Title: Metaphor and Metonymy of Power in Nigeria: A Critical Discourse Analysis of Selected Plays of Wole
Soyinka.
Author(s): Adesida, Aderonke Adetunji; Ogunsiji, Opoola Ayotunde
Literature is the mirror with which the society is reflected and better perceived; and drama as a genre of
literature presents the ideology and activities of actual human experiences through action and performance.
Hence, studying the selected plays of Wole Soyinka, the African Nobel Laureate is appropriate for the
investigation of metaphor and metonymy of power, as the plays portray the activities and the mindset of
Nigerians at a point in the history of the nation. Thus, using the theoretical framework of Critical Discourse
Analysis, the study examines metaphor and metonymy of power in Nigeria as a microcosm of Africa and the
world in three selected plays of Wole Soyinka namely: Kongi’s Harvest; The Beatification of Area Boy; and King
Baabu. The study identifies the linguistic means of expressing metaphor and metonymy in the plays. In
conclusion, the paper identifies metaphor and metonymy as essential linguistic devices for exaggeration or
downplay of information and for presentation of salient facts. Hence, metaphor and metonymy should be
studied by linguists in order to promote dialogue and social understanding that would engender peace and
harmony in any civilization.
Abstract ID: 1750
Title: Comparative assessment of written narrative and non narrative texts in adolescents with typical
language development.
Author(s): Andreou, Georgia; Liakou, Maria; Liakos, Elias
The term “language development in adolescence” refers to the language someone learns under normal
circumstances during the period of adolescence, naming between the age of eleven or twelve and early
adulthood (Paul, 2001). During this period, adolescents in secondary schools learn to produce narrative and
non narrative texts. Narrative texts are those that reflect specific, mostly past experiences and put an
emphasis on humans’ actions and experiences. On the other hand, non narrative texts focus on a broad field of
description or on the development of concepts, beliefs, arguments and information without relying on
narration, things which make them more demanding than the narrative type of texts (Georgakopoulou &
Goutsos, 1999). Based on the above, the aim of our research was to investigate whether adolescents reach the
language level that corresponds to their age and to compare their syntactic abilities in narrative and in non
narrative texts. Our research took place in public, urban high schools in Greece. Our sample consisted of two
groups of adolescents whose average age was 14, 5 and 16, 6 respectively. A text on the topic of racism, a
topic that was previously discussed with their teachers in class, was distributed to the students in order to be
read. Then, they were asked to produce two texts, one narrative and one non narrative following the
instructions given, which were the same for both groups of high-school students. Our results showed that
some students function at lower levels of language development corresponding to their age, whereas others
reach an advanced linguistic level with considerable syntactical skills. In addition, an unexpectedly high
cognitive and linguistic development of the adolescents in our sample was observed, both in terms of age and
the two types of texts examined.
Abstract ID: 1619
Title: Intrinsic and extrinsic motivations in teaching English as a foreign language in primary schools in Libya
Author(s): Bel-Haj, Abdulsalam; Shalbaq, Ramadan Ahmed
This research investigates the effective role of intrinsic and extrinsic motivations in learning English as a foreign
language. Conducted during the Academic Year 2009 to 2010, the research involved twenty one (21) primary
school students at Fatima AL-Zahra School whose ages ranged between 11 and 13 years old. Two tests were
included in this study, a pre-test and a post-test. The use of both intrinsic and extrinsic motivations in the
teaching process involves students actively in doing various activities and tasks that meet their needs and
interests. As a result, all students participated actively and interacted effectively with one another. Research
findings disclosed that relationship exists between using intrinsic and extrinsic motivation and effective
learning of English language. Intrinsic and extrinsic motivations have an important role in the teaching process
particularly in learning the four skills of English language effectively. The researchers recommend the use of
motivation because it creates a relaxed and interesting atmosphere in the classroom; develops a good
relationship between teacher and students; helps learners discover their own long-term memory and increase
their self-confidence as well as autonomy; and do their tasks properly in order to improve their levels.
Abstract ID: 1704
Title: Evolution of the Concept of Beauty in Russian Culture
Author(s): Beliakova, Irina; Plakhina, Elena
The article is devoted to the evolutionary development of the concept of beauty in Russian culture. In the
course of time (19-21 centuries) Russian society has transformed from a religious state to the modern
technocratic one, in which material values have a priority over spiritual ones. Following the course of evolution
of the human society the concept of beauty as a unit of mentality [Popova, Sternin, 1999] evolves, too,
accumulating all the information about the world in semantic and prototypical signs. The language units
representing the concept transform their semantic structure as well. Study of the Russian literature
(Turgenev, Bunin, Kuprin, Grishkovets, Pelevin, etc.) of over two centuries (19 - 21) has shown that the
meaning of the concept of beauty underwent gradual changes and though its denotative structural component
remained basically the same, the figurative and axiological components have changed. The denotative
component of the concept was described with the help of the componential analysis of the key lexeme
‘beauty’, as a result of which 56 semantic features of the word were defined. For example: attractive, pleasant,
bright, satisfactory, clean, ideal, positive, etc. The figurative component of the concept, to my mind, is
interconnected with the denotative component as semes of the word meaning, which represent the concept,
denote not only the meaning of the concept but its sensual image as well. Employing a frame-based model I
present the prototypical images of the concept of beauty in the Russian mental sphere. The axiological
structural component was researched with the help of corpus, textual and contextual methods of analysis of
the Russian literature. The research performed lets claim that the concept under study has changed its
meaning volume from the prevailing ideal values to denoting beautiful material possessions.
Abstract ID: 1396
Title: Body-specificity in simple action sentences
Author(s): Beveridge, Madeleine E. L.
Embodied cognition accounts of language are supported by research demonstrating body-specificity in
language comprehension. Specifically, left- and right-handed participants show body-specific activation in the
pre-motor cortex when reading simple action verbs (1). However, it is unclear what role body-specificity plays
in understanding full action sentences. In the current study, we investigate how body-specificity interacts with
perspective taking in language. In Experiment 1, we used a sentence-picture matching paradigm to
demonstrate body-specificity in first-person action sentences: participants read sentences describing firstperson actions (e.g. I am cutting the tomato), and viewed photographs in which the action was carried out by
either a left or a right hand. Results showed a significant interaction between participants’ dominant hand, and
the hand performing the action in the photograph: right-handed participants were slower to match sentences
to photographs showing right-handed actions, and left-handed participants were slower to match sentences to
photographs showing left-handed actions. Experiment 2 extends this paradigm by manipulating participants’
perspective (internal/ external). Action sentences using third person pronoun encourage participants to adopt
an external, rather than internal, perspective (2). We are currently testing whether participants also
demonstrate body-specificity when comprehending third-person action sentences. In this way, we aim to
establish whether the motor simulations implicated in language processing embody the way the
comprehender herself would execute an action, regardless of linguistic perspective; or whether the motor
simulations in language comprehension are contingent on linguistic perspective taking. In the first case, we
expect to see body-specificity in both first- and third-person sentences. In the second case, we expect to see
body-specificity only in first-person sentences, with all participants favouring a right-handed perspective in
third-person sentences. The results are discussed in terms of implications for embodied cognition, perspective
taking in language, and the distinction between self- and others’ actions.
Abstract ID: 1906
Title: From conceptual expressions to language typology: ‘Eyes’ in Mandarin, Spanish and German
Author(s): Hsieh, Shelley Ching-Yu
This study examines the body-part eyes in Mandarin Chinese, Spanish and German with the majority of the
data taken from corpora and dictionaries. Our research goals are to explore: (1) meanings the eye expressions
convey? (2) The validity of BODY IS STATIC hypothesis (Hsieh & Lu 2011), and (3) whether MCh is a Satelliteframed lg as Talmy (2000:222) proposed? We revealed the significant semantic molecules and semantic
domains in those EEs. The main findings are (a). BODY IS STATIC proved as valid, (b). the verbs of EEs in MCh
can be categorized into three types: agent independence, path-patient dependence, and agent-theme
causation, and (c). MCh is a verb-framed lg, not a satellite-framed language, because MCh is a metaphorical lg.
At the same time, the semantic preferences of collocation of respective EEs in Chinese, Spanish and German
are revealed and briefly explained in terms of fundamental cognitive linguistic premises. Through crosslinguistic comparison, we verify typology of concept structuring; lx studies mutual proof one another.
Abstract ID: 1487
Title: Multiple-World Discourse: a Framework
Author(s): Cook, Catherine
Linguists, logicians and literary theorists all have their own ways of explaining the interplay between real and
non-real worlds. How we speak of these worlds is of particular interest, as often language is the only way of
sharing imagined worlds. Established theories such as Fauconnier's (1985) mental spaces, or possible worlds
with rigid designation (Kripke 1979) are ill equipped to explain world management in multiple world discourse,
such as roleplaying gaming. Both mental spaces and possible worlds branch from a single base world. This
world is most often reality (Fauconnier and Sweetser 1996, 11; Stanley 1997, 556), although work has been
conducted in fictional possible worlds (Ronen 1994; Yagisawa 2010). In roleplaying however, a group of
participants operate with three main base worlds; reality, fictional and an intermediary game world. These
worlds are created and shared through language. The resulting discourse is a direct expression of the mental
and social processes of that sharing, as well as the acts of the game in the physical world and life outside of
play. In order to track discourse with multiple world inputs from multiple sources, I have devised a framework
for mapping multiple world discourse. With Fauconnier's mental spaces as a base (1985; Fauconnier and
Sweetser 1996), and taking inspiration from modal theories (Kripke 1972) and later uses of mental spaces (Tea
and Lee 2004), this framework not only maps language, but cognitive processes of both individuals and groups
sharing mental and physical worlds.
Abstract ID: 1644
Title: Adult Attachment and Self-Narration: A Qualitative Survey Through Textual Analysis
Author(s): Di Fini, Giulia; Cussino, Martina; Civilotti, Cristina; Callerame, Chiara; Zaccagnino, Maria; Veglia,
Fabio
The narrative approach in psychology (Bruner, 1986, 1990) involves the theoretical model of the
autobiographical construction of life-themes. Veglia’s (1999) conceptualization postulates the existence of six
Life-Themes (Love, Value, Power, Freedom, Truth and Death) that develop trough interpersonal relationships
(from birth) and remain consistent across cultures. They work as meaning organizers around which individuals
construct their personal experiences. Early attachment relationship creates the conditions that enable all the
other relationships in the life course. In fact first cognitive and emotional structures develop in interpersonal
representations and autobiographical memories mediated by attachment system (Bowlby, 1969/1982). The
aim of this pilot study was to investigate the presence of these six Life- Themes and how they recur within and
across Adult Attachment Interview (AAI, George, Kaplan, Main, 1985) transcripts. Links between maternal
states of mind regarding attachment experiences, linguistic choices and Life-Themes were analyzed with a
qualitative methodology. Fifteen AAI transcripts were analyzed at three levels: (a) lexical analysis to
individuate what words are indicative of each theme and to determine the frequency with which they occur;
(b) thematic text analysis to find what sub-themes emerge from narratives by coding meaningful units of text,
trough a “bottom-up” approach (according to Grounded Theory principles); (c) semantic text analysis to
specify the nature of relations among Life-Themes and sub-themes by demonstrating the networks of meaning
within the data. Codification for the six Life-Themes and interview analyses have been carried out using
ATLAS.ti software (Mhur, 2004). The correlation between Life-Themes and AAI categories was examined from
an explorative view. Data have corroborate the existence of Life-Themes linked to personal attachment
histories. Results showed twenty sub-themes, each of which was characterized by a distinctive lexical profile
and by reciprocal links. Limitations of the study and clinical implications will be discussed.
Abstract ID: 1642
Title: Metaphor as a strategy to linguistic politeness in the language of people with schizophrenia
Author(s): dos Santos, Leticia
This study presents an analysis of the language of people with schizophrenia, psychotic episode, focusing on
the phenomenon of linguistic politeness, from the perspective of figurative language. So, we see how the
conversation participants interact with each other, doing the work with faces, and how they use figurative
language, more specifically of metaphors, as a strategy to linguistic politeness. To understand the language of
people with mental disorders, we analyzed the conversations of patients from Myra Y Lopes Hospital in the
years 2009 and 2010, and other conversations transcribed by Brito (2005), Teixeira (2001) and Picardi (1999).
We adopt, as a theoretical base, the postulates of Brown; Levinson (1987), Leech (1983) Goffman (1967),
Lakoff (1987, 1989, 1993), Lakoff, Johnson (1980, 1999), Volker (2001). We found that the linguistic politeness
can influence the use of metaphors in interactions as a way to preserve the faces of the actors involved and
can also process emotions and feelings. Metaphorical expressions are even present in the conversation of
schizophrenics, especially when using the off-record politeness strategy and with respect to expressions that
requires speaker accountability, such as criticism, judgment or even praising. Commitment to what the
speaker says. Therefore, we understand that the schizophrenic ones use the metaphorical expressions as a
way to avoid exposing their faces and thus, leaving the hearer responsible for any meaning interpretation. We
found that schizophrenics use figurative language as a strategy of politeness and, depending on the severity of
the illness, they are not totally alienated from the events and ideological meanings, or from the social and
cultural events.
Abstract ID: 1716
Title: The English tense and aspect from the perspective of the reference point relationship
Author(s): Drożdż, Grzegorz
Although they are typically considered to be two separate grammatical issues, “the distinction in English
grammar between tense and aspect is little more than a terminological convenience” (Quirk et al. 1985: 189).
Still, they are the points which cause quite a lot of controversy due to the number of possible approaches to
the relationship between the two phenomena. The perspective which the author aims to adopt in the analysis
stems from one of the central claims put forward by Cognitive Linguistics – the “perspectival nature of
linguistic meaning” (Geeraerts, Cuyckens 2007: 5), also called the “thesis of embodied cognition” (Evans 2007:
66). This is an assumption that language reflects, among other things, the experiences of its users. Within
Cognitive Grammar, which constitutes the basis for the research, this assumption means that the analytical
tools are derived from the “multifaceted capacity to conceive and portray the same situation in alternate
ways” (Langacker 2007: 435) – construal. In the discussion of the English tense and aspect four construal
aspects are going to be explored: the reference point relationship, distance, schematicity, and scope. The
author proposes a further exploitation of the potential of these tools in comparison with the approach offered
within Cognitive Grammar – adopting a more operational approach. Depending on the kind of construction,
the construal aspects are claimed to adopt certain values by means of which differences between temporal
and aspectual constructions can be pointed to. After introducing the rationale for such values and discussing
the consequent characteristics of selected temporal and aspectual constructions, a method of defining tense
and aspect from the adopted perspective is arrived at.
Abstract ID: 1654
Title: Cognition in multimodal texts: cross-cultural perspective
Author(s): Dubrovskaya, Olga
Cognitive theories state that human minds are structured by embodied experiences (Lakoff and Johnson,
1980). In this paper it is argued that multimodal texts result from the processes of conceptualization and
categorization and are built by means of semiotic modes - words and pictures in particular. The data for the
research comprise guidebooks in English and Russian. The research aims at finding out what cognitive activities
discourse styles (as manners of speech) activate in the two languacultures and how iconic elements – pictures
– help to construct the meaning. Findings show that the data in English reveal preferences to informative,
practical-oriented, and advertising discursive styles. Unlike English discourses, the data in Russian are
characterized by explanatory and informative discursive styles. Compare: The London Eye. This observatory in
the form of a gigantic big wheel, now one of London’s most outstanding attractions, commanding views for 45
km around opened in the year 2000 (English) and «In 1919 headquarters of Revvoensovet were located here,
in 1920 – a central bureau of foreign affairs and during 1933-1938 – an office of French Consulate» (translated
from Russian). The data in English reveal preferences to present-oriented meaning construction.
Conceptualization in Russian is past-oriented. Compare: The Warders, when in state dress, are armed with 2.5metre-long partisans bearing the royal arms and cipher. The Yeomen Warders are a unique body by tradition
originating from the reign of Henry VII (English) and «The Palace was built in 1788-1791 for Krechetnikov M.N.,
a landowner of Tula and Kaluga regions. It was sold to the Dolgorukovs and rebuilt by R.R. Kazakov architect»
(translated from Russian). The pictures support the ideas expressed by means of discourse styles. The study
suggests that discursive styles are important clues to understanding the mental modeling that goes on in our
minds.
Abstract ID: 1400
Title: Emotion words in German Sign Language: What is the relationship between form and meaning?
Author(s): Elliott, Eeva A; Jacobs, Arthur M
Words for emotions such as ANGER, DISGUST and JOY in German Sign Language (Deutsche Gebärdensprache;
DGS) require that the speaker make the facial expression of emotion congruent to the concept in addition to
the manual component of the word form. For example, the word ANGER in DGS is signed with both hands in
the 5-handshape, located at the chest, making an upwards circular motion. In addition, the eyebrows are knit
and the lip corners are turned down in a depiction of an angry face. This raises the question of whether
emotion words in DGS are processed differently to emotion words in oral-aural languages since one aspect of
the concept they encode is literally embodied in the word form. Or in other words, does the iconicity of the
sign have a unique contribution to lexical processing? Earlier studies using various tasks have shown that
iconicity does not play a special role in linguistic processes (Emmorey et al., 2004; Orlansky & Bonvillian, 1984;
Poizner, Bellugi, & Tweney, 1981). However a recent study has indicated otherwise (Ormel, Hermans, Knoors,
& Verhoeven, 2009). In order to start to assess the relevance of iconicity in DGS emotion words, I have
collected a corpus of emotion words (in sentences and as single words), produced by 20 deaf competent
speakers of DGS. Using ‘Kendon’s Continuum’ (McNeill, 1992) as a framework, my question is whether the
emotional facial gestures in DGS words have been conventionalized and are thus different in form from the
emotional facial gestures outside of speech. My preliminary findings show that this is the case. I will use that
information to create stimuli for experiments that can test whether the iconic emotional expression has a
unique effect in lexical access for speakers of DGS.
