of wonder. Exploring how these terms are used in the Old English corpus, this paper highlights a recurrent use of literal emotion terms for wonder with varying semantics, and a wide array of figurative expressions that rely on the most common action tendencies and somatic profiles that are attributed to this emotion. This research stresses the rich variety that Old English authors had at their disposal when describing wonder-experiences and the many ways in which these authors described and narrated these emotional experiences, all of which, in extreme, reveals important information about the semantic dimension of these terms and identifiable patterns of conceptualisation for this emotion.
{"title":"Words of Wonder: The Cognitive and Semantic Dimension of the Literal and Figurative Denominators for wonder in Old English Sources","authors":"F. J. Minaya Gómez","doi":"10.1163/23526416-bja10055","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/23526416-bja10055","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000Based on the most recent research on emotion and, specifically, on contemporary aesthetic emotion theories, and combining methods from cognitive and historical linguistics, this paper aims at looking into the cognitive and semantic dimension of Old English literal and figurative denominators of wonder. Exploring how these terms are used in the Old English corpus, this paper highlights a recurrent use of literal emotion terms for wonder with varying semantics, and a wide array of figurative expressions that rely on the most common action tendencies and somatic profiles that are attributed to this emotion. This research stresses the rich variety that Old English authors had at their disposal when describing wonder-experiences and the many ways in which these authors described and narrated these emotional experiences, all of which, in extreme, reveals important information about the semantic dimension of these terms and identifiable patterns of conceptualisation for this emotion.","PeriodicalId":52227,"journal":{"name":"Cognitive Semantics","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-08-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47435527","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-06-12DOI: 10.1163/23526416-bja10053
Halszka Bąk, J. Altarriba
This paper explores the conceptualization differences between the prototypical categories of six basic emotions (anger, disgust, fear, joy, sadness, surprise) in English and Polish lexicalizations of these concepts in noun, verb, and adjective forms. Measures of valence, arousal, and dominance were collected and analyzed across the six semantic categories, between parts of speech and depending on the gender of the study participants for both languages. The results indicate that the basic emotion prototypes in both languages have common characteristics hinging broadly on valence but have unique language-specific patterns of valence, arousal, and dominance across individual emotion categories. Conceptualizations of emotions were found to be different between men and women and across languages, while language-specific patterns were found in part-of-speech effects. These results have serious implications for future study designs and research methodology at the intersection of cognition, emotion, and language and in cross-linguistic contexts.
{"title":"Basic Emotion Prototypes in English and in Polish","authors":"Halszka Bąk, J. Altarriba","doi":"10.1163/23526416-bja10053","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/23526416-bja10053","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000This paper explores the conceptualization differences between the prototypical categories of six basic emotions (anger, disgust, fear, joy, sadness, surprise) in English and Polish lexicalizations of these concepts in noun, verb, and adjective forms. Measures of valence, arousal, and dominance were collected and analyzed across the six semantic categories, between parts of speech and depending on the gender of the study participants for both languages. The results indicate that the basic emotion prototypes in both languages have common characteristics hinging broadly on valence but have unique language-specific patterns of valence, arousal, and dominance across individual emotion categories. Conceptualizations of emotions were found to be different between men and women and across languages, while language-specific patterns were found in part-of-speech effects. These results have serious implications for future study designs and research methodology at the intersection of cognition, emotion, and language and in cross-linguistic contexts.","PeriodicalId":52227,"journal":{"name":"Cognitive Semantics","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-06-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48077144","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-06-12DOI: 10.1163/23526416-bja10049
J. Morrás, A. Barcelona
Emojis are changing the way we communicate in digital text interactions nowadays. They allow us to express kinesthetic cues that are always present in face-to-face communication. Such non-verbal cues may be understood as windows into the emotional/attitudinal states of human beings, and they are conventionalized on the basis of metonymy which, as a mental shortcut, automatically connects facial expressions to the feelings and emotions triggering those expressions. Using a new methodological approach in the form of an entry model for metonymic description, the article intends to provide some insights on how the semantics of emojis is deeply linked to metonymic patterns. The emotions analyzed are hilarity and anger. The paper also briefly addresses the meaning and use of emojis for things and non-affective relations.
{"title":"Emojis: Metonymy in Meaning and Use","authors":"J. Morrás, A. Barcelona","doi":"10.1163/23526416-bja10049","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/23526416-bja10049","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000Emojis are changing the way we communicate in digital text interactions nowadays. They allow us to express kinesthetic cues that are always present in face-to-face communication. Such non-verbal cues may be understood as windows into the emotional/attitudinal states of human beings, and they are conventionalized on the basis of metonymy which, as a mental shortcut, automatically connects facial expressions to the feelings and emotions triggering those expressions. Using a new methodological approach in the form of an entry model for metonymic description, the article intends to provide some insights on how the semantics of emojis is deeply linked to metonymic patterns. The emotions analyzed are hilarity and anger. The paper also briefly addresses the meaning and use of emojis for things and non-affective relations.","PeriodicalId":52227,"journal":{"name":"Cognitive Semantics","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-06-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43300798","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-06-12DOI: 10.1163/23526416-bja10047
A. Wierzbicka
The term “Eucharistic miracles” refers to some seemingly inexplicable phenomena which have been observed at many times in Catholic churches in various countries. (“Eucharist” is the central element of Christian worship in general and Catholic worship in particular). According to Wikipedia, “reported Eucharistic miracles usually consist of unexplainable phenomena such as consecrated hosts visibly transforming into myocardium [heart] tissue”. From a believer’s point of view, a “Eucharistic miracle” can be read as a message – a message which doesn’t force belief but which does “want to be believed”; and which, first of all, “wants to be understood”. As such, these phenomena present a task for a semanticist: what meaning can be plausibly attributed to them by people open to faith and how can this message be best articulated? In this paper, the author, a semanticist with a special interest in the semantics of religion (Wierzbicka, 2001, 2019) takes a look at “Eucharistic miracles” from a semantic point of view. Her goal is to explore these phenomena through Minimal English anchored in universal human concepts (Wierzbicka, 1996, 2014; Goddard and Wierzbicka, 2014; Goddard, 2018, 2021).
{"title":"The Semantics of Eucharistic Miracles","authors":"A. Wierzbicka","doi":"10.1163/23526416-bja10047","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/23526416-bja10047","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000The term “Eucharistic miracles” refers to some seemingly inexplicable phenomena which have been observed at many times in Catholic churches in various countries. (“Eucharist” is the central element of Christian worship in general and Catholic worship in particular). According to Wikipedia, “reported Eucharistic miracles usually consist of unexplainable phenomena such as consecrated hosts visibly transforming into myocardium [heart] tissue”.\u0000From a believer’s point of view, a “Eucharistic miracle” can be read as a message – a message which doesn’t force belief but which does “want to be believed”; and which, first of all, “wants to be understood”. As such, these phenomena present a task for a semanticist: what meaning can be plausibly attributed to them by people open to faith and how can this message be best articulated?\u0000In this paper, the author, a semanticist with a special interest in the semantics of religion (Wierzbicka, 2001, 2019) takes a look at “Eucharistic miracles” from a semantic point of view. Her goal is to explore these phenomena through Minimal English anchored in universal human concepts (Wierzbicka, 1996, 2014; Goddard and Wierzbicka, 2014; Goddard, 2018, 2021).","PeriodicalId":52227,"journal":{"name":"Cognitive Semantics","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-06-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44830502","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-06-12DOI: 10.1163/23526416-bja10051
A. Cienki
The fact that an increasing number of scholars are approaching linguistic analysis from a multimodal perspective raises theoretical and methodological questions for the study of semantics. Taking a usage-based perspective, and the position that semantics is based in conceptual structures and processes, we see that gesture use relates to some key notions in cognitive linguistics. Gesture provides cues of possible mental simulation of concepts, it inherently involves spatial imagery, and gestures frequently objectify abstract concepts (through metonymy and metaphor). Both spoken language and gesture are dynamic phenomena, but gesture use relates to the accompanying speech on several time scales at once—concerning the level of words, of phrases, and of larger discourse units. Taking gesture into consideration in semantic analysis calls for rethinking the theoretical models for cognitive semantics, the methods of analysis we use, and the means of presenting those analyses. Currently this rethinking is still in its infancy.
