Motivation in Language Günter Radden and Klaus-Uwe Panther Hamburg University

1. Motivation in Language Günter Radden and Klaus-Uwe Panther Hamburg University Motivation

2. Motivation as understood in psychology and sociology “Motivation is an internal state or condition (sometimes described as a need, desire, or want) that serves to activate or energize behavior and give it direction.” (Huitt 2001). “The conscious or unconscious stimulus for action towards a desired goal provided by psychological or social factors; that which gives purpose or direction to behaviour.” (Oxford English Dictionary) What motivates Al Qaeda to carry out terrorist attacks? Motivation

3. Motivation in a wider sense and applied to language A motivational process involves: (i) a basis, or source, for the motivational process to operate on; (ii) independent factors triggering the motivational process; (iii) the “shaping” of at least some of the target’s properties by the source and independent factors; (iv) the resulting target of the motivational process. Definition of linguistic motivation: A linguistic sign (target) is motivatedto the extent that some of its properties are shaped by a linguistic or non-linguistic source and language-independent factors. Motivation

4. Motivation of Benefactives: (a) English for as in Red wine is good for your health. (i) Source: preposition for ‘in front of, before’ (ii) Independent factor: metonymic reasoning: Objects that are in front of us are perceptible and accessible and hence potentially beneficial to us. (iii) Shaping: meaning extension of for (at the expense of its spatial sense) (iv) Target:sense of for: ‘benefactive’ Motivation

5. Motivation of Benefactives: (b) Case marker ná inEwe The Ewe verb ná ‘give’ has grammaticalized into the case functions Benefactive, Purpose and Dative. (i) Source: verb ná ‘give’, i.e. ‘Agent causes Recipient to have Object’ (ii) Independent factors: two metonymies: a) NEUTRAL FOR POSITIVE: Recipient to Benefactive b) EVENT FOR SALIENT PARTICIPANT OF EVENT: event of ‘giving’ for ‘benefitting recipient’ (iii) Motivational process: grammaticalization of verb into case marker (iv) Target: Case marker ná ‘Benefactive’ Motivation

6. Characteristics of motivation (i) Motivation is a causal relation but the notion of causation is non-deterministic—that’s why motivation is described as “shaping” or “influencing”). (ii) Motivation in language is “relative’, i.e. a matter of degree on a continuum between the poles of arbitrariness and predictability. (iii) A motivational process is based on post hoc, i.e. abductive reasoning by the analyst, i.e. it is inferred from some observed fact and general principles of reasoning to a conclusion that “best explains” the observed fact. Motivation

7. Non-determinacy in naming a thing What do we call this thing? The motivational source is the concept ‘screwdriver’. The motivational target is the name of it. Motivation

8. Words for ‘screw-driver’ across languages SCREW-DRIVE-ER screwdriver English SCREW(S)-PULL-ER Schraubenzieher German skruetrækker Danish csavarhúzó Hungarian SCREW-TURN-ER schroevedraaier Dutch neji-mawashi Japanese TURN-SCREW tournevis French nasadolige Korean SCREW-TURN śrubokręt Polish DE/OUT-SCREW-ER destornillador Spanish STICK-IN/TAKE-OUT-SCREW cacciaviteItalian KEY OF CUTchave de fenda Portuguese SCREW-KNIFEluósīdāo Chinese SCREW-CHISEL skruvmejsel Swedish ruuvimeisseli, ruuvitaltta Finnish Motivation

9. Screwdriver ICM (Idealized Cognitive Model) csavar-húz-ó Schrauben-zieh-er schroeve-draai-er INSTRUMENT tourne-vis TOOL key ‘screwdriver’ chisel ACTION MATERIAL SHAPE MEANS APPLIED-TO PURPOSE long thin rodwith handle on one and blade at the other end METAL long shaftwith metal blade cut of screw turn pull-out drive-in skruv-mejsel screw-driv-er chave de fenda Motivation

