cognitive linguisticsall认知语言学概论.ppt

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1、Cognitive Linguistics,bung im Sommersemester 2004Dozentin:Monika Bednarek,M.A.,10.5.2004,OrganisatorischesGoals of moduleThe structure of this moduleCourse ContentCognitive Linguistics:An Introduction,Organisatorisches,Email:mb399yahoo.co.ukSprechstunde:,Goals of this module,This class aims to intro

2、duce you to Cognitive Linguistics,by explaining and applying its key concerns:prototypes,categories,metaphors,metonymy,and frames.In doing so,not only will you gain insight into a new approach to linguistics,but you will also learn more about how human cognition seems to work.(VLvz),The structure of

3、 this module,Cognitive linguistics(CL):an introductionPrototypes and categoriesLevels of categorizationFramesFigure and groundConceptual metaphors and metonymiesOther issues in CL,Most sessions will follow this pattern:,Short refreshment of last timeIntroducing new topicsGroup activitiesSummary,1.Co

4、gnitive Linguistics:an Introduction,What is CL and where does it fit in?The term cognitive:Cognitive means relating to the mental process involved in knowing,learning,and understanding things.(COBUILD)In that many modern linguists recognize that language knowledge resides in the minds of speakers th

5、ey might be said to practice cognitive linguistics,Chomskyan linguistics as cognitive linguistics and the cognitive turn in linguisticsSyntactic Structures(Chomsky 1957),Aspects of the Theory of Syntax(Chomsky 1965):grammar exists in speakers minds;innate UG;language as autonomous component of the m

6、ind:knowledge of language forms an autonomous module/faculty independent of other mental processesCognitive Linguistics:definitions and descriptions,A descriptive label for a rather broad movement within modern linguistics.It includes a variety of approaches,methodologies,and emphases,which are,howe

7、ver,unified by a number of common assumptions.Foremost among these is the belief that language forms an integral part of human cognition,and that any insightful analysis of linguistic phenomena will need to be embedded in what is known about human cognitive abilities.“(Taylor 2002:3f.),Cognitive lin

8、guistics is an approach to language that is based on our experience of the world and the way we perceive and conceptualize it.“(Ungerer&Schmid 1996:x)In CL research is shaped from the outset by what is believed to be cognitively plausible.Language as an integral part of cognition:study of language i

9、n light of what is known about the mind(experimentation,introspection,common-sense observation),Cognitive Linguists study much the same kind of things as any other linguist syntax,morphology,phonology,word meaning,discourse structure.But the general thrust of the Cognitive Linguistics enterprise is

10、to render these accounts consonant with aspects of cognition which are well documented or self-evident,or at least highly plausible,and which may well be manifested in non-linguistic activities.“(Taylor 2002:9)Three main topics/approaches:experientialism,prominence,attention,1.Experientialism(vs obj

11、ectivism)Experientialism rejects the basic belief of objectivism that categories exist in objective reality,together with their properties and relations,independently of our consciousness.Symbols of language are meaningful because they are associated with these objective categories.Three doctrines o

12、f objectivism that are refuted:The doctrine of truth-conditional meaning:Meaning is based on reference+truthThe correspondence theory of truth:Truth consists in the correspondence between symbols and states-of-affairs in the world,The doctrine of objective reference:there is an objectively correct w

13、ay to associate symbols with things in the world.Instead,experientialism suggests that“our bodily experience and the way we use imaginative mechanisms are central to how we construct categories to make sense of experience.”(Lakoff 1987:xii)2.Prominence:selection and arrangement of information3.Atten

14、tion:which aspect of an event attracts attention,Why study CL?,1)one of the most recent approaches within linguistics,2)unified cognitive explanation of language,3)applicable to TEFL,CL and neurocognitive linguistics,Neurocognitive linguistics is based on the study of the brain;how language is repre

15、sented in the neuronal structure.But:“it has to be recognized that neurological studies of language tend to deal with very global aspects of language structure and language processing,not with the nitty-gritty details that are the main preoccupations of linguists.”we simply do not know enough about

16、the specifics,2.Cognitive Capacities,Categorisation:human ability to create and operate with thousands of categories(fine-grained vs.general);flexible(modify and create categories);external versus internal world and language:words as names for categories;language as object of categorization,Figure-g

17、round organization:e.g.visual perception and other senses(sound);attention directed towards figure;flexible;levels of and language(Talmy,Langacker):e.g.passive-activea.The farmer shot the rabbit.b.The rabbit was shot by the farmer.,Mental imagery and construal:we can construe situations in different

