cognitive linguistics croft&cruse
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Cognitive Linguistics Croft&Cruse
3: Conceptualization and construal operations, pt. 1
3.1 Introduction
• Semantics is conceptualization (Langacker)
• All linguistic units evoke a semantic frame• Human beings employ a variety of
construal operations in language• Examples: when a language has
alternative expressions for the “same” situation (dad/father, spend/waste, leaves/foliage, lives/is living, etc.)
3.1 Introduction• There is cross-linguistic and language-internal
variation as to whether construal plus truth-conditional semantic shift is expressed covertly or overtly.
• Coercion – covert (not grammatically obligatory) expression of construal and semantic shift
• Conversion – overt (with grammatical markers) expression of construal and semantic shift
Example: count vs. mass is covert (coercion) in English, but overt (conversion) in Russian: soloma ‘straw’ vs. solominka ‘a straw’; kričal ‘cried’ vs. kriknul ‘cried once’
3.1 Introduction
• Both coercion and conversion involve construal.• Talmy, Langacker (and others) have explored
the possible construal operations• Image schemas impose a conceptualization of
experience; they are “abstract” because they are schematic, but they are “not abstract” because they are embodied (see list on p. 45) – these relate to the possible (source) domains as well.
3.1 Introduction
• Croft&Cruse (p. 46) suggest a classification of construal operations : – Attention/Salience– Judgement/Comparison (identity)– Perspective/Situatedness– Constitution/Gestalt
• These are 4 basic cognitive abilities• They are described in the remainder of the
chapter
3.2 Attention/Salience
• Attention includes:– Selecting an object of
attention– Having a focus of
attention in a scope of attention
– Selecting coarse or fine-grained attention
– Fixing or shifting attention
3.2.1 Selection
• Selecting something = ignoring the rest
• This can involve selecting the appropriate facet or domain of a word (e.g., Paris as a location, government, or population)
3.2.1 Selection
• Q: What is metonymy?
3.2.1 Selection
• Q: What is metonymy?
• A: Selection of a different concept profile than the one usually symbolized by a word.
The french fries is getting impatient.
3.2.2 Scope of attention (dominion)
• The scope of attention determines what is accessible to attention, what the search domain is. A reference point can determine the scope, as in the possessors in my watch, your anxiety, Lincoln’s assassination.
3.2.3 Scalar adjustment
• Q: What is a quantitative scalar adjustment?
3.2.3 Scalar adjustment
• Q: What is a quantitative scalar adjustment?• A: An adjustment of how coarse or fine-grained
a construal is (E.g., along the road, across the road, through the road)
3.2.3 Scalar adjustment
• Q: What is a qualitative scalar adjustment?
3.2.3 Scalar adjustment
• Q: What is a qualitative scalar adjustment?
• A: This is adjustment of attention along the range of schematicity, according to superordinate or subordinate categorization.
3.2.4 Dynamic attention
• Q: What is fictive motion?
3.2.4 Dynamic attention
• Q: What is fictive motion?
• A: Dynamic construal of a static scene, e.g., The road winds through the valley and then climbs over the high mountains.
3.2.4 Dynamic attention
• Q: What is the difference between sequential and summary scanning?
3.2.4 Dynamic attention
• Q: What is the difference between sequential and summary scanning?
• A: Sequential scanning sees something unfold through time (the bridge collapsed); summary scanning sees an event as a whole (the collapse of the bridge)
3.3 Judgement/comparison
• Comparison is a fundamental cognitive function, and has linguistic correlates in categorization, metaphor, and figure-ground alignment.
3.3.1 Categorization
• Categorization can involve full sanction – when an item is clearly a member of a category, or partial sanction – when a member is an extension of a category.
3.3.2 Metaphor
• Q: What is metaphor?
3.3.2 Metaphor
• Q: What is metaphor? • A: Metaphor is a mapping between a source
domain and a target domain.
3.3.3 Figure-ground alignment
• Q: What properties are usually associated with figure vs. ground?
3.3.3 Figure-ground alignment
• Q: What properties are usually associated with figure vs. ground?
• A: Figure is usually less known, smaller, more mobile, simpler, more salient, and more recent in awareness than ground. Linguistic realizations include main (figure) vs. subordinate (ground) clauses, prepositions.
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