The cognitive basis of language

1. The cognitive basis of language • Elements and combinatorics • Metaphoricity, metonymy • Symbolicity (relation of convention) • Indexicality (relation of necessity) • Iconicity (relation of resemblance) English 306A; Harris

2. Elements + combinatorics • At every level • Sounds combine into syllables and morphemes • Morphemes combine into words • Words combine into phrases and sentences • Sentences combine into turns or paragraphs • Turns combine into conversations • Paragraphs combine into texts English 306A; Harris

3. Meaning • Signs Signifier/signified pairs • Index association-by-necessity • Icon resemblance • Symbol association-by-convention signified “cow” signifier English 306A; Harris

4. Types of signs • Index A sign defined by relationship of necessity (especially cause and effect). Prototypically, think fever. • Iconic A sign defined by relationship of resemblance. Prototypically, think picture. • Symbolic A sign defined by relationship of arbitrariness, convention, and learning. Prototypically, think word. English 306A; Harris

5. Dimensions of signs • Indexicality A semiotic tendency defined by relationship of necessity (esp. cause and effect). • Iconicity A semiotic tendency defined by relationship of resemblance. • Symbolicity A semiotic tendency defined by relationship of arbitrariness, convention, and learning. English 306A; Harris

6. Bow-wow-pooh-pooh-yo-he-ho-hmmmmm theories • Index-to-icon-to-symbol migration theories • Pooh-pooh, Yo-he-ho Index-to-icon-to-symbol • Bow-wow Index-to-icon-to-symbol • Hmmmmm Index+icon-to-symbol English 306A; Harris

7. Metaphor and metonymy • Indirect representation Something (called the vehicle) carries the primary signification for something else (tenor) that ordinarily holds that signification. • Metaphor is iconic The vehicle/tenor relationship is an asserted resemblance: the tenor is said to be like the vehicle in some way. • Metonymy is indexical The vehicle/tenor relationship is (not exactly necessary but) drawn from the same habitat: the tenor is related to the vehicle in some way. English 306A; Harris

8. Metonymy, metaphor to go tyson to go ballistic COMPARATIVE REPRESENTATIVE English 306A; Harris

9. Metonymy—The principle of set membership • One element of a set or a relationship (the vehicle) singled out to represent other element(s) (the tenor) • Hollywood loves westerns. • Toronto collapses! • Calgary wins in OT! • All hands on deck. • Thirty head of cattle. English 306A; Harris

10. Metaphor—The principle of comparison • One element (the vehicle) represents another element (the tenor), to which it is unrelated. • My love is red, red rose. • Homer is a pig. • Toronto is toast. • The table leg is broken. • The orthopedic wing is closed. • Fire kills thousands every year.(Personification) English 306A; Harris

11. English 306A; Harris

12. “Pussy” English 306A; Harris

13. “Pussy” English 306A; Harris

14. “Pussy” English 306A; Harris

15. “Pussy” English 306A; Harris

16. “Pussy” • Metaphor • Tenor = vagina • Vehicle = cat • Attributes • Warm • Furry English 306A; Harris

17. “Pussy!” Stage 1 ! • Metonymy (synecdoche) • Tenor = woman • Vehicle = pussy-as-vagina • The ultimate devaluing of a (category of a) person: to a small anatomical component. English 306A; Harris

18. “Pussy!” Stage 2 • Metaphor • Tenor = the insult target • Vehicle = woman (not vagina) • Attributes • Weak • Soft • Quitter • Means ‘Opposite of a man’, but in a wholly evaluative way. = English 306A; Harris

19. “Pussy”Metaphor Metonymy Metaphor • Indexicality, Iconicity • a relatively mundane example of ordinary language • not a fancy literary or rhetorical device • these processes, and figuration generally, are pervasive English 306A; Harris

20. We now return you to regular programming F English 306A; Harris

21. Metonymy, metaphor to go tyson to go ballistic Representation Comparison The picture is metaphoric; the expression isn’t Similarity Association English 306A; Harris

22. Conceptual metaphors • TIME IS MONEYspend a day, invest three months, bank your overtime, cost me a weekend, … • ARGUMENT IS WARhe attacked my point, I defended it well, she shot me down, I blew her out of the water, … • ANGER IS HEATyou make my blood boil, I was steamed, he has a fiery temper, she's a hothead, … • TIME IS MONEYspend a day, invest three months, bank your overtime, cost me a weekend, … • ARGUMENT IS WARhe attacked my point, I defended it well, she shot me down, I blew her out of the water, … • ANGER IS HEATyou make my blood boil, I was steamed, he has a fiery temper, she's a hothead, … • TIME IS MONEYspend a day, invest three months, bank your overtime, cost me a weekend, … • ARGUMENT IS WARhe attacked my point, I defended it well, she shot me down, I blew her out of the water, … • ANGER IS HEATyou make my blood boil, I was steamed, he has a fiery temper, she's a hothead, … • TIME IS MONEYspend a day, invest three months, bank your overtime, cost me a weekend, … • ARGUMENT IS WARhe attacked my point, I defended it well, she shot me down, I blew her out of the water, … • ANGER IS HEATyou make my blood boil, I was steamed, he has a fiery temper, she's a hothead, … English 306A; Harris