18、 ways(figure-ground organization,detail,perspective)and language:wording reflects construal:a.The roof slopes gently downwards.b.The roof slopes gently upwards.,Metaphor and experientialism:metaphor reflects capacity to construe one thing in terms of another and language:conceptual metaphors(Lakoff)

19、Conceptual archetypes:conceptual universals such as Thing(spatially bounded physical object);Event,Action,figure-ground organization,Containment,Support,Causality,Animacy etc.and language:linguistic differences in entities denoted by nouns etcInferencing:filling out of missing links and language:we

20、do not state everything that can be stated,Automatisation:e.g.acquisition of motor skills(e.g.tie shoe laces,instruments)and language:pre-formed chunks of languageNotion of entrenchment(Langacker):expressions become deeply rooted in language,Storage versus computation:e.g.1212(calculation)vs.1212=14

21、4(ready-made);rapid/effortless vs.slow/laborious and language:open-choice vs.idiom principle(Sinclair);rule/list fallacy(Langacker):the fact that we know a rule(e.g.plural formation)does not meant that frequent plurals are stored as such(eyes),Focus on form:we derive pleasure from form(abstract art;

22、rituals)and language;language play(Jakobsons poetic function);formal complexity not perceived as burden(inflectional morphology),Social behaviour:man as social animal and language:impulse to use language in social interaction,e.g.to establish group identity,Symbolic behaviour:difference between huma

23、n beings and animals;offline thinking(past,present,future,imagine possible words,alternatives,consequences etc)and language:this offline thinking is made possible by our control of a symbolic system(language),Summary,CL tries to offer a unified approach to language researchRelates the use of languag

24、e to our basic cognitive capacities,Activity,Think of everyday examples of the use of these cognitive capacities,Cognitive Linguistics,What we did last time,CL:unified approach to language;language as inherent part of cognition;Methodenpluralismus(experiments,introspection,observation)Cognitive capa

25、cities,Prototypes and Categories I,Remember:Categorisation one of the cognitive capacities:human ability to create and operate with thousands of categories(fine-grained vs.general);flexible(modify and create categories);external versus internal worldHow do we categorise the world?,Book,house,people

26、vs.vague entities:knees(thigh),trunk(treetop),valley(slope/mountain),rain(drizzle),However:boundaries exist in reality But what about length,width,height,temperature,colours(scales):no natural divisions e.g.between cold,warm,hot classification as a mental process called categorization,Cognitive cate

27、gories/concepts as productPrinciples of categorization:arbitrary or not?The case for arbitrariness:(1)colour terms differ between languages(braun-brun,marron,jaune);(2)supports Sapir-Whorf hypothesisThe case for non-arbitrariness:focal colours(Berlin&Kay 1969)standardized colour chips(handout)Intere

28、sted in basic colour terms“(one word of native origin,general application,familiar),All those chips which they would call XThe best examples of XFindings:speakers of different languages identified the same colour chips as best examples,called focal colours“while the names for colours may vary,the ca

29、tegorization of colour is universally anchored in focal colours,Psychological background,Focal colours and the categorization of natural phenomena:Selection of stimuli(selected for cognitive processing)Identification and classification(compare with stored knowledge)Naming,Roschs research of these as

30、pects in Papua New Guinea:focal colours are perceptually more salient(attract childrens attention more often),are more accurately remembered in short-term and long-term memory,their names are acquired earlier.Renamed focal colours natural prototype“,enabling an extension of the notion,e.g.prototypic

31、al shapes(handout:description)Can this notion be extended?,Activity,Name as quickly as you can five types of birds,fruit,furniture(in German or English)Now order them based on their goodness or typicality,In Roschs experiments high level of agreement among informants(handout)categories are formed ar

32、ound prototypes(cognitive reference points);they have prototypes,good examples,and bad(marginal)members/examplesBoundaries?,Max Blacks chair museum:“a series of chairs differing in quality by least noticeable amounts.At one end of a long line,containing perhaps thousands of exhibits,might be a Chipp

33、endale chair:at the other,a small nondescript lump of wood.Any normal observer inspecting the series finds extreme difficulty in drawing the line between chair and non-chair.”(Black 1959:32),Labovs research:cups and bowls and context-dependence(handout):fringe areas between adjacent categories(fuzzy

34、 category boundaries)Vagueness versus fuzziness:mountain(slope)versus MOUNTAIN(HILL),Summary,Categorization is based on the cognitive capacities of the human mindconcrete entities and natural phenomena are conceptually structured as prototype categories,with fuzzy boundaries and good and bad example

