Cognitive Linguistics in the Making (Warsaw Studies in English Language and Literature Book 17)

The papers in this book address the most fundamental, currently investigated problems in cognitive linguistics in a wide spectrum of perspectives. Apart from some traditional descriptions of particular metaphors and metonymies, there are analyses of spatio-temporal relations, motion and stillness, iconicity, force dynamics, as well as subjectivity and objectivity in language. The analyses are based on a number of languages: English, Polish, Russian, German, Lithuanian, Italian and Danish. The essays represent case studies, theoretical analyses as well as practical applications. Cover Foreword Contents On constructivization – a few remarks on the role of metonymy in grammar 1. From proto-language to language as we know it 2. Communication based on single words and nonsyntactic concatenation 3. Conceptual metonymy constructivized 3.1 What a N! Construction 3.2 How/What about X Construction 3.3 Why not VinfP Construction 3.4 One more NP and Clause Construction 3.5 If it weren’t for NP, CLAUSE Construction Summary 4. Constructional metonymy constructivized 4.1 English the-Adj Construction 4.2 What-if Clause Construction 4.3 Monoclausal if-only constructions 4.4 Summary 5. Conclusions References A concept of container in temporal phrases – a comparative study References Subjectivity and objectivity in language as seen by Louis Hjelmslev and Ronald W. Langacker 1. Introduction 2. “I am under the tree,” or Louis Hjemslev’s interpretation of subjectivity 3. Hjelmslev’s account of subjectivity in language vs. Langacker’s approach—similarities and differences 4. Conclusion References A cognitive analysis of spatial particles in Danish ENHEDSFORBINDELSER and corresponding compounds 1. Introduction 2. Review of literature 3. Study 3.1 Method 3.1.1 Spatial semantics primitives 3.1.1.1 Trajector 3.1.1.2 Landmark 3.1.1.3 Frame of Reference and Viewpoint 3.1.1.4 Region 3.1.1.5 Path 3.1.1.6 Direction 3.1.1.7 Motion 3.1.2 Prototype, radial set and protoscene 3.2 Data presentation 3.3 Discussion 4. Conclusions References A cognitive analysis of Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its Polish translations: linguistic worldview in translation criticism 1. Introduction 2. Review of literature 2.1 Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and its author 2.2 Polish translations of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland 2.3 Linguistic worldview 3. Study: method, data presentation and discussion 3.1 The analysed translations 3.2 The linguistic worldview in the source and target text samples 4. Conclusions References When -ities collide. Virtuality, actuality, reality 1. The problem 2. Langacker on virtuality vs. actuality 3. Langacker on reality 4. The derivative world of science fiction 5. Conclusions and questions References Iconicity and the literary text: A cognitive analysis 1. Introduction 2. Ronald W. Langacker’s subjectification theory 3. Imaginal iconicity in poetry and prose 4. Diagrammatic iconicity 5. In lieu of conclusion: Sorting it all out References On multiple metonymic mappings in signed languages 1. Introduction: signed languages 2. Metonymy in phonic and signed communication 3. Methodological background 4. Multiple metonymic mappings in signed languages 4.1 Metonymic chains in single signs 4.1.1 The ASL sign for ‘ill/sick’ 4.1.2 The BSL sign for ‘cricket’ and the ASL sign for ‘baseball’ 4.1.3 The BSL sign for ‘angling/fishing’ 4.1.4 The BSL signs for food and drinks 4.1.5 The ASL, BSL, and PJM signs for time periods 4.2 Multiple metonymies related to category structure in single signs 4.2.1 The ASL and BSL signs for ‘milk’ 4.2.2 The ASL and the PJM signs for ‘medicine’ 4.2.3 The ASL, BSL, and PJM signs for categories of people 4.3 Multiple metonymies in compound signs 4.3.1 The BSL sign for ‘babysit, sitter’ 4.3.2 The PJM signs for ‘boy’ and ‘girl’ 5. Conclusions References The metonymic mappings within the event schema in noun-to-verb back-formations 1. Introduction 2. An overview of the literature 2.1 The morphological process of back-formation 2.2 Metonymic motivation in English word-formation 2.3 Metonymies within the event schema in noun-to-verb back-formations 3. Presentation of the study 3.1 The AGENT FOR ACTION metonymy 3.2 The OBJECT FOR ACTION metonymy 3.3 The RESULT FOR ACTION metonymy 3.4 The INSTRUMENT FOR ACTION metonymy 3.5 The MEANS FOR ACTION metonymy 3.6 The DESTINATION/GOAL FOR ACTION metonymy 3.7 The TIME FOR ACTION metonymy 3.8 The MANNER FOR ACTION metonymy 4. Conclusions References Sources of examples The concepts of sleep and death in the Italian language and the unidirectionality of metaphor 1. Introduction 2. The unidirectionality hypothesis and the basic functions of conceptual metaphor 3. Sleep and other states of consciousness 3.1 Death is a kind of sleep 3.2 Sleep is a kind of death 3.3 Cultural links between sleep and death 3.4 The unidirectionality hypothesis in the light of the relation between the concepts of sleep and death 4. Conclusions References Sources of examples Linguistic Force Dynamics and physics 1. Overview 2. Linguistic Force Dynamics and naive physics versus modern physics 3. The privileged position of the Agonist 4. The unequal status of movement and rest 5. The greater relative strength of one of the participants 6. Schematic reduction 7. Schematic reduction excluding the cause of an event 8. Blocking, letting, resistance and overcoming 9. The intrinsic force tendency of the Agonist 10. Summary and Conclusion References The notion of prototype in linguistics and didactics, revisited 1. Introduction 2. Prototype in Linguistics 3. Prototype in Didactics 4. Conclusion References Using cognitive tools in analysing variant construals: the remakes of “The Scream” by