10. Screwdriver ICM – ‘screw’ csavar-húz-ó Schrauben-zieh-er schroeve-draai-er INSTRUMENT tourne-vis TOOL key ‘screwdriver’ chisel ACTION MATERIAL SHAPE MEANS APPLIED-TO PURPOSE long thin rodwith handle on one and blade at the other end METAL long shaftwith metal blade cut of screw turn pull-out drive-in skruv-mejsel screw-driv-er chave de fenda Motivation

11. Screwdriver ICM – ‘drive’ csavar-húz-ó Schrauben-zieh-er schroeve-draai-er INSTRUMENT tourne-vis TOOL key ‘screwdriver’ chisel ACTION MATERIAL SHAPE MEANS APPLIED-TO PURPOSE long thin rodwith handle on one and blade at the other end METAL long shaftwith metal blade cut of screw turn pull-out drive-in skruv-mejsel screw-driv-er chave de fenda Motivation

12. Screwdriver ICM – ‘pull’ schroeve-draai-er csavar-húz-ó Schrauben-zieh-er INSTRUMENT tourne-vis TOOL key ‘screwdriver’ chisel ACTION MATERIAL SHAPE MEANS APPLIED-TO PURPOSE long thin rodwith handle on one and blade at the other end METAL long shaftwith metal blade cut of screw turn pull-out drive-in skruv-mejsel screw-driv-er chave de fenda Motivation

13. Screwdriver ICM – ‘turn’ csavar-húz-ó Schrauben-zieh-er schroeve-draai-er INSTRUMENT tourne-vis TOOL key ‘screwdriver’ chisel ACTION MATERIAL SHAPE MEANS APPLIED-TO PURPOSE long thin rodwith handle on one and blade at the other end METAL long shaftwith metal blade cut of screw turn pull-out drive-in skruv-mejsel screw-driv-er chave de fenda Motivation

14. Screwdriver ICM - Instrument schroeve-draai-er csavar-húz-ó Schrauben-zieh-er INSTRUMENT tourne-vis TOOL key ‘screwdriver’ chisel ACTION MATERIAL SHAPE MEANS APPLIED-TO PURPOSE long thin rodwith handle on one and blade at the other end METAL long shaftwith metal blade cut of screw turn pull-out drive-in skruv-mejsel screw-driv-er chave de fenda Motivation

15. Screwdriver ICM csavar-húz-ó Schrauben-zieh-er schroeve-draai-er INSTRUMENT tourne-vis TOOL key ‘screwdriver’ chisel ACTION MATERIAL SHAPE MEANS APPLIED-TO PURPOSE long thin rodwith handle on one and blade at the other end METAL long shaftwith metal blade cut of screw turn pull-out drive-in skruv-mejsel screw-driv-er chave de fenda Motivation

16. Relativity of motivation [The principle of arbitrariness] would lead to the worst sort of complication if applied without restriction. But the mind contrives to introduce a principle of order and regularity into certain parts of the mass of signs and this is the role of relative motivation. There is no language in which nothing is motivated, and our definition makes it impossible to conceive of a language in which everything is motivated. Between the two extremes—a minimum of organization and a minimum of arbitrariness—we find all possible varieties. (de Saussure 1916/1959) Motivation

17. Relativity of motivation Relative Arbitrariness M o t i v a t i o n Predictability 20 80 12 14 19 21 vingt quatre-vingt quatorze dix-neuf vingt-et-un douze Motivation

18. Motivational processes within a wider framework (i) Motivational processes are triggered by independent factors, i.e. factors that are external to the human system the motivational entity belongs to. (ii) In principle, motivational relations may hold between any two human systems. (iii) We claim that all human systems interact with cognition as the central system and may, via cognition, interact with one another. Cognition thus functions as a switchboard that receives input from peripheral systems and may influence them in turn. Motivation

19. Cognition and its interaction with other human systems (Radden & Panther 2011) Motivation

20. Cognition: Reasoning (Kahneman 2011) A bat and a ball cost $1.10. The ball costs one dollar more than the bat. How much does the ball cost? The answer 10c is intuitive, appealing, and wrong. If the ball costs 10c, then the total cost will be $1.20 (10c for the ball and $1.10 for the bat), not $1.10. The correct answer is 5c. System 1 is fast, instinctive and emotional. (10c) System 2 is slower, more deliberative, and more logical. (5c) Motivation

