Cognitive Semantics Metaphorical Meaning Meaning Extension

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Cognitive SemanticsMetaphorical Meaning /
Meaning Extension

• Session 1

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Outline

• Introduction cognitive semantics
• Creativity in the Lexicon the nature of language
  in use
• Exploiting the Creativity of the Lexicon
• the prepositions at, in, on
• the adjectives sweet and bitter
• the verb run
• the verb open
• Conclusion

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Cognitive Semantics

• Experiential realism - concepts are embodied,
  imaginative, gestalt like, ecologically
  structured
• the core of our conceptual systems is directly
  grounded in perception, body movement, and
  experience of physical and social nature (Lakoff
  1987)
• Theory of Prototype (Rosch)
• Theory of family resemblance (Wittgenstein)
• words have fuzzy edges - there is no clear point
  at which one word ends and another begins

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Cognitive semantics

• Encyclopedic knowledge
• networks - a sort of connected graphs with
  lexical items at the nodes and paths
  interconnecting each node
• all words are linked to one another
• polsemous words are extensions of some
  prototypical

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• Prototype
• that which is held to be very typical of the kind
  of object / entity which can be denoted by the
  expression
• cultural differences may lead to different
  protoype
• man, building, bus, pet
• Fuzziness
• Necessary Sufficient Conditions
• Nec Con criteria which must be met in order for
  the the item to qualify as being correct
• Suff Con criteria which, if met, are enough to
  quarantee that the item correctly describes the
  entity
• square four sided
• four sided, 4 right angles, equal sided

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blots words stored in the mind lines
connection between the words distance semantic
relatedness
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• 1. Her clothes were in a sad state.
• 2.During the crisis, some of the largest
  corporations have sad balance sheets
• 3. He was in the happy position of not having to
  deliver a paper.
• 4. John is a cold man.
• 5. Her daughter is so sweet.
• 6. He is a real fox.
• 7. He turned sour at our remark that he wasnt
  good enough.

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• He is at the supermarket
• He is meeting them at 2 oclock
• He voiced his concerns at the meeting
• He likes driving at 200 kmh
• He is good at mathematics
• They are at war
• At the playing of the national anthem, everyone
  stood up
• He was elated at having solved the problem on his
  own.

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• He is in the house
• He left the company in 1992
• Two men were stabbed in that brawl
• The message was written in ink
• He outscored me in Maths
• He is in love
• They smoked in silence
• We were delighted in her success

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• The books are on the table
• Daud was born on the 3rd of May
• He died on the journey to Timbuktu
• They survive on RM300 a month
• The books are on exhibit
• His reactions on being told what happened
  surprised everyone
• Teachers often frown on incorrect preposition
  usage
• He wrote a book on particle physics

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TEMPORAL at 3 oclock on 3rd May in 1999
SPATIAL at the bus stop on the table in the
house
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He voiced his concerns at the meeting
He likes driving at 200kmh
He is meeting them at 2 p.m.
He is at the supermarket
He is good at mathematics
At these words, he began to play
They are at war
He was elated at having solved the problem
FIGURE 3.2 Radial network of extensions of at
(adapted from Dirven 199377)
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• The pattern of extension for sweet, which one
  associates with sugar and honey, extends to
• Sweet words (in the domain of hearing)
• Sweet smell (in the domain of smell)
• Sweet face (in the domain of sight)
• Sweet memories (in the domain of human
  experience)

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• The pattern of extension for bitter, which one
  associates with bile extends to
• bitter argument/ words (in the domain of hearing)
• bitter smell (in the domain of smell)
• bitter look (in the domain of sight)
• bitter memories (in the domain of human
  experience)

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• The pattern of extension for manis, which one
  associates with sugar and honey, extends to
• kata-kata/ janji manis words (in the domain of
  hearing)
• bauan manis (in the domain of smell)
• muka manis (in the domain of sight)
• peristiwa manis (in the domain of human
  experience)

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RAPID MOTION
RAPID MECHANICAL MOTION (engine)
RAPID n-LEGGED LOCOMOTION
RAPID FLUID MOTION (water)
RAPID 2-LEGGED LOCOMOTION (person)
RAPID 4 LEGGED LOCOMOTION (ANIMAL)
COMPETITIVE POLITICAL ACTIVITY
COMPETITIVE 2-LEGGED LOCOMOTIN (race)
RAPID 4-LEGGED LOCOMOTION (dog)
RAPID 4-LEGGED LOCOMOTION (dog)
Adapted from Langacker (1988135)
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• a. open the office, open a parcel, open an
  envelope gaining access to the interior of some
  enclosed space / container
• b. open the door, open the lid, open the cork
  the manner in which access is gained
• c. open a debate, open a conference, open a
  seminar initiation of an interactional process
• d. open an exhibition, open a road focus on
  making things accessible
• e. open ones shirt, open a zip, open a penknife
  focus on moving apart of the components parts
  of an entity
• (adapted from Taylor 1995287-288)
• f. open the radio, open the lights, open the
  television (in the sense of switch on)
  rendering some electrical appliance operative