23. Conceptual Metonymy • PRODUCER FOR PRODUCTI only read Dr. Seuss, she wore Calvin Klein last night, the Wolf Blass has too much tannin, … • CONTAINER FOR CONTAINEDthat’s a tasty dish, the needle was the death of her, he drank the whole bottle, … • PERSON FOR INSTRUMENTI’m parked out back, she’s the lead guitar, he’s the drill press, … • PLACE FOR PEOPLEBC voted conservative, Alberta likes cowboy movies, Thunder Bay is surprisingly liberal, … • PLACE FOR INSTITUTIONOttawa raised our taxes again, Queen’s Parkchanged the speed limits, … English 306A; Harris

24. Indexicality is metonymic • Defined by association (rather than similarity; often on necessity) There must be a certain physical, temporal, or metaphorical relation between referential objects for the words/expressions to function English 306A; Harris

25. Indexicality • Egocentricity Speaker-oriented • Deixis (pointing words) • Anthropocentrism Human-oriented • Inherent orientation (human-body orientation projected to objects) English 306A; Harris

26. IndexicalityDeictics • Gk. deiktos ≈ “to show” • Pointing words • Langauge which works by ‘gesturing outward’ from speaker (the ego), to other objects English 306A; Harris

27. Indexical orientation — Deictic centreLexical egocentricity • Pronouns • EGO = 1st person (I, me, …) • EGO+others = 1st person plural (we, us, …) • Hearer-of-EGO = 2nd person (you, your, …) • Hearer-of-EGO+others = 2nd person plural (you, your, …) • Not-EGO-and-not-hearer-of-EGO = 3rd person (he, she, it, …) • Not-EGO-and-not-hearer-of-EGO+others = 3rd person plural (they, them, …) English 306A; Harris

28. Indexical orientation — Deictic centreLexical egocentricity • Proximals • Speaking location • Where-EGO-is: here, near, … • Where-EGO-is-not: there, far, … • Speaking time • When-EGO-is: now, today, … • When-EGO-is-not: then, tomorrow, … • Relative location to speaker • Close-to-EGO: this, these, … • Not-close-to-EGO: that, those, .. English 306A; Harris

29. IndexicalityAnthropocentricity • Gk. anthropos ≈ “man” • (hu)man-centred • Inherent orientation: human orientation projected onto artefacts and entities) • front, back • left, right • before, behind English 306A; Harris

30. Deictic (egocentric) vs. Inherent (anthropocentric) Orientation egocentric anthropo-centric English 306A; Harris

31. Metonymy in literature • Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears. William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar • I should have been a pair of ragged claws • Scuttling across the floors of silent seas. T. S. Eliot, "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" English 306A; Harris

32. Iconicity is metaphoric • Defined by similarity (rather than association) • Sequential order “Don’t drink and drive” • Distance Immediacy of action • Quantity Reduplication English 306A; Harris

33. IconicityPrinciple of sequential order • Unless marked, the order of words mirrors the order of events. • He kicked sand in my face and I got mad. • I got mad and he kicked sand in my face. English 306A; Harris

34. IconicityPrinciple of distance • Linguistic distance (proximity) tends to mirror conceptual distance. • She squeezed me. • She gave me a squeeze. • She gave a squeeze to me. English 306A; Harris

35. IconicityPrinciple of quantity • Length of utterance correlates with (speaker’s perception of) quantity of concept. • Dinosaurs lived a l o o o n g time ago. • Dinosaurs lived a long, long, long, … time ago. • Lawyerese. • Political speeches. English 306A; Harris

36. Iconicity — Principle of quantityReduplication • Japanese hito 'person' hitobito ’group of people' kami 'god' kamigami ’group of gods' • Mandarin xiao 'small' xiaoxiao 'very small' gaoxing 'happy' gaogaoxingxing 'very happy' English 306A; Harris

37. Iconicity — Principle of quantityReduplication English 306A; Harris

38. Iconicity — Principle of quantityReduplication Download the SIL IPA fonts to see these transcriptions in PPS files English 306A; Harris

39. Iconicity — Principle of quantityConceptual Reduplication • Trinidad and Tobago [jEswij] • emphatic confirmation, agreement; interjective intensifier • yes-we? • yes-whee? • yes-oui! English 306A; Harris

40. Any questions? • Elements and combinatorics • Metaphoricity, metonymy • Symbolicity (arbitrariness, convention, learning) • Indexicality (relation of association) • Egocentricity (deixis) • Anthropocentricity (inherent orientation) • Iconicity (relation of resemblance) • Sequential order • Distance • Quantity English 306A; Harris