{"title":"Speakers’ Gestures and Semantic Analysis","authors":"A. Cienki","doi":"10.1163/23526416-bja10051","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/23526416-bja10051","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000The fact that an increasing number of scholars are approaching linguistic analysis from a multimodal perspective raises theoretical and methodological questions for the study of semantics. Taking a usage-based perspective, and the position that semantics is based in conceptual structures and processes, we see that gesture use relates to some key notions in cognitive linguistics. Gesture provides cues of possible mental simulation of concepts, it inherently involves spatial imagery, and gestures frequently objectify abstract concepts (through metonymy and metaphor). Both spoken language and gesture are dynamic phenomena, but gesture use relates to the accompanying speech on several time scales at once—concerning the level of words, of phrases, and of larger discourse units. Taking gesture into consideration in semantic analysis calls for rethinking the theoretical models for cognitive semantics, the methods of analysis we use, and the means of presenting those analyses. Currently this rethinking is still in its infancy.","PeriodicalId":52227,"journal":{"name":"Cognitive Semantics","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-06-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42259869","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-06-12DOI: 10.1163/23526416-bja10048
Kajsa Törmä
This paper establishes and explores the lexical field of astromotion (motion in outer space) from a Cognitive Linguistic perspective by investigating verb collocates of space, outer space and deep space from the Corpus of Contemporary American English (coca). The primary focus is on the moving figure and the manner of motion involved. The paper accounts for prototypical uses of the verbs and puts the results in dialogue with previous research into motion events on earth. The main findings are that (1) astromotion is primarily lexicalized by general motion verbs or relexicalizations from other domains of motion; (2) transitive verb constructions are more common than in previously studied domains of motion and; (3) control and speed are important disambiguating properties. The paper also illustrates how the lexical field has been influenced by our empirical knowledge, imagination, and embodied experiences.
{"title":"Flying, Floating, Hurtling – a Corpus-Assisted Study of astromotion Verbs in American English","authors":"Kajsa Törmä","doi":"10.1163/23526416-bja10048","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/23526416-bja10048","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000This paper establishes and explores the lexical field of astromotion (motion in outer space) from a Cognitive Linguistic perspective by investigating verb collocates of space, outer space and deep space from the Corpus of Contemporary American English (coca). The primary focus is on the moving figure and the manner of motion involved. The paper accounts for prototypical uses of the verbs and puts the results in dialogue with previous research into motion events on earth. The main findings are that (1) astromotion is primarily lexicalized by general motion verbs or relexicalizations from other domains of motion; (2) transitive verb constructions are more common than in previously studied domains of motion and; (3) control and speed are important disambiguating properties. The paper also illustrates how the lexical field has been influenced by our empirical knowledge, imagination, and embodied experiences.","PeriodicalId":52227,"journal":{"name":"Cognitive Semantics","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-06-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45344821","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-06-12DOI: 10.1163/23526416-bja10046
M. Á. Ruiz-Moneva
{"title":"Inés Lozano-Palacio and Francisco José Ruiz de Mendoza Ibáñez. 2022. Modeling Irony. A Cognitive-Pragmatic Account","authors":"M. Á. Ruiz-Moneva","doi":"10.1163/23526416-bja10046","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/23526416-bja10046","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":52227,"journal":{"name":"Cognitive Semantics","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-06-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47127668","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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