Cognitive Linguistics Croft&Cruse 3: Conceptualization and construal operations, pt. 2

3.4 Perspective/situatedness Q: What are some domains relevant to perspective?

3.4 Perspective/situatedness Q: What are some domains relevant to perspective? A: Space & time (deixis), knowledge, belief, attitudes. “We are always already in a situation and construing it from some perspective.”

3.4.1 Viewpoint Q: What are vantage point and orientation?

3.4.1 Viewpoint Q: What are vantage point and orientation? A: Vantage point depends on speaker’s location (behind, in front of), whereas orientation refers to human canonical upright position (above, below)

3.4.2 Deixis Q: What are some examples of deixis?

3.4.2 Deixis Q: What are some examples of deixis? A: Pronouns, demonstratives (this, that), come/go, assertion of common ground (use of “sportscaster present”, the), subject/object structure of clauses

3.4.3 Subjectivity Subjectification: –Don’t lie to me! –That’s me in the top row –Vanessa is sitting across the table. –Grammaticalization is subjectification. Objectification: –Don’t lie to your mother! –Vanessa is sitting across the table from Veronica.

3.5 Constitution/Gestalt People tend to construe things as wholes rather than as parts.

3.5.1 Structural schematization Q: What is individuation?

3.5.1 Structural schematization Q: What is individuation? A: This includes whether an item is bounded, unitary or multiple, what its relation is to its parts. This is essential for choice of count vs. mass nouns, pluralia tantum, etc. chocolate chocