Cognitive LinguisticsPPT课件

1、Language and cognition1) Language is a cognitive phenomenon. 2) Language reflects the human mind3) Language is a matter of conceptualization4) Meaning arises from embodied experience. 5) Language conveys meanings which are structured by conceptualization. Linguistic expressions (symbols) are merely

2、prompts.1) Language is a mental phenomenon Language exists in the minds of its speakers, it reflects what the speakers know about the world. The study of language is not simply a matter of what people say; instead, it is about how people say and how is the linguistic knowledge represented in the min

3、d.2) Language reflects the human mind Figure-ground distinctionThe cat is on the chair. The chair is under the cat. The cat draws your attention (cognitive phenomenon) and hence it is put at the subject position in the sentence (linguistic phenomenon). 3) Language is a matter of conceptualization4)

4、Meaning arises from embodied experienceThe cat jumped over the wall.5) Language conveys meanings which are structured by conceptualization. Linguistic expressions (symbols) are merely prompts. There are many more thoughts than language. Thoughts are infinite whereas language is finite (i.e. merely p

5、rompts of what we CAN think of) What is Cognitive Linguistics?1) CL subsumes or includes a variety of concerns. CL is NOT a single theory. It is a collection of approaches to the study of language which includes a number of specific concerns and theories.2) The approaches have a common basic outlook

6、: an integral facet of human cognition. Language is a matter of the mind. It is a cognitive activity and its related to or integrated with other cognitive facilities that we have: thinking, reasoning, perception and so on.It is an approach to language that is based on our experience of the world and

7、 the way we perceive and conceptualize it.Construal & Construal Operations Construal is the ability to conceive and portray the same situation in alternate ways through specificity, different mental scanning, directionality, vantage point, figure-ground segregation, etc.nConstrual Operations are

8、 conceptualizing processes used it language process by human beings. That is, they are the underlying psychological processes and resources employed in the interpretation of linguistic expressions. Three types of Construal Operations 1. Attention/SalienceIt has to do with our direction of attention

9、towards something that is salient to us.The face/vase illusionFigure? ground?Figure? ground?Figure/groundFigure form structured frontpromimentGround formless unstructured behindnot pronimentFigure/ground (by Talmy) The figure is a moving or conceptually movable object whose site, path, or orientatio

10、n is conceived as a variable the particular value of which is the salient issue. The ground is a reference object (itself having a stationary setting within a reference frame) with respect to which the figures site, path, or orientation receives characterization. 图形图形背景背景 (by Langacker) (by Langacke

11、r) Langacker 根据感知突显的程度对图形和背景做了如下的论述：“从印象来看，一个情境中的图形是一个次结构，它在感知上比其余部分（背景）要显著些，并且作为一个中心实体具有特殊的突显，情景围绕它组织起来，并为它提供一个环境”How to select figure and ground?Figure/ground reversalNot very commonHow to select figure and ground?Figure/ground segregationThe common situationThe principle of prgnanzFiguresmallerho

12、listicmoving普雷格朗茨原则通常是具有完形特征的物体（不可分割的整体）、小的物体、容易移动或运动的物体作为图形 How would you define DOG? Categorization is not criterial (i.e. not an “all-or-nothing” affair). Human categories appear to be fuzzy with some members of the category appearing to be more central (i.e. more prototypical) and others more pe

13、ripheral (i.e. less prototypical). There is a degree of centrality. The process of classifying our experiences into different categories based commonalities and differences. Three levels: 1. Basic level 基本层次范畴 2. Superordinate level 上位范畴 3. Subordinate level 下属范畴nCategorization范畴化范畴化 Categorization

14、is a cognitive phenomenon which is reflected in language. Categorization is one of the most fundamental and pervasive cognitive activities. It is a process of abstraction and perception, by which distinct entities are grouped together and treated as equivalents.Or we can say Categorization brings st

15、ructure to the “ vague, shapeless mass” of thought and sound.Image Schema (意象图式) An image-schema is a “skeletal” mental representation of a recurrent pattern of embodied (especially spatial or kinesthetic) experience. They are highly schematic representations of perceptually grounded experience They

16、 emerge from our embodied interactions with the world. Containment Schema Bodily experience: human bodies as containers. Structural elements: interior, boundary, exterior The ship is coming into view. Shes deep in thought. We stood in silence.Metaphor A figure of speech which involves an implied com

17、parison between two relatively unlike things using a form of be. The comparison is not announced by like or as. The road was a ribbon wrapped through the dessert.Metaphor From the traditional point of view, metaphor is a rhetorical tool characterized by the schematic form A is B. It is an implicit c

18、omparison of two entities.Conceptual Metaphor Theory metaphors are actually cognitive tools that help us structure our thoughts and experiences in the world around us. metaphor is a conceptual mapping, not a linguistic one, from one domain to another, not from a word to another.Example: ARGUMENT IS

19、WAR: Your claims are indefensible.He attacked every weak point in my argument.His criticisms were right on target. Target domain - what is actually being talked about. Source domain - the domain used as a basis for understanding target Ontological correspondence Epistemic correspondenceThe epistemic

20、 correspondenceExample: LIFE IS A JOURNEYExample: LIFE IS A JOURNEYOntological Metaphors 实体隐喻Ontological - related to being/existence A kind of metaphor whereby abstract, unwieldy or fuzzy concepts are viewed as objects with human scale and interaction potential. 抽像实体Structural Metaphor结构隐喻 Structur

21、al metaphors imply how oneconcept is metaphorically structuredin terms of another. Example: ARGUMENT IS WAR.Orientational Metaphor 方位隐喻 Examples Happy is up; sad is down That boosted my spirits Im feeling down Im depressed Conscious is up; unconscious is down Wake up He fell asleep Hes under hypnosi

22、s Basis: waking state is standing/higherMetonymy Metonymy is traditionally regarded as a figure of speech that involves a process of substituting one linguistic expression for another on the basis of some material, causal, or conceptual relation. The standard definition of metonymy is:“ a figure of

23、speech that consists in using the name of one thing for that of something else with which it is associated” It follows that metonymy is viewed as a relation in which one linguistic expression “stands for” another A stands for B A and B are both linguistically oriented.“ a cognitive process in which

24、one conceptual entity, the vehicle, provides mental access to another conceptual entity, the target, within the same domain”Conceptual metaphor (a cross-domain mapping from the source to target)Conceptual metonymy (a within-domain mental access from vehicle to target) The White house declared war to Iraq. White house stands for the US Government Wall Street is in a panic. Wall Street stands for the worlds economy We need a couple of strong bodies for our team. Physically strong bodies stand for physically strong athletes There are a lot of good heads in the university. Good heads sta