Abstract ID: 1417
Title: Sharing Expertise: Surpassing the Limits of Language
Author(s): Gatarik, Eva; Born, Rainer
Starting with the assumption that “meaning is a means to come to >>terms<< with reality” we consider both
the meaning stipulating interpretation of those (linguistic) terms and their context-sensitivity in establishing a
realm of “reference” as well as the way in which we want to or have to arrange ourselves in the “world”
(surrounding us). We developed a framework LIR based upon model theory and of course semiotics in general
to study (as we then called it) the relation between Language, Information and Reality. The point is to combine
classical approaches to formal semantics with acting guiding ideas to build up shared meaning with the help of
shared expertise. The latter is more than just shared experience and contains a very important constructive
element with respect to the meaning stipulating importance of background knowledge H. We split up the
latter into four essential components: F = folk or culture dependent common sense knowledge / E = individual
and group experiences as a basis for establishing problem solving capacities / K = calculi, routines and formal
matters / M = explanatory structure models to constructively condense the knowledge inherent in E. With
respect to surpassing the limits of language we also consider especially the dialogue (in the sense of Bohm)
between E and F in order to keep background knowledge H dynamic and to understand changes in the
acceptance and use of information/knowledge/meaning in their (creative, flexible and innovative) influence on
problem solutions and in explaining, predicting and guiding action in everyday life and the world. The
theoretical backbone is “situation semantics” (Barwise/Perry). The result is a rejection of the idea of a static
universal common sense and instead to insist upon a pluralistic, tolerant, dynamic development of common
sense (in need of dialogue and able to prevent “manipulation” of thought).
Abstract ID: 1719
Title: Constructive conversation analysis in psychotherapy: cognitive relevance of actants in terms of linguistic
constructions
Author(s): Gobbo, Federico; Preziosi, Riccardo
Psychotherapists in their working practice produce a lot of pseudo-structured discourse with their clients.
Their outputs have been analysed with the instruments of linguistics and especially pragmatics in a lot of ways,
e.g. within the perspective of Conversation Analysis (Peräkylä 2008). A detailed analysis of transcripts is still
not widely used, a notable exception being Therapeutic Cycles Model (TCM), which uses ad-hoc software to
perform textual analysis, in order to elicit knowledge about the psychological processes underlying therapy
(McCarthy et al. 2011). However, TCM still does not profit of the results in the field of cognitive linguistics: how
client's domains and mental spaces change through the interactions with the psychotherapist through the way
of health recovery? Adpositional grammars by Gobbo & Benini (2011) depict the morphosyntactic stratum of
natural languages as adpositional trees (adtrees), also giving pragmatic cues on phrasal and textual levels
through information prominence, based on the dichotomy trajector/landmark (TR/LM) by Langacker (1987).
Adtrees were recently applied to the transcripts of psychotherapeutic settings in order to find how the actants
present into the client's narrative his or her the linguistic constructions (Gobbo 2011). For example, it is
cognitively relevant the difference between "the event X belongs to me" or "I participate to event X", as the
actant referring to the speaker, i.e., the client, brings different information prominence, according to the
construction used. In this paper, the building of constructions during conversation analysis occurred within
psychotherapeutic settings are presented, with a special attention to the position of actants into adtrees and
their relevance in terms of mental spaces. In this paper, a comparison of these results and TCM on the same
transcript are presented, so to show how a cognitive approach to the language use in psychotherapeutic
transcripts can augment the insights on the underlying process itself.
Abstract ID: 1346
Title: How can a voice be velvety? Synaesthesia between metaphor and conceptual blending
Author(s): Guidi, Annarita
Rhetoric has represented an interesting field for the comprehension of the innovative potential of the
cognitive paradigm, and the highlighting of the embodied nature of language and interconnections among
experiential, neural, linguistic and cultural processes. Within the reanalysis of the tangle of tropes, one of the
most frequent question is that related to the specificity of figures of speech with respect to metaphoric and
metonymic operations. In this paper, we propose some questions related to synaesthesia, whose complexity is
due to the twofold phenomenology – linguistic and psychological – with which synaesthesia manifests itself as
an apparent non-sense, an inter-sensory association (e.g., cold call; profumo dolce ‘sweet fragrance’).
Linguistic synaesthesia has been studied from different points of view, from rhetoric (Lausberg 1960) to
pragmatics (Cinque 1972, Catricalà 2008), from psychology (Dogana 1990, Paissa 1995, Hubbard 2007, Cacciari
2008) to semiotics (Ullmann 1957, Williams 1976) and cognitive sociolinguistics, which has recently shown its
importance for the survival of some expressions otherwise endangered (Berthele 2010). Many topics are
debated, such as the definition of synaesthesia, the possible taxonomies, the directional (Shen & Gil 2007) and
constructional (e.g., Noun-Adjective; Verb-Noun; Marotta in press) constraints. At the same time, several
experimental results show the difference between: “concrete” and non-concrete synaesthesia (Catricalà
2009); “exocentric” and “endocentric” senses (Lakoff 1995, Catricalà in press). The definition of synaesthesia
is still problematic because inter-sensory can not always be represented as a mapping of correspondences
between basic domains. Synaesthesia can, thus, be configured as a conceptual blending – the representation
of a semantic structure which is, at least in part, emergent (input spaces do not include all the elements of
such structure: Fauconnier & Turner 2001). Our analysis involves phenomena of lexicalization (data from
dictionaries) and discourse configurations (corpora data) in two languages (Italian and English), with a focus on
Noun Phrases.
Abstract ID: 1471
Title: The interrogative constituent in Brazilian Portuguese Content Interrogatives: form, function and history
Author(s): Gustavo Fontes, Michel
This paper investigates Content Interrogatives in Brazilian Portuguese, or, as well known in the linguistic
literature, WH-interrogatives. This kind of structure is formed, as pointed out by Dik (1997b, p. 260), “on the
basis of an open (extended) predication, in the sense of a predication in which at least one constituent is left
unspecified”. According to Givón (1979; 2001), WH-questions are manipulative acts that have a strong degree
of presupposition since “they are used typically when the speaker presupposes that the hearer shares with
them the knowledge of a state/event, but the speaker still misses one element of that state/event” (GIVÓN,
2001, p. 300). Our attention is on the interrogative constituent or, following Givón (2001), on the focus part of
the interrogative sentence. This constituent, in Brazilian Portuguese, may occur in the first or in the final
position in the clause (see (01)) and, when it is in the first position, it may be clefted by É QUE or QUE
Constructions (see (02)). (01) a. o que significa isso? (REC-EF-337) what does it/this mean?
b. ele também
pode fazer o quê? (SSA-DID-231)
he can also do what? (02) a. o que é que acontece? (REC-EF-337)
what is happening?
b. o que que a senhora faz? (SP-DID-234)
what do you do? Actually we
analyse the pragmatic nature of the interrogative constituent and the morphosyntactic phenomena involved in
its formal representation. Besides, we investigate the diachronic development of these two phenomena
(ordering and clefting) in Content Interrogatives through Brazilian Portuguese history. To do so, we are based
on Hengeveld and Mackenzie’s (2008) assumptions about constituent ordering and pragmatic function
attribution and on Givón’s (1979, 2011) considerations about syntacticization and morphologization,
“processes by which loose, paratactic, ‘pragmatic’ discourse structures develop – over time – into tight,
‘grammaticalised’ syntactic structures” (GIVÓN, 1979, p. 208).
Abstract ID: 1280
Title: The “HEART IS THE STOMACH”. A diachronic analysis.
Author(s): Gutiérrez Pérez, Regina
As we know, a diachronic perspective is essential to explain the meaning of certain expressions nowadays. This
is the case of some English expressions which relate the heart to the stomach. Therefore, we can establish the
conceptual metaphor “THE HEART IS THE STOMACH”, clearly alive in French nowadays, in the expression
“avoir mal au coeur” and many others. Through the careful analysis of some Greek, Spanish, French and
English dictionaries, we will show that the underlying metaphoric and metonymic bases of that metaphor help
us understand certain expressions nowadays.
Abstract ID: 1678
Title: The Experiential Basis of Metaphors: Evidence from a Tunisian Discourse
Author(s): Hamdi, Sondes
The Conceptual Metaphor Theory (the CMT henceforth) claims that the essence of a metaphor is to
understand an abstract concept through a more tangible and experiential one (Lakoff & Johnson, 1980;
KÖvecses, 2002). This paper aims at probing the validity of this claim on the basis of the analysis of the
metaphors used by the Tunisian people during the Revolution (2011) to oust the established system. This
study shows that the Tunisian people used divergent conceptual metaphors, such as SOLIDARITY IS A BODY,
THE SYSTEM IS AN OBJECT, POWER IS AN OBJECT, DEMOCRACY IS AN OBJECT, POLITICS IS A GAME. The data
analysis demonstrates that metaphors are commonly based on bodily experiences and it, therefore, provides
evidence from a language other than English for the CMT claim that metaphors consist in the comprehension
of an abstract concept through a more experiential one.
Abstract ID: 1636
Title: Shift in bilingual language use for cognitive functions following migration
Author(s): Hammer, Kate
This research focuses on language use for cognitive functions among bilingual speakers who changed their
main language of daily interaction from L1 (Polish) to L2 (English) after migration in early adulthood.
Participants are a group of 50 well-educated coordinate bilinguals in Polish (mother tongue) and English
(proficient L2 users). Subjects are graduates of HE institutions, they are professionally active young adults who
relocated to the UK and underwent the process of acculturation. Participants filled out an online questionnaire
and were interviewed by the researcher. The aim of the study is to investigate language shift on the individual
level following migration, in both external and internal language use. The language shift in proficient bilinguals
occurs and progresses according to acculturation level and individual language choice. The language shift
under investigation is happening across different experiential domains and different language functions.
Language shift for cognitive functions occurs when L2 begins to balance or replace L1 for cognitive tasks.
Participants were requested to complete the table as part of the questionnaire to establish which language
they use in different experiential domains. Dependent variables include language use for cognitive functions
such as counting, note-taking, learning, making plans, listing items and memorisation. Results of this
immigrant group are compared against Polish-English bilinguals who have always lived in Poland and never
underwent the acculturation process (control group). Preliminary findings suggest that shift does occur among
immigrants in cognitive language functions.
Abstract ID: 1701
Title: Cognitive Influences on the Interpretation of Noun-Noun Compounds: An Empirical Approach
Author(s): Huang, Jie
The past two decades have witnessed highly diversified studies in noun-noun compounds from perspectives of
linguistics, psychology, computer science and so on (Sweetser 1999; Gagne 2002; Devereux & Costello 2005;
Benczes2006; Butnariu & Veale 2008; Fernúndez Domínguez2009) . In this article, three experiments are
carried out to investigate how such cognitive factors as encyclopedic knowledge, conceptual similarities and
contiguities influence the interpretation of noun-noun compounds. Non-linguistic encyclopedic knowledge
about things is an important cognitive factor which influences noun-noun compound interpretation (Ryder,
1994; Coulson 2001). My previous quantitative study in lexicalized noun-noun compounds reveals that we are
more likely to choose analytic properties as the reference point. The first experiment testifies the hypothesis
that we are inclined to interpret a novel noun-noun compound with reference to analytic properties of the
referent instead of perceptual properties. Conceptual similarity, as another cognitive factor, has great
influence on the interpretation of a noun-noun compound as well. Wisniewski’s (1997) experimental study
indicates that we prefer establishing relational association rather than metaphorical association (He uses the
term “property mapping” instead of metaphorical association in his article). In Lynott & Keane’s (2003)
experimental study, their equivalent ratios mean that participants do not have such preference. Our second
experiment tests participants’ preference for metaphorical or relational association in the process of
interpreting novel noun-noun compounds. The third experiment testifies whether cognitive development has
an impact on noun-noun compound interpretation. Studies in spatial semantics have shown the importance of
cognition in semantic development (Bowerman & Chio 2001; Donough, Chio & Mandler 2003). In this
experiment, participants of different age groups are asked to make a preferential choice among a set of
possible meanings for each novel noun-noun compound. We hypothesize that children of different ages and
adults would respond differently because of their difference in cognitive development.
Abstract ID: 1508
Title: Blending mental spaces - are you having a laugh?
Author(s): Jablonska-Hood, Joanna
Cognitive integration theory, aka “blending”, relies on the notion of mental spaces. A theory developed by
Gilles Fauconnier, who defines mental spaces as ‘partial structures that proliferate when we think and talk,
allowing a fine-grained partitioning of our discourse and knowledge structures’ (Fauconnier 1997: 11). So,
mental spaces may be regarded as particular cognitive fields of associations which arise during the cognitive
processes of the human mind (Fauconnier and Turner 1998: 6). It is possible to distinguish correspondences
between various mental spaces which are of a complex nature and can be extended by information. This
information does not have to originate exclusively from the spaces in question, (i.e. from contextual
information), but can also originate from a number of conceptual domains related to such mental spaces, such
as a local context. Such perceived correspondences are called mappings and may be defined as metaphorical
or metonymic relations between concepts. When dealing with such mappings we arrive at an integrated
picture based on the relations between these mappings. This is what is referred to as blending, i.e. a cognitive
operation that involves two input mental spaces (or more), a generic space that maps onto the input spaces,
and a fourth space called the blend. It is precisely this very idea of the blended space that can be said to have
revolutionised humour studies with respect to the explanation of the comic behind the humorous.
Abstract ID: 1481
Title: The Conceptualization of Intimate Partner Violence perpetrators
Author(s): Jamison, Kaline
Many aspects associated with intimate partner violence (IPV) have been discussed by many different areas,
however, IPV investigation lacks linguistic approach. This article examines police reports made by women,
victims of IPV and analyzes how they conceptualize their partners, who are also the perpetrators. Our focus
was to understand how relationship between cognition and language, considering that tropes such as
metaphor and metonymy play an important role in our cognitive activities and in our process of
conceptualizing the perpetrator, given its social and cultural situatedness. The approach lies in the field of
Cognitive Linguistics and is based on Idealized Cognitive Models. Qualitative research and exploratorydescriptive analysis were made from a corpus formed by 41 segments taken from recorded police reports of
six female victims of intimate partner violence, who went to a local Police Station for Women, located in
Fortaleza. We detected that metaphors from the Subject-Self metaphors System and the Moral Metaphor
System were present in the speech of the victims when conceptualizing the perpetrators. The actions that
were related to intimate partner violence and highlighted in the victims discourses were grouped into the
following INTIMATE PARTNER VIOLENCE ICM elements: NON PROTECTIVE HUSBAND, NON PROTECTIVE
FATHER, non provider who acts like it, lack of marital happiness and violation of the separated wife condition.
Out of these elements, NON PROTECTIVE HUSBAND had the highest occurrence among our subjects. Despite
the abuse which their partner had made them go through, 5 out 6 victims relied on the Multiple Selves
Metaphor, specially on the Essential Self Metaphor to justify their partner’s behavior, by showing that their
true essence does not fit who they seem to be (the Subject). This finding was important to understand why
most women go back to drop the charges against their partners just a few days after.
Abstract ID: 1588
Title: Summer Wardrobe or Shared Sock Drawer? Bilingual Activation in Speech Production.
Author(s): John, Joanna ; Rundblad, Gabriella
At the heart of recent enquiry in bilingualism are questions of how the two or more languages a bilingual
knows interact with one another when the languages are being used. Put simplistically, we can speculate as to
whether the bilingual’s language that is not currently in use is like a summer wardrobe in the heart of winter –
put away, unseen and beyond consideration for selection. Alternatively, the process may be more akin to
rifling through a shared sock draw - items in both languages mingled and briefly considered for purpose, the
contents and features of each language competing and affecting one another. This research investigates the
patterns of activation which may occur when bilinguals produce speech and specifically whether dual
activation extends beyond semantic representations to the lexeme, a layer of representation thought to
contain the phonological elements of words. I will adapt the phoneme monitoring methodology which, in one
previous study (Colomé, 2001), produced evidence that dual activation extends to the lexeme level in balanced
Catalan-Spanish bilinguals and apply it to British Asian speakers of English and Punjabi. Divergent results may
indicate that dual activation is a function of sociolinguistic differences between or within the populations
studied. The research is part of a doctoral research project at the Centre for Language, Discourse &
Communication, Kings College London.
Abstract ID: 1614
Title: Optimality principles in multimodal blends
Author(s): Juszczyk, Konrad
The aim of this study is to examine the optimality principles in visual and verbal blends. The examples chosen
for this analysis are taken from the corpora of Polish multimodal advertisements (Juszczyk 2006). Such ads are
unique examples of a conceptual integration of visual and verbal elements into one multimodal blend. The
visual elements provide the context for the verbal and vice-versa on both conceptual and constructional level.
Therefore optimality principles govern the processes of conceptual integration of both visual elements in
graphical blend and verbal elements in lexical blends. The optimality principles for conceptual blending of
visual and verbal blends are proposed within conceptual blending theory (e.g. integration, web, unpacking)
(Fauconnier and Turner 1998). Since verbal blends (portmanteous) are based not only on the semantic
(Kemmer 2003) but also on phonologial similarity (Juszczyk 2006) the optimality principles for them are
derived from optimality theory (Prince and Smolensky 2004) and some of them are featural identity,
uniqueness and recoverability (Piñeros 2004). The comparison of those principles reveals that unpacking and
recoverability can be observed in visual and verbal blends respectively and that they operate in a similar
manner. The unpacking principle states that “it should be easy to reconstruct the inputs” (Fauconnier and
Turner 1998) in visual and verbal blends. The recoverability principle says “both source words of a
portmanteau should be promptly recoverable from it” (Piñeros 2004) and refers to the lexical blend. Also, the
processes of creation and comprehension of visual and verbal blends are similar in since the mapping in
conceptual blending is partial and selective. Moreover these processes are likely to happen simultaneuosly as
visual and verbal elements are integrated into one multimodal advertisement. The results of analyses show
how comprehension relies on the optimality principles.
Abstract ID: 1910
Title: The Category of Gestalt Applied to Text Analysis
Author(s): Kustova, Olga
Our research is dedicated to the complex analysis of cartoons/caricatures from the American magazine “The
New Yorker”. Cartoons which comprise visual and textual elements are regarded as gestalt, in other words
holistic images or structures. The notion of gestalt is essential in gestalt-psychology which appeared at the
beginning of the 20th century and is actively developing nowadays. The ideas of gestalt spread from
psychology to other fields of science, for example linguistics. American cognitivist George Lakoff in his paper
“Linguistic Gestalts” uses the term “gestalt” to name structures used in different linguistic, mental, perceptual,
motor and other processes. The scientist emphasizes that the meaning of the whole is not a compositional
function of the meaning of the parts put together locally, on the contrary constructions themselves must have
meanings. The category of gestalt may be applied to text analysis. Text is a system of interrelated and
interdependent elements which form complex unities arranged internally. When talking about text
perception, we should take into consideration that caricature/cartoon is a semiotically complicated text,
because it contains components belonging to different semiotic systems: linguistic and non-linguistic, – which
form a coherent unity. It is important to note that in the process of perception, understanding and
interpretation caricature exists as a holistic, integrated image, i.e. gestalt. On the contrary, if we perceive
visual and textual components of the cartoon separately, its total meaning is distorted. When looking at the
drawing only without reading the textual part, we may not define the caricaturist’s exquisite sense of humour,
political or social views, personal opinion on the problem. While reading the verbal constituent and not paying
attention to the picture, it is difficult to understand where the action takes place or who the characters are. In
conclusion it is significant to emphasize that the wholeness of the caricature is created by the author’s
consistent communicative and cognitive idea, brought to life by both linguistic and visual means.
Abstract ID: 1439
Title: Metaphorical Mapping in Emotional Stroop Color-Word Tasks
Author(s): Li, Tai-Shan
Metaphoric language is often used to describe emotional experience or to be some emotional expression
manner, represents a major issue in cognition science and psycholinguistic. It focus on whether such
metaphorical expression reflects some principle of cognition. The psychologist is concerned with the process
of comprehension, and the linguist might be concerned with the formal properties of metaphor and the
semantic relations (Anderson & Lopes, 1974). In the past research, Stroop task was widely used to discuss
cognition topics by color-word stimulus material, follow up the emotional component recently become a
focus, has been termed the emotional Stroop effect. In order to evaluate the metaphorical relation between
the color and the emotional words will be less affected by Stroop effect, we adopt three behavioral
experiments to estimate each color-word pairs similarity, to compare the accuracy (ACC) and reaction time
(RT) of metaphorical mapping, which judging the closeness of the two stimuli appear at the same time.
Abstract ID: 1877
Title: Shifting through pronouns: An empirical investigation into deictic shifting in literature.
Author(s): Macrae, Andrea
The poster will report the rationale, design and findings of an experiment into deictic shifting in fiction. 100
readers of variants of a narrative text identify the perspectival loci they are prompted to conceptually adopt
within the storyworld setting during the dynamic reading process via selection of a locus within computer
generated images of the scene. The narrative texts manipulate person ('I', 'you', 'he' and 'she') and priming,
while controlling attendant spatial and temporal deictic dimensions, to investigate the following research
questions:
1. When processing a text in which the deictic origo of the primary focaliser is consistently designated by a
particular personal pronoun (i.e. the text remains in the first person, second person or the third person), do
readers tend to conceptually adopt - and remain in - the position designated by that pronoun?
2. Does use of third person narrative commonly elicit a distal conceptual viewpoint on a storyworld, and if so,
which is most common viewpoint of, for example, the rear, side or front, and horizontal or aerial, or birds-eye
viewpoints?
3. Do readers adopt the conceptual position of the focaliser more consistently if that focialiser is designated
through the second person or the first person?
4. Are common patterns of deictic shifting discernible when a primary and secondary focaliser are in play (e.g.
when a first person narrator is given to describe the actions of a past enactor of that same character)?
And, more broadly,
5. How far does deictic language determine readerly conceptual positioning?
The experiment employs, re-investigates and builds upon some of the insights proposed in preceding linguistic,
psycholinguistic, computational linguistic, pragmatic and cognitive poetic empirical and theoretic explorations
of deixis and deictic shifting, as part of a larger project seeking to enhance and empirically substantiate
cognitive poetic research into deixis in literature.
Abstract ID: 1864
Title: Here, there or nowhere – the crucial role of overstatements and understatements in everyday
interactions of typically developing children versus children with autism
Author(s): Malai, Yani; Rundblad, Gabriella
Figurative language, including devices such as metaphor, irony, overstatements and understatements are
ubiquitous in everyday language and appear to play a significant role in how we conceptualise thought and the
world around us. Thus, an inability, or impairment in one’s ability to comprehend figurative language, such as
that found even in able adults with autism, would be detrimental to one’s development. Despite this, research
into comprehension of overstatements (e.g. It’s freezing today! when describing a mild autumn day) and
understatements (e.g. Don’t worry, it’s just a small problem when describing a significant and potentially fatal
issue) is almost non-existent, especially from a developmental point of view in both typically developing (TD)
and autistic individuals. In addition, the research available in figurative language comprehension tends to vary
greatly in methodology leaving results difficult to compare. This study addresses these issues by investigating
the comprehension of overstatements and understatements in TD and autistic individuals of varying ages and
abilities. Comprehension was measured using a novel computer-based experimental task that involved short
stories each ending with a story character uttering a figurative, or literal statement. Understanding of the story
and the utterance were assessed using a series of receptive questions. Within and between-group
comparisons were carried out for the comprehension of each device. In addition, the varying ages of the
participants allowed for the development of each device to be explored cross-sectionally in both groups.
Finally, the significance of Theory of Mind, semantic knowledge, and receptive vocabulary on the
comprehension of figurative language was also considered. This study provides novel insight into the
comprehension of overstatements and understatements and their development in both TD and autistic
individuals.
Abstract ID: 1271
Title: Whose prototypes? Prototypicality, corpus data, and worldwide usage of 'make'
Author(s): Mehl, Seth
The notion of prototypicality, originally established via elicitation tests by cognitive psychologists, is now used
by lexicographers and corpus linguists who define word meaning via naturally occurring language in existing
texts and corpora. The corpus linguist’s focus on frequency of use for a given word’s meanings has thus led to
new questions regarding the relevance of frequency data in prototype theory. Significant research has shown
that cognitive saliency and frequency of use rarely coincide, but numerous studies have continued to accept
parallels between cognitive saliency, frequency of use, and prototypicality. Is there a place in prototype theory
for corpus-based findings on frequency of use? Is there an appropriate and useful way of connecting
prototype theory to corpus-based lexical semantics? The present study addresses these methodological
questions vis-à-vis a corpus-based investigation of the semantics of the high-frequency verb 'make' across
three varieties of contemporary English worldwide: Singapore English, Hong Kong English and British English,
as evinced by the International Corpus of English. The study examines corpus-derived differences in the
semantics of 'make', and considers their implications for cognitive representations of 'make' across the three
varieties, including a possible preference for concrete usage of 'make' in Great Britain and non-concrete usage
of 'make' in Singapore and Hong Kong. Prospects for cognitive conclusions regarding prototypicality attributes
of 'make' are evaluated, with a focus on two alternative methodological outlooks: first, that corpus data can
provide hypotheses to be corroborated by cognitive testing but cannot directly provide evidence for cognitive
attributes; and second, that corpus data can provide direct evidence for cognitive attributes and
prototypicality effects. The study will argue that the question is complicated by a lack of terminological clarity
across disciplines regarding 'prototypicality', but that corpus-based frequency findings are valuable for
Cognitive Linguistics.
Abstract ID: 1418
Title: Vows: framing marriage under the ideological scope of American media
Author(s): Moreno Palmero, Celeste
Marriage constitutes one of the cornerstones of traditional American ideology. The institution of marriage is so
entrenched in American identity, that its inevitability is a foregone conclusion for most Americans. The present
paper studies a set of twenty news articles relating to marriage practices published by ‘The New York Times’ in
its section ‘Vows’. The purpose of the analysis is to show how news articles reinforce the ideological
conceptualization of marriage. Evident in all the stories is a pattern resembling Propp’s fairy tale schema, but
adapted to American identity: difficulties represented by long distances, noble origins translated into
prestigious universities degrees, exemplary behavior reflected in participants’ hard working life, the ceremony
of engagement as a fabulous magic event, and finally the happily ever after marriage. I will use Cognitive
Linguistics (Hart, Kövecses, Hart) and CDA (Van Dijk) as my theoretical approach, more specifically, the
intersection of metaphor and CDA (Hart) to carry out a qualitative analysis of the different metaphors and
frames used by the writers to reinforce the model of marriage. This paper will demonstrate how metaphorical
framings that belong to the domain of fairy tales are used as a powerful mechanism of ideological identity and
recognition to strengthen the definition of marriage within the ideological framework of American society.
Abstract ID: 1547
Title: The Cognitive Approach to Nonsense Interpretation
Author(s): Natalia, Ursul
At any stage of language development there are linguistic constructions that may be defined as deviated ones.
The interest in studying these linguistic anomalies is stipulated by the fact that they play an important role in
explaining language mechanisms and cognition processes. That is why the questions related to mechanisms of
nonsense creation, its functioning and embodiment in the text, as well as its relation to metaphor are
becoming of great importance. The aim of the article is to show that nonstandard linguistic constructions
(namely nonsense) should be regarded not as infringements but as specific cognitive operations used by
writers with the purpose of complexifying the communicative process. Linguistic nonsense is not something
irrational or meaningless, it is the usage of the conventional language with emotional and intellectual impact
objectives.
Abstract ID: 1421
Title: Psychosemiotic Properties of DEL-based embodied emotional metaphors in Contemporary Persian
Author(s): Nilipour, Reza; Ghassemzadeh, Habib
The question of which emotion-related metaphors are universal (or near-universal) and which ones are
language-culture related has been raised before and since 1987 a good number of research papers have been
devoted to detect conceptualization of emotional metaphors and possible diversity of metaphors across and
within cultures (1). Our preliminary database on metaphors from 3 contemporary Persian dictionaries
indicates that body parts from head to toes and internal organs are ideal source domain in emotional
metaphorical expressions. They involve various parts including the head, hair, face, eyes, tongue, legs, hands,
back, bones, neck, shoulders, heart, liver, lungs and others. DEL-based metaphors are conceptually very rich
in contemporary spoken language, in poetry and even in mystic literature. They are prone to be languageculture bound and are used for different domains and categories and conceptually are highly imagable. The
word “heart”- the physical synonym of “DEL”- is a common source as well as a target domain. For example,
heart is something which can be broken (as a piece of glass) used as a target. It is also used to express “the
heart of army”- an expression comparable to “the heart of problem” in English- it is a source. Furthermore,
combined with an adjective (e.g. “heartbroken”) implies someone who is sad and hurt. The salient
psychosemiotic conceptual properties of DEL-based metaphors and their conceptual functions in different
emotional domains are discussed. They are made of DEL “stomach/heart” as a bodily source combined with a
pre or post-posed bodily sensory-motor experience to express basic and complex positive and negative
emotions. We discuss Psychosemiotic Properties of a couple of literary emotional metaphors as meta-signs in
literature (2) and the rest will be devoted to cognitive and perceptual properties of spoken DEL-based
metaphors as candidates for cross-linguistic research in cognitive linguistics.
Abstract ID: 1691
Title: “Japanese English”: A Descriptive Grammar of the Nominal Phrase of Educated Written English in Japan”
Author(s): Olagboyega, Kolawole Waziri
As an attempt to conflate the existing pedagogical concept of "Standard English" and the emerging theoretical
notion of "standard non-native varieties of English", this study looks at the stability of the claimed
"characteristic" forms of "Japanese English" and shows the statistical likelihood of their occurrence in
particular syntactic and semantic environments. This approach is both pedagogically and theoretically
interesting inasmuch as it identifies the divergent forms. The classroom teacher, for example, may know what
to “correct” and the textbook writer what to highlight. The theoretical linguist who argues for the existence of
non-native standard varieties of English has also got ready evidence on which to draw; evidence that can also
validate the concept of “fossilization”, which seeks to account for the adult non-native speaker’s grammatical
variability. The corpus consists of material that appears in the four Japanese national English-language
newspapers, Asahi Evening News, Japan Times, Mainichi Daily News, and The Daily Yomiuri which comprises
the editorials, articles, advertisements, letters to the editor, etc.; government publications, such as those of
the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT); articles published in
English by Japanese University professors and the writing of university students in Japan. Statistical
information is given in the text itself. Because we are interested in the language produced by a people or
group of speakers rather than the individual variability within the group, the data-base is cross-sectional rather
than longitudinal. Therefore, the study is intended to demonstrate to those concerned with teaching English
in Japan, particularly at the Universities, Colleges, High Schools and Junior High Schools the linguistic
circumstances in which “Japanese” forms are typically produced, and to give some account of the reasons for
this variation and how to set about correcting it whenever they occur in those environments in the classroom.
Abstract ID: 1408
Title: Assumptions and metaphors in Tertiary Institutions’ students’ Sexual discourse in Lagos, Nigeria.
Author(s): Oni-Buraimoh, Olawunmi
Earlier works on sexuality in Nigeria have not paid particular attention to the linguistic behaviour of the youth
subculture as it relates to sex. The reason is not far fetched – sex and the language used to talk about it is a
taboo concept in traditional Nigerian society. But now, things seem to be different. Hence, in this paper I
investigate how tertiary institutions’ students in Lagos state discuss sex (sexual intercourse), naming of sexual
organs and sexual partners. The methodology adopted is both qualitative and quantitative. Copies of a
questionnaire were given to four hundred students in four Tertiary institutions in Lagos State using random
sampling: University of Lagos, Lagos State University,Yaba college of Technology and Lagos state Polytechnic .
Data were also collected through tape recordings, and personal observations of the students’ sexual discourse.
The analysis of data was based on a modified version of Mey’s(2001) Pragmeme and Odebunmi’s(2006)
contextual beliefs model with insights from conceptual metaphor theory by Lakoff and Johnson. The findings
reveal that mutual contextual beliefs (MCB)/ assumptions play a significant role in understanding Tertiary
institutions students’ sexual discourse. Their use of language is to a large extent dependent on the features
available in the youth’s sub- culture. Moreover, the discourse sources have been identified to be from popular
hip hop music and slang words that are socio-cultural driven. Metaphors are essentially used for sex organs
and the sexual act while slang words are used for sexual partners. The paper concludes that studying
undergraduates’ conceptualisations of sex can be used to assess their beliefs and assumptions concerning sex
in this contemporary time.
Abstract ID: 1253
Title: A fractal model of archetypal images in advertising discourse
Author(s): Ponomareva, Elena
The author of the paper endeavours to structure archetypal images in advertising discourse through the prism
of fractal modifications on the basis of cognitive modeling. Cognitive modeling of concepts presupposes
working out a hierarchal frame-slot structure which helps to represent the complexity of archetypal images in
advertising discourse. The dominant archetype of advertising discourse is that of a Mask/Persona. Having
analysed this kernel archetypal image, we distinguished two interconnected concepts forming the opposition
“leadership/self-sufficiency – dependence/ pleasure” which encompasses most of the advertising slogans. The
constituents of the opposition are subdivided into frames representing typical heroes (Warrior, Ruler, Sage,
Keeper, Explorer, Child, Lover, Friend), which are broken down into slots characterizing each frame. Slots are
represented by numerous examples of advertising slogans. All these examples constitute a collection of
“reduced-size copies of the whole” and form a fractal model where a slogan belonging to a particular frameslot subdivision can be regarded as minor copy imitating the generalized structure. The cognitive, conceptual
and frame analysis were backed up by the componential analysis of the key-words of advertising slogans which
helped to group them according to the corresponding frames and slots. The results of the complex analysis
show that the concept “leadership/self-sufficiency” has a more developed structure and is represented by a
greater number of examples than the concept “dependence/ pleasure”. Taking into consideration the fact that
the slogans selected for the analysis are slogans of car brands and car products, one can explain this
asymmetry from the viewpoint of gender-related labeling. Despite the fact that the car is becoming a universal
consumer product aimed at both sexes, from the traditional (archetypal) standpoint it is still viewed as a male
product associated with such characteristic features as war-like character, leadership, power, energy, intellect,
exploration etc.
Abstract ID: 1555
Title: Conceptual Integration in the Poetic Text
Author(s): Ponomareva, Olga
The paper tackles the cognitive aspects of the poetic text which reflects the individual poetic perception of the
world. The poetic model of the world is regarded as a variety of complex dynamic processes analyzed with the
theory of blending. The analysis of the poem «Twilight» by H.W. Longfellow and G.G. Byron is aimed to prove
that conceptual metaphors form blending of several spaces thus creating the author’s individual and symbolic
image of the twilight. The opposition of “light” and “darkness” as the intensional in the semantic structure of
the concept “twilight” in the poem by H.W. Longfellow «The Twilight” is represented by four mental spaces:
two input spaces, generic space, involving nature and people united by the storm, which might cause the
tragic death of the fisherman and blended space, which comprises the intensional, implicational and
extensional of the semantic structure of the text with metaphorical and metonymical images of the child and
his mother facing the approaching storm as he symbol of the fisherman’s death. The symbolic image of the
twilight is created by means of convergence of the denotative space of nature being personified into a
destructive force threatening a tragedy. In the poem “Twilight” by G.G. Byron the general tonality is different.
The nature and man are united by the generic space of cosmos comprising a number of mental spaces (of
lovers’ vows, a nightingale’s singing, gentle winds and waters, flowers, the moon and stars) harmoniously
united into a symbol of beauty, music, love, the harmony of man and nature. Two poetic perceptions of the
“twilight” are individual and marked by differences in the cultural, aesthetic, spiritual and linguistic
parameters.
Abstract ID: 1364
Title: Post-betting uses of _I bet_
Author(s): Ponsford, Dan
Post-betting uses of _I bet_ In many parts of the world bets may be made between two individuals on a
private matter. Such bets typically arise out of a difference of opinion that emerges in conversation. Betting is
proposed as a way of resolving the issue. One party proposes to stake a sum of money that the issue will turn
out a particular way. An example of a _bet proposal construction_ is the bold sentence in (1). (1) [A] Why did
he leave? [B] Old Gladstone gave him the sack. [C] No, he didn't. Gladstone wasn't in power when Baring
left Egypt. It was Salisbury who dismissed him. [B] I bet you a sov. it was Gladstone. [(1893) _Punch_]
Over time these constructions come to be used in ways other than for proposing bets. Staking money ceases
to be necessary, and the allusion to betting serves merely to indicate a stance towards a proposition. Whereas
in genuine bet proposals the proposition must be something whose truth can be verified to the satisfaction of
the bettors, in _post-betting uses_ this the proposition may be something that can only be verified by one
party (2), or even something that is not verifiable by either party (3). Syntactically the construction develops
new features like the possibility of adding a tag question to the proposition or of postposing _I bet_
(Thompson and Mulac 1991), underlined in (2). (2) [A] I bet you've had it years _haven't you_? [B] Pardon?
[A] You've, have you had it years, the stool? Donkey's years _I bet_. [BNC] (3) I'm just saying I bet if you had
all that pressure then you would think of it differently. [BNC] The range of post-betting senses is surveyed,
using as data 800 instances of _I bet_ sentences from the spoken part of the British National Corpus (BNC), and
an order of emergence is proposed.
Abstract ID: 1301
Title: Interface between conceptual and discourse metaphors in the discourse about urban violence.
Author(s): Rodrigues de Lima, João Paulo; Pelosi de Macedo, Ana Cristina
The world, language and cognition are understood as unstable systems (Dynamic Systems), which can reach
stability as the needs come up in the discourse. Thus, the concepts are not apparently pre-defined, but they
emerge as the conversational interaction flows. Each person contributes to the discourse with his / her sociocultural background, which, for instance, has some individual aspects and some others that are shared socially.
If the individual systems are not exactly the same, how can the interlocutors communicate in a
comprehensible way, elaborating concepts? There must be something conceptually in common between
them, beyond the cultural background. Then, it is suggested that the Dynamic Systems are constituted of
elements that once were unstable, but now they have reached a more lasting stability due to basic bodily
experiences common to all human beings. The structuring of these experiences are the same, basic and simple
to all people – image-kinesthetic schemas (LAKOFF, 1987). According to the Dynamic Systems, the agents are
found in some level of disorganization, which depends on the contextual and intentional reasons to be
activated, emerged and stabilized. However, it is also suggested that there are some deeper, simpler and more
basic cognitive structures organized since the first bodily experiences in the world. The metaphor phenomena
can no longer be studied only through a conceptual view, but metaphors are more discursive and collective,
meaning they are dynamic states resulted of the activated and emerged elements along the discourse –
systematic metaphors (CAMERON, 2007). Thus, the emergence of figurative language belongs to two levels:
discourse and cognition in continuous dynamicity to construct the concepts on the urban violence topic, which
was chosen due to the possible contributions this paper may offer to one of the most recurrent topics in the
Brazilian media nowadays.
Abstract ID: 1728
Title: The Function of system mapping in structuring the macro fiction of “the conference of the birds”,
Written by Attar
Author(s): Sadeghi Esfehani, Leila
Cognitive poetics includes a theory of analogical mapping which shows employing different skills of seeing
similarity, relationships, and structural systems (Holyoak, Thagard 1995; Freeman 1997). This paper studies the
various functions of attributive, relational and system mapping in structuring the text world of "the conference
of the birds" (1177), a well-known Persian poem, by cognitive poetics approach. Moreover, it examines how
macro fiction could be created by operation of system mapping in the structuring of such a text. Not only
macro-fiction is the idea of holistic structures and their specific properties of different macro-structures, but
also is considered as a layer of patchy structures joined together by some textual cognitive elements to build
an unsaid story (Sadeghi, 2011). This research assumes to study the cognitive characteristics which affect the
function of system mapping, as a main feature of poem, to create macro fiction. Studying the text world by this
approach could provide a suitable device for analyzing a text and its macro structures through conceptual
mappings which is a step forward in the area of literary critic.
Abstract ID: 1729
Title: Framing the World: Genre as Worldview
Author(s): Sinding, Michael
The “worldview problem” in cognitive science concerns how higher-level conceptual structures govern lowerlevel thought, emotion, language, and behaviour. Culture wars can arise when contrasting worldviews are
mutually incomprehensible. Metaphor is fundamental to worldviews, but they are also structured by narrative
forms (genres). “Tragic”, “comic”, etc. visions of humanity, nature, society, history, etc., guide inferences in
expectations, fears, and hopes. I develop models of political “worldview genres” using the discourses of the
French Revolution Debate (which founded liberalism and conservatism), and examine narrative-metaphor
interactions. Lakoff’s studies of framing and metaphor in political thought examine how “surface frames” like
slogans rest on “deep frames” of basic worldviews. A “tax relief” frame evokes situations, actions, roles and
values (affliction, victim, villain, hero) such that opposing tax cuts becomes villainous. This resonates with a
conservative deep frame idealizing independence against social engineering. Such worldviews are
predominantly metaphorical (liberal “nurturant” vs. conservative “strict” models for the national “family”).
Lakoff links narrative with reasoning and worldview, showing how frames become stories with moral and
emotional values, shaping personal identity and political argument frames. However, his story types (e.g.
fairytale, rags-to-riches) and structures (hero, villain etc. roles) would benefit from greater complexity,
systematicity, and links with major genres and their histories. This would clarify how genres link surface
structures with deep frames defining “background assumptions” like “life is difficult” and “the world is
fundamentally dangerous” (Moral 65), and how metaphor and narrative interact in discourse (e.g. Hobbes says
people constitute a Body Politic by agreeing to a Social Pact). Literary scholars have shown how genres can
frame reality, generalizing patterns of plot, emotion, and attitude from literary history (Bakhtin, Burke, Frye,
Colie, etc.). My models recast such analyses (e.g. Frye’s comic “utopia” vs. tragic “social contract”) in cognitive
terms using pathbreaking narrative research (Turner, Herman, Hogan).
Abstract ID: 1714
Title: Difficulties in acquiring speaking skills. How they are overcome with the help of the course “English for
biologists”
Author(s): Snytnikova, Natalya
Biological students who study at Novosibirsk State University are sure that English will be of use for them in
their future scientific careers and practical jobs. So they are highly motivated to learn the language. When
learning English they are to acquire enough knowledge and skills for the practical use of the language. They
learn to read and comprehend texts on their speciality, write reports and papers, and give and comprehend
oral academic presentations. They are mostly low-intermediate students. It is psychologically hard for them to
speak on scientific topics. Being adult learners they face difficulties in acquiring and mastering speaking skills.
They can speak about very serious matters and issues in their native tongue but have very limited means to
express their thoughts and ideas in English. That makes them shy to speak and creates a certain
communication barrier. The communication is impeded by the following obstacles: the limited vocabulary of
the students and their inability to “function” with the help of English. In order to help them cope with the
problem a course “English for biologists” has been created. In the course the students participate in the
activity of giving and receiving oral academic presentations on speciality. The aim of the activity is to develop a
pattern of language interaction within the classroom, which is as close as possible to that used by competent
performers in real life. The techniques of preparing and delivering presentations are thoroughly elaborated.
The students are encouraged to become participants in a community of speakers. Content-based instruction
provides them with opportunities for meaningful use of the academic language needed for current and future
study, or job. This paper focuses on the difficulties in speaking that the nonnative speakers experience and on
overcoming these difficulties in the course “English for biologists”.
Abstract ID: 1410
Title: The dominance and stability of prototype representation during category learning on complex
naturalistic stimuli
Author(s): Somos, Eszter
In case of category learning the question is the nature of the general category representation emerging from
meeting specific exemplars. Theories differ in presuming different levels of generality in category
representation. Our aim was to test the emergence and stability of prototype abstraction – implicit rule
application – in a category learning paradigm using complex and naturalistic stimuli. We used unique
exemplars (with 4 diagnostic and additional non-diagnostic features) of artificial but still naturalistic creatures
in an information-integration task, where the diagnostic features were organized by Gestalt principles (cf.
Ashby et al., 2003). During a learning phase subjects learned to differentiate between the two categories by
the feedbacks given to their category choice. Their knowledge was tested in a similar situation without
feedback. Here we presented the prototype and the good exemplars which hadn’t been seen before. Reaction
time and hit were registered. The test phase was repeated a week later without any further learning or
reminding. Here we additionally presented 6 bad exemplars from the earlier learning phase (for testing the
presence of specific exemplar representation). Our goal was to test the appearance of rule application in a
task where the rule was not defined in advance, yet the diagnostic features were obscured by other nondiagnostic but highly variable characteristics. Results show that subjects successfully learned to separate the
two categories without an explicit knowledge of any rules (cf. Ashby et al., 2007). Prototype abstraction was
demonstrated by the hit results, as we found significant differences along the gradual structure of category
membership (bad exemplars were recognized worst in spite of their similarity to the learned exemplars). The
results of the repeated test a week later revealed that the rule-based representation remained stable and
reliable. Our results confirm that specific similarity information is overwritten by the generalized knowledge of
category structure.
Abstract ID: 1713
Title: The representation and processing of the bilingual Chinese-English mental lexicon.
Author(s): Tytus, Agnieszka Ewa; Rundblad, Gabriella
The organization of the bilingual mental lexicon, which can be likened to a database or a dictionary of all words
stored in the mind of a language user (Dijkstra, 2005), has proved to be one of the most controversial topics in
the field of bilingualism (Pavlenko, 2009). Numerous models of the lexical memory have been proposed,
notably the Revised Hierarchical Model (Kroll and Stewart, 1994) that is investigated in this project. The model
proposes separate lexical representations for each language, but one common conceptual representation for
both languages. This project tries to verify the RHM with reference to Chinese-English bilinguals. Three aims
are pursued in this project. First, this investigation aims to clarify the way in which meanings of translation
equivalents are represented and processed at the conceptual level in bilingual memory. Secondly, this study
aims to widen the scope of findings by focusing on auditory and visual modalities of word recognition as a
window for investigating the bilingual memory organization. Finally, this project intends to provide a greater
understanding of the representation of the Chinese-English lexical memory by looking at the degree of the
semantic overlap between the two languages. In order to address the aims of this project, four research tools
have been used to recruit participants and collect research data, i.e. a bilingual questionnaire, a monolingual
questionnaire, a masked implicit priming task (visual and auditory), and a semantic judgement task. In this
presentation, I will give a brief overview of the literature on bilingual mental lexicon; I will discuss the research
methods used to investigate the notion and I will present data collected in Hong Kong, Beijing and London.
