Download Session 8 (Cognitive Grammar)

35 years of Cognitive Linguistics
Session 8: Cognitive Grammar
Martin Hilpert
your questions
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constituency
relational expressions
salience
schema
semantic pole / phonological pole
open-ended knowledge systems
Langacker 1987
Langacker 1991
usage-based linguistics
ideas from Cognitive Grammar,
now widely held in Cognitive Linguistics
• Knowledge of language is knowledge of a
network of symbolic units that pair sounds
with meanings.
• Lexicon and grammar are not distinct
modules: there is a continuum from very
concrete symbols (chair, dog) to very
schematic symbols (subject, relative clause).
• Knowledge of language is usage-based:
speakers know symbolic units because they
make abstractions over usage events.
Langacker’s project: a cognitive grammar
• All linguistic structures are meaningful.
– subject, noun, preposition, relative clause, progressive
aspect, infinitive, past tense, finiteness, modal auxiliary, ...
• The meanings of these structures can be fully
described in cognitive terms.
to walk
the preposition into
the present progressive
a walk
job of the cognitive grammarian
• Describe all grammatical structures in terms of
their meanings.
• Analyze those meanings in terms of general
cognitive processes.
the content requirement
• The stuff grammars are made of:
1. sounds and structures you’ve heard before
•
tree, I don’t know, Could you pass the salt?
2. schemas on the basis of the sounds and
structures that you’ve heard before
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NOUN, SUB VP, AUX, SUB, VP
3. categorizing relationships between 1 and 2
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‘tree’ is a NOUN
the content requirement
• “The only units permitted in the grammar of a
language are (i) semantic, phonological, and symbolic
structures that occur overtly in linguistic expressions;
(ii) structures that are schematic for the those in (i);
and (iii) categorizing relationships involving the
structures in (i) and (ii).”
technical terms
domains
• “All linguistic units are context-dependent to some
degree. A context for that characterization of a
semantic unit is referred to as a domain. Domains
are necessarily cognitive entities: mental
experiences, representational spaces, concepts, or
conceptual complexes.”
profile and base
• “All expressions are characterized semantically by the
imposition of a profile on a base.”
• Linguistic expressions evoke a frame (base) and
highlight a part of that frame (profile).
trajectory and landmark
• “A relational predication elevates one of its
participants to the status of figure. I refer to this
participant as its ‘trajector’; other salient participants
are referred to as ‘landmarks’.”
the preposition into
thing
• “a region in some domain of conceptual space”
• “a noun is a symbolic structure that designates a
thing”
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–
–
–
–
cube (a bounded region in 3D space)
moment (a bounded region in time)
paragraph (a portion of a written work)
B-flat (a point-like region on the musical scale)
electricity (a bounded region in the ‘space’ of physical
characteristics)
relation
• “relational expressions profile the
interconnections among conceived entities”
– prepositions (above)
– adjectives (red)
– adverbs (quickly)
– verbs (run)
cube
above
into
grow
construal
• “Construal is our ability to conceive and portray the
same situation in alternate ways. Every lexical and
grammatical element incorporates, as an inherent
aspect of its meaning, a certain way of construing the
conceptual content evoked.”
construal
• The table is under the lamp.
• The lamp is over the table.
– reversal of trajectory and landmark
lm
tr
tr
lm
The table is under the lamp.
The lamp is above the table.
construal
• The neighbors are gone.
• The neighbors are away.
– same profile, different base
construal
• Bill sent a walrus to Joyce.
• Bill sent Joyce a walrus.
– same base, different profiles
construal
• different levels of schematicity
– The boy opened the door.
– The boy did something.
– Something happened.
construal
• I saw how the bridge collapsed.
• I saw the collapse of the bridge.
– process vs. thing
sequential scanning vs. summary scanning
• “The same content can be construed as either a
process or a non-processual relationship, depending
on whether it is accessed via sequential scanning or
summary scanning.”
summary scanning
sequential scanning
linguistic units
• “The term ‘unit’ is employed in a technical sense to
indicate a thoroughly mastered structure, i.e. a
cognitive routine.”
linguistic units
• “Only three basic types of units are posited:
semantic, phonological, and symbolic. A symbolic
unit is said to be ‘bipolar’, consisting of a semantic
unit defining one pole and a phonological pole
defining the other.”
linguistic units
• “Symbolic units vary along the parameters of
complexity and specificity.”
• Complexity:
cat
blackboard
football coach
linguistic units
• “Symbolic units vary along the parameters of
complexity and specificity.”
• Schematicity:
tree
noun
verb
linguistic units
• Units are conventionalized:
conventionalized unit
novel expression
linguistic units
• Units can be combined:
composite expression
conventionalized schema
constituency
• “the order in which symbolic structures are
progressively assembled into larger and larger
composite expressions”
above the table
the lamp above the table
elaboration
• “It is typical in a construction for one
component structure to contain a schematic
substructure which the other component
serves to elaborate , i.e. characterize in finergrained detail.”
• “A schematic element elaborated by another
component is called an elaboration site, or esite for short.”
elaboration
• Prepositions such as near occur with nominals
that provide a more detailed description of
the speaker’s idea:
– the door elaborates near
elaboration
• Elaboration sites: ‘open slots’ in complex
constructions
– the nominal in a prepositional phrase
• near the door
– the noun in a noun phrase with a determiner
• the door
– the object nominal in a transitive verb phrase
• open the door
grounding
• “Grounding is proposed as a technical term in
Cognitive Grammar to characterize grammatical
predications that indicate the relationship of a
designated entity to the ground or situation of speech,
including the speech event itself, its participants, and
their respective spheres of knowledge.”
• “Grounding predications are obligatory grammatical
elements needed to turn nouns into full nominals, and
verbs into finite clauses.”
grounding elements
• nominal:
– a, the, this, my, his, some, many, ...
– (in)definiteness, quantification, deixis
grounding elements
• verbal:
– -s, -ed, would, will, be –ing, ...
• “clausal grounding is mainly concerned with
the status of events with respect to their
actual or potential occurrence”
• When did it take place? Are we sure that it
took place? How did it take place?
– Modality, Aspect, Tense
Summing up
usage-based linguistics
general cognitive processes
• figure-ground perception
– seeing ‘things’ and ‘relations’ instead of a chaotic mixture of
impressions
• categorization
– seeing a word like ‘cat’ as a ‘noun’
• schematization
– seeing the similarities between ‘He ate it’ and ‘Mary baked a
cake’
• automatization
– remembering ‘pencil sharpener’ as a unit
• perspective-taking
– adopt different points of view upon hearing ‘The cat was chased
away’ vs. ‘The dog chased the cat away’
• Can we come up with a description of
grammar that is based exclusively on sounds
and meanings?
• nouns, verbs, the present tense, the
progressive aspect, relative clauses,
demonstratives, accusative case, ...
See you next time!
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