21. Cognition: Categories A category is a conceptual unit formed on the basis of a collection of equivalentexperiences that are meaningful and relevant to us, i.e. categories are formed for things that “matter” in a community. Concept: general and abstract idea, as opposed to percept Collection: Categories are types. Equivalence: Assessment of similarity of experiences Experience: “We see things not as they are but as we are.” (Kant) Meaningfulness and relevance: “Language without meaning is meaningless.” (Jakobson) Community: Collective experience Motivation

22. Recategorization: X and Y alike construction (Panther & Thornburg 2012) (1) A car-free family resort offering a warm welcome, summer and winter alike. (2) Doctors and citizens alike are concerned about the consequences of health-care reform. Motivation

23. Cognition: Inference and conversational implicature Conversational implicatures are inferences drawn by the hearer in order to recover the speaker’s intended meaning of an utterance. Sarah: “I've been asked to get married hundreds of times.” Miriam (surprised): ”Really?! By whom?” Sarah: “My parents.” Sarah’s statement invites the implicature that she has been asked to get married by hundreds of men. Her reply cancels this implicature. Motivation

24. Bodily Experience and Cognition Motivation

25. Bodily Experience and Cognition:Impact of bodily experience on cognition “This is Descartes' error: the abyssal separation between body and mind, between the sizable, dimensioned, mechanically operated, infinitely divisible body stuff, on the one hand, and the unsizable, undimensional, un-pushpullable, nondivisible mind stuff. Body and brain form an indissociable organism.” (Damasio) understanding is grasping: grasp a complex idea ideas are food: She gave us some brain food. They swallowed whatever garbage he gave them. Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed and some few to be chewed and digested. (Bacon) Motivation

26. Bodily Experience and Cognition:Impact of cognition on bodily experience Cultural prohibition against the use of language referring to bodily functions: Taboo words are avoided and euphemisms used instead: Where can I wash my hands? We have a relationship. Motivation

27. Perception and Cognition Motivation

28. Perception and Cognition Müller-Lyer illusion Motivation

29. Perception and Cognition:Impact of perception on cognition KNOWING IS SEEING I see the solution to the problem. ‘know’ I see your point. ‘understand’ APPEARANCE FOR INFERRED REALITY John looks sad. ‘Judging from his appearance, I infer that John is sad’ You sound disappointed. ‘Judging from your tone of voice, I infer that you are disappointed’ Motivation

30. Figure 2.4. Figure and ground Perception and Cognition: Impact of cognition on perception “We see things not as they are but as we are.” (Kant) Objects perceived (tokens) become meaningful by assigning them to a type, as in: That’s a poisonous snake. Cognition enables us to divide a perceived scene into Figure and Ground. Motivation

31. The Canadian flag Two angry men with their foreheads pressed together: Jack and Jacques Motivation

32. Culture and Cognition:Impact of culture on cognition Metaphor: ANGER IS HEAT Variant a) English and Chinese: ANGER IS FIRE Variant b) English: ANGER IS A HOT FLUID IN A CONTAINER as in You make my blood boil. Chinese: ANGER IS HOT GASIN A CONTAINER as in ‘He’s ballooned with gas’, i.e. ‘inflated with anger’ Philosophical theory of yin-yang: fluids (yin) are categorized with cold, while gas (yang) is categorized with heat because heat is understood as a necessary condition for the occurrence of gas. (Yu 1998: 55) Motivation

33. Language and Cognition Motivation

34. Language and cognition:Impact of language on cognition “Language is the formative organ of thought.” (Wilhelm von Humboldt, 1830-35) “The limits of my language are the limits of my mind. All I know is what I have words for.” (Ludwig Wittgenstein) Motivation