35、s(typicality scale)No one-to-one relation between categories/concepts and words(polysemy),Activity,With your neighbour,list basic colour terms in English/German.Also list some non-basic colour terms.Think about when you would use one or the other.Are there they all known to both of you?What are thei

36、r restrictions?Looking around the room/outside the window:which entities are vague which arent?List two vague and bounded entities.What about their category boundaries?,Prototypes and Categories II,What is the internal structure of categories?,Activity,look up the dictionary definitions for types of

37、 dogs(Alsatian,bulldog,dachshund,terrier,guide dog,gun dog,sheepdog).What properties are listed?,Shared(implied)properties:four-legged mammal,fur,tail,ears Category attributesThe classical theory(Aristotle):Aristotle made a distinction between the Essenz and the Akzidenz of a category.A category is

38、defined by its essential features(these are necessary and sufficient conditions(two-legged featherless=human)Prototype theory and Wittgensteins notion of family resemblances(Handout),“each item has at least one,and probably several,elements in common with one or more other items,but no,or few,elemen

39、ts are common to all items.”(Rosch and Mervis 1975:575)Important to greater(superordinate categories)and lesser degrees(BIRD:bundle of birdiness features shared by all;these features are cognitively salient(cue validity)(handout),Attributes and prototypes(Rosch and Mervis,1975):(1)prototypes have th

40、e most attributes in common with other category members and the least attributes in common with category members of an adjacent category;(2)bad examples have the least attributes in common with other category members and share several attributes with category members of adjacent categories.Summary(H

41、andout),Cognitive Linguistics,What we did last time:,Categorisation:colour perception:arbitrary or universal?(focal colours natural prototypes)prototypes,good examples,bad examples,fuzzy category boundaries(fuzziness vs.vagueness),familiy resemblances,attributes,“Welches ist der grte Vogel?”,fragt L

42、uis.Der Adler“,sage ich.Nein,der Kondor ist grer.“Der grte Vogel ist der Strau“,murmelt Paola unter der Bettdecke.Aber der Strau kann nicht fliegen“,sage ich.Ein Vogel,der nicht fliegen kann,ist kein richtiger Vogel.“Seit wann entscheidest du,was ein richtiger Vogel ist“,sagt Paola und richtet sich

43、auf.(Das Beste aus meinem Leben“,Axel Hacke im SZ Magazin No.21,23.5.2003),Levels of categorization,Remember:family resemblances have different validity in superordinate and other categoriesCategories exist on different levels of generality:=the notion of class inclusion:the superordinate class incl

44、udes all items on the subordinate level“U BULLDOG=subordinate,A.Basic level categories,DOG,CAT,BIRDEveryday use of category names:How do you refer to entities in the world(objects,persons etc?)when you introduce them?A.Two cars crashed into each otherB.?Two vehicles crashed into each otherC.?A Merce

45、des and a jeep crashed into each other,Preferred in neutral contexts,first acquired by children,simple morphology,used most frequentlyResearch into folk taxonomies suggests a primacy of such generic“or basic“(middle)level categories(DOG,CAT,BIRD)Possible reasons:cultural(or biological)significance;f

46、ocus of human interest,Psychological research:At basic level the most obvious differences can be perceived(too many similarities between kinds of dogs;too few similarities within superordinate category mammal;right amount of difference between dogs and cats)At the basic level the most information ca

47、n be obtained with the least cognitive effort(principle of cognitive economy)Characteristic shape of members of basic level categories and characteristic interactions with them,Prototype categories and the basic level:Prototype categories are most fully developed on the basic levelan ideal prototype

48、 structure can only be found on the basic level“(U&S:74),B.Superordinate categories,FURNITURE,GAME,FRUITLINGUISTICS,PHILOSOPHY,Activity,imagine that your neighbour is a foreigner who has asked you about the meaning of the word fruit how would you explain it to him/her?,Differences to the basic level

49、:No common overall shape:if asked to draw a fruit,you would probably draw an example(an orange,banana,apple etc)When explaining a superordinate category you give examples;when asked about features/attributes you give features of these examples(parasitic categorisation).,Family resemblances Revisited

50、:,Very important in superordinate categories:what holds them together:sometimes only 1 category-wide attribute(TOY:used to play with)or none(Wittgensteins GAME).chain categoriesNon-basic status reflected linguistically:not one-syllabic;acquired after basic level categoriesScientific(logical)vs.exper