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The cognitive basis of language

The cognitive basis of language. Metaphoricity, metonymy Symbolicity (relation of convention) Indexicality (relation of association) Iconicity (relation of resemblance). Elements + combinatorics. At every level Sounds combine into syllables and morphemes Morphemes combine into words

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The cognitive basis of language

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  1. The cognitive basis of language • Metaphoricity, metonymy • Symbolicity (relation of convention) • Indexicality (relation of association) • 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 • Icon resemblance • Symbol association-by-convention signified “cow” signifier English 306A; Harris

  4. Types of signs • Index A sign defined by relationship of association (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 association (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. Metaphor and metonymy • Indirect representation Something (called the source) carries the primary signification for something else (target) that ordinarily holds that signification. • Metaphor is iconic The source/target relationship is an asserted resemblance: the target is said to be like the source in some way. • Metonymy is indexical The source/target relationship is (not exactly necessary but) drawn from the same habitat: the target is related to the source in some way. English 306A; Harris

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

  8. Metaphor—The principle of analogy • One element (the source) represents another element (the target), 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

  9. English 306A; Harris

  10. “Pussy” English 306A; Harris

  11. “Pussy” English 306A; Harris

  12. “Pussy” English 306A; Harris

  13. “Pussy” English 306A; Harris

  14. “Pussy” • Metaphor • Target = vagina • Source = cat • Attributes • Warm • Furry English 306A; Harris

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

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

  17. “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

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

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

  20. 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

  21. 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, … 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, … English 306A; Harris

  23. 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, … English 306A; Harris

  24. 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

  25. Indexicality is metonymic • Defined by association There must be a certain physical, temporal, or conceptual relation between referential objects for the words/expressions to function English 306A; Harris

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

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

  28. 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

  29. 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

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

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

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

  33. Anthropocentricity Indexicality? • Gk. anthropos ≈ “man” • (hu)man-centred • Inherent orientation: human orientation projected onto artefacts and entities) • front, back • left, right • before, behind • = personification • = metaphorical English 306A; Harris

  34. 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

  35. 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

  36. 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

  37. 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

  38. 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

  39. 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

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

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

  42. Any questions? • 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

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