Abstract ID: 1361
Title: The Theoretical Basis of a Linguo-Didactic Model of Developing Creativity in Translation: “Push-Word”
Methodology, Prospects for the Neurolinguistic Approach
Author(s): Ubozhenko, Irina V
Professor Vilen Komissarov, my honoured Teacher, was right to say once that «choice is the heart of all
creating, and where there is no choice there is no room for ingenuity», adding «intuition and creativity as the
highest functions of human mind are not easily accessible to analysis but the complexity of the task is no
excuse for the refusal to tackle it. Translators training programs should be based on a proper understanding
and an objective description of the translating process». Our deepest conviction is that teaching creativity is
possible. The inner picture of the outer world and the structure of each translator’s knowledge and
associations are subjective and individual; the original structure of knowledge presupposes the emergence of
the original decision; the task of a professional teacher is to stimulate the student’s ability of involving “weak”
associative links provoking the creative translation decision. To activate consciousness and the information
stored in the human brain students should be taught contemplating their task and building their own mental
program of considering the task set; one should obligatory be taught to formulate the target clearly and to
analyze all probable alternatives of the translator’s decisions. The experience of reflexive thinking is necessary
while searching for the right associative “prompt”, “push-stimulus” and theoretical “trigger-word” (such as
“context”, “style”, “background”) leading to making the translator’s creative choice (often intuitively) that
finally results in choosing the most acceptable variant of translation minding certain definite conscious
methodological steps (the algorithm). We also believe that the neurolinguistic approach (the MRT-method)
may reveal the human brain zones responsible for making creative linguistic decisions provided the correct
technical task is worked out and the valid number of volunteers are tested.
Abstract ID: 1662
Title: Requesting without Asking: Contributions of Motor and Theory-of-Mind Systems to Language
Understanding
Author(s): Van Ackeren, Markus
In everyday language use it is necessary to decode meaning from arbitrary symbols. Research from the past
decade has shown that language comprehension recruits a distributed network of areas, some of which are
shared with domain-specific perceptual processes. For example, understanding words denoting actions and
executing these actions engage an overlapping frontal-parietal network. What is not known, however, is
whether the activation of this network during language comprehension is triggered by the word-form of an
action concept, or rather by the concept itself. The latter would suggest a coupling between regions that
support action understanding and more general communicative functions. The current study addresses this
issue using functional MRI. Subjects listened to implied requests for action. Implied requests for action are
speech acts in which access to an action-concept takes place although it is not explicitly encoded in the
language. For example, the utterance “It is hot here!” in a room with a window is likely to be interpreted as a
request to open the window. However, the same utterance in a desert will be interpreted as a statement. The
results showed that regions in the medial SFG and the IPL were sensitive to both action execution and implied
requests for action. These areas were accompanied by regions in the mPFC and left-lateralized TPJ, which
constitute part of the classical theory of mind network. The current findings extend previous research by
showing that language and action share a common neural substrate above and beyond the level of the lexical
word-form. In addition, the data suggest that both simulation and theory of mind networks are critical for
language understanding.
Abstract ID: 1254
Title: The development of novel metaphor and metonymy comprehension in typically developing children
Author(s): Van Herwegen, Jo; Annaz, Dagmara; Rundblad, Gabriella
Previous studies investigating figurative language comprehension in typically developing (TD) children have
focussed on lexicalised expressions. These are expressions that might have been encountered by children
before and thus comprehension might rely on lexical retrieving strategies. However, it is unclear how and
when children come to understand novel expressions for which a meaning needs to be created and little
research has examined how such an understanding develops in relation to age. Furthermore, it is unclear
whether metaphors and metonyms are two distinct types of figurative expressions that rely upon different
cognitive mechanisms. The current study addresses these shortcomings by constructing cross-sectional
developmental trajectories, a methodology which emphasises the relationship between performance and age.
Thirty-three TD children were presented with short stories which ended in a novel metaphor or metonymy and
asked to select a meaning for the expression by touching a picture on a screen. Comprehension of the
expressions was compared to performance on inference, semantic knowledge, and theory of mind tasks. The
results showed that metaphor and metonymy comprehension in TD children increased in line with their
chronological age. However, comprehension of object-user metonyms was poorer compared to synecdoche
metonyms, while there was no such difference found between sensori and non-sensori metaphors. Inference
abilities and theory of mind abilities did not show to be related to novel metaphor and metonymy
comprehension, while semantic abilities correlated with comprehension of novel metaphor but not
metonymy. This poster discusses these results in relation to current theories explaining novel metaphor and
metonymy comprehension.
Abstract ID: 1569
Title: Two Vectors to Form Categories: Real Mother and True Mother
Author(s): Yamada, Hitoko
The aim of this paper is to show that the following two kinds of vectors are working to form categories in
contexts:
1.
Vector to put a thing within a boundary with some ad hoc standard that the
context determines.
2.
Vector to pull a thing toward the ad hoc prototype that the context determines.
Since both the “standard” of vector 1 and the “prototype” of vector 2 change in contexts, categories also
change in contexts. We are dynamically making new ad hoc categories as we think and talk with words.The
data to be examined in this study are English expressions of “real mother” and “true mother” collected from
the corpus of Collins, WordbanksOnline (http://www.collinslanguage.com/wordbanks/default.aspx).The
English terms of “real” and “true” respectively correspond to the above-mentioned two kinds of vectors.
“Real” of “real mother” works as vector 1 to put a person within a boundary with some standard to be a
MOTHER. “True” of “true mother” works as vector 2 to pull a person toward the prototype of MOTHER
category. Vector 2 can be called a centripetal force to unify the category MOTHER. Though we culturally share
some standards and prototypes for MOTHER category, we choose or create different standards or different
prototypes in different contexts. Lakoff’s cognitive models for MOTHER category (1987, pp.74-76) indicate
some possible standards for MOTHER category, such as “giving birth” or “raising.” We can choose one of
them, or create a new one. The most popular prototype of MOTHER category is a female with the ideal quality
of MOTHER, “possessing love for her child,” but we can choose more abstract quality like “possessing human
love,” or concrete quality of “giving birth,” for the prototype of category MOTHER.
Abstract ID: 1349
Title: “Mind the Gap” between Text and Real World: A Corpus-based Study on the Prototype Effects of Animal
Body Parts
Author(s): Yasuda, Sachi; Okamoto, Masashi; Aramaki, Eiji
There are many gaps between real world and text. This study focuses on a semantic gap between animals in
the real world and in the text world analyzing the frequency of animal body parts in the Web corpus. First, we
collected about five million examples of the combination of animals (200 kinds) and their exterior body parts
(100 kinds), that is, dog’s leg, paws of cat, and so on. Then we examined the frequency of appearance of those
combinations on the large Web corpus (i.e. Google n-gram). Lastly, we analyzed the semantic gap of animal
body parts in text compared with real world. As a result, there are the following three types of gaps between
text and real world: (1) Positive-Prototype Effect: The typical attributes (Rosch 1978) are often described in
text. For example, the most frequently mentioned body part of a rabbit is ear(s), the frequency of which is 29%
among all the body part examples of a rabbit. The reason is partly because of its metaphorical usage in text. (2)
Negative-Prototype Effect: The attribute that is not possessed by a target animal but is associated with its
superordinate category is sometimes described (Cf. Levinson 2000). For instance, ‘snake’s leg(s)’ is sometimes
appeared in text (4% frequency), because having-no-legs is the typical attribute which differentiates snakes
from other reptiles. (3) Commonality Effect: On the contrary, some body parts of a target are rarely found in
text. They are common attributes shared among other members of its superordinate category. For example,
most members of mammal class, a superordinate category of rabbit, have whiskers, thus only a few examples
of ‘whiskers of rabbit’ appear in text (0.1%). The result suggests that the gap between text and real world
might be based on the differentiation of membership in a contextually activated category.
Abstract ID: 1709
Title: Assessing L2 and FL students' metacognitive awareness of listening comprehension strategies
Author(s): Zoghlami, Naouel
Grounded in cognitive theory of learning, the present article focuses on metacognition and its significant role
in second-language (L2) listening comprehension. Metacognition refers to thinking about one’s own cognition
and its regulation. Awareness and control of cognitive processes have proved to be necessary for successful
listening. Accordingly, the purposes of this small-scale study were twofold: to pilot and validate a 24-item
questionnaire designed to investigate listeners’ metacognitive knowledge, and to examine the degree of L2
and FL students’ metacognitive awareness while listening and report on the strategies commonly used. Alpha
factor and item analyses were conducted and resulted in a 22-item questionnaire (QMAL) that proved to be a
valid and reliable instrument to investigate metacognitive awareness. After piloting, the QMAL was
administered to two groups of different backgrounds: French (L2) and Tunisian (FL) students of English. The
findings showed that the participants were generally aware of their difficulties as listeners. Yet, not all of them
were fully conscious about the cognitive processes involved in listening comprehension. Some differences
between the groups were also discovered. The analysis of strategy use demonstrated that Tunisian learners,
unlike the French ones, believed more in the usefulness and importance of two kinds of strategies; those
pertaining to the metacognitive processes of problem-solving and planning and evaluation. The paper ends by
outlining the importance of metacognitve instruction for successful second language learning and considering
the limitations of the study and some suggestions for future research.
Abstract ID: 1265