35. Whorfian effects: Grammatical gender(Lera Boroditsky) ‘key’ German der Schlüssel evokes “male” attributes: ‘hard’, ‘heavy’, ‘jagged’, ‘metal’, ‘serrated’, ‘useful’ Spanish la llave evokes “female attributes: ‘golden’, ‘intricate’, ‘little’, ‘lovely’, ‘shiny’, ‘tiny’ ‘bridge’ German die Brücke evokes “female” attributes: ‘beautiful’, ‘elegant’, ‘fragile’, ‘peaceful’, ‘slender’, ‘pretty’ Spanish el puente evokes “male” attributes: ‘big’, ‘dangerous’, ‘long’, ‘strong’, ‘sturdy’, ‘towering’ Motivation

36. die Rialto-Brücke Motivation

37. el puente de la torre de Londres Motivation

38. Herta Müller, Nobel prize winner Reporter: Sometimes you use the feminine gender with words that have the masculine gender in German. Herta Müller: Yes, this is because certain words in Romanian have a different gender. Winter in Romanian is a woman, and without being aware of it, I have made it into a woman. And I also know that I meant the Romanian winter. That’s crazy about language. The word gives us a view of something. The rose in Romanian is masculine, also the lily; they give us a different view. Motivation

39. Language and cognition:Basic semiotic relations of a sign SOURCE TARGET CONTENT CONTENT CONTENT FORM FORM FORM TARGET SOURCE FORMmotivating CONTENT arbitraryrelation CONTENT motivating FORM Motivation

40. Content motivating form: Iconicity Imagic iconicity appliesto a sign that resembles its conceived referent. Pictograms: Onomatopoeia(imitative iconicity) Latin cuculus > OFr. coucoul (> cokold > Engl. cuckold) > OFr. coucou > Engl. cuckoo Cuckoo superseded Old English gēac, which lost its onomatopoeic quality through sound change, and did not undergo the regular sound change of /u/ to /Λ/. Motivation

41. Words for the cuckoo Afrikaans: koekoek Japanese: kakkou kakkou Albanian: ku ku Italian: cucú, cucú, cucú Catalan: cucut, cucut Korean: ppu-kkook-ppu-kkook Croatian: ku-ku Norwegian: koko Danish: kuk-kuk Portuguese: cucu cucu Dutch: koekoekRussian: ku-ku English: cuckooSlovene: ku-ku Estonian: kuku kuku Spanish: cúcu cúcu Finnish: kukkuu Swedish: koko French: coucou Turkish: guguk, guguk German: kuckuck Ukrainian: ku-ku, ku-ku Hebrew: kuku Vietnamese: cuc-cu Motivation

42. Imagic iconicity: Kanji characters (ideograms) Motivation

43. Kanji characters for ‘Nihon’ Motivation

44. Kanji characters for ‘Tokyo’ Motivation

45. Form motivating content: Isomorphism Sameness of form signals sameness of meaning: phonesthemes, e.g. /sp/: spit, spank, spam stress pattern (Taylor 2004) Hamburg-er, Frankfurt-er, London-er, villag-er [’hæm,bə:gə] has the same stress pattern as dog-lover, man-hater, horse-breeding, etc. reanalyzed as ham-burger cheese-burger, etc. Motivation

46. Phonesthemes:bang as in Bang goestheweekend(Taylor) Many monosyllabic words with the vowel /æ/ designate a noisy impact and/or sudden movement: slam, slap, crack, clap, flap, crash, bash, spank, smack Several words commencing in /b/ are associated with a sudden event: boo, beat, bat, batter, bump, binge, bingo A number of words ending in a nasal are associated with sound or movement: sing, ring, ping, fling, sling, dong, gong, hum, boom Motivation

47. Content Content  Content/Form: Compounds Example: ‘screwdriver’ ‘screw’ + ‘drive’ + INSTR  screwdriver TARGET SOURCE SOURCE CONTENT‘ICM’ 1 C3 C1 C2 F1 F2 F3 3 2 TARGET CONTENT FORM1+2+3 1: motivated conceptual relation 2: motivated form-form relation 3: motivated semiotic relation Motivation