Edvard Munch 1. Introduction 2. Metonymy 3. Imagery 4. Blending 5. Conclusions References The metaphor in feedback transfer in L2 acquisition (with some examples of the interaction between the Polish and Lithuanian languages) 1. Introduction 2. Preliminary overview of the problems 3. Feedback transfer and metaphor – theoretical explorations 3.1 The concept of feedback transfer 3.2 The role of metaphor and its cultural context 4. Feedback transfer: short case study 4.1 The error of missing the sense of metaphorical/metonymic extension 4.2 False friend transfer 4.3 Verb transfer with background profiling 5. Conclusions References The process of language acquisition by a child with profound hearing loss and co-existing defects as a contribution to the proposal on the need for a comprehensive approach to the phenomenon of human language capability 1. Introduction 2. Review of literature 3. Case study 3.1 Method 3.2 Date presentation 3.2.1 The patient 3.2.2 Treatment and therapy 3.2.3 Language development 3.2.4 Current cognitive and manual development 3.2.5 Discussion 4. Conclusion References Infecting the body politic? Modern and post-modern (ab)use of Immigrants Are Invading Pathogens metaphor in American socio-political discourse 1. Introduction 1.1 Pathologising the American body politic: a postmodern approach 1.2 Cognitive underpinnings of the body politic analogy 2. The body politic pathologised: the pre-modern search for the origin of social ills 2.1 The Galenic paradigm of internal imbalance versus the proto- microbiological theory and external, „invisible bullets“ of contagion 2.2 Pathology or a natural deviation? Functionalist sociology and the ambivalence of contagion 3. Modern American containment discourse 3.1 Four paradigms of ethnic adaptation 3.2 Failure of the melting pot fantasy and infection scares (19th c. – 1950s) 3.3 Post-modern American containment discourse (1950s – current) 3.3.1 Cold War and the Soviet contagion 3.3.2 War on Terror and the re-emergence of contagion discourse 4. Metaphors of social pathology: a scapegoat formula 5. Conclusion: why does America fear the foreign contagion? References A cognitive investigation of the category of sin 1. Introduction 2. A brief overview of the different approaches to categorization 3. Exploring the definition of sin 3.1 Sin as defined by the Bible 3.2 Sin as defined in Christian theology 3.2.1 The Roman Catholic Church (RCC) 3.2.2 The Calvinist Church 4. The survey 4.1 Some methodological considerations 4.2 The results of the survey 4.2.1 Task 1: The definition of sin 4.2.2 Task 2: Prototypical instances of sin 4.2.3 Task 5: How “good” are our sins? 5. Conclusions References Linguistic and cultural image of the notion of ‘death’ in Polish and German References Sources ‘Do we always like doing the things that we like to do?’ Non-finite complementation of the verb Like Introduction The ‘Like –ing’ and ‘Like to-infinitive’ Complement Constructions The Usage of ‘Like –ing’ and ‘Like to-infinitive’ The Scope and Methods of the Analysis The Features Related to the Main Verb: Register, Polarity and Agency Hierarchy The Features Related to the Complement Verb: Aktionsart, Semantic Field and Transitivity Conclusions Tools and sources References What do the Russian prefixes вы-, из- and the preposition из have in common and what makes them different? Introduction 1. About the preposition uз 2. The вы- prefix in verbal structures The schematic concept of the event starting point 3. The prefix из- in verbal structures 4. Comparison with Polish References Sources of examples Metonymy and metaphor as merging categories. A study of linguistic expressions referring to the face 1. Mental Wholes 2. The Theoretical Basis 3. The Face in Metonymic and Metaphoric expressions 3.1 The Face as a Source Domain 4. Conclusions References Iconicity and (cognitive) grammar: where shall the twain meet? Introduction 1. Iconicity revisited 1.1 Similarity 1.2 Taxonomies 1.3 Principles 2. Seeing, knowing and saying 3. Iconicity in grammar 3.1 Quantity 3.2 Proximity 3.3 Sequentiality 4. Those mysterious Polish constructions 5. Conclusion References Motion as a modulator of spatiotemporal relations in prepositional expressions of distance 1. Introduction 2. Semantics of prepositions 3. Spatial and temporal meaning of prepositions 4. Space and time in PPs expressing spatial distance 5. Spatial and temporal representations of distance in the BNC 6. Representations of distance with away in the NCP 7. Motion as a modulator of distance expressions 8. Conclusions Appendix 1. Explanations for query listings 2. Corpus queries used to examine representations of distance in spatial and temporal terms in the BNC 3 Corpus queries used to examine representations of distance in spatial and temporal terms for phrases parallel semantically to the preposition away in the NCP References Abstract vs concrete: contrastive analysis of the conceptualization of stillness and motion in Polish and English 1. Is abstract motion still abstract? 2. Is abstract stillness still abstract? 3. Conclusions References Conceptual-linguistic creativity in poetic texts as a potential source of translation problems 1. Introduction 2. Review of literature 3. Study: method, data presentation and discussion a. The method b. Data presentation and discussion i. The analysis: I Follow Rivers ii. The analysis: Midnight Sun iii. The analysis: Weltflucht [Escape from the world] iv. The analysis: Psalm 4. Conclusions References The papers address such topics as spatio-temporal relations, subjectivity and objectivity, virtuality, actuality and reality, iconicity, metaphor, metonymy, signed languages, force dynamics, prototype in linguistics and didactics, socio-political discourse, L2 acquisition, conceptual-linguistic creativity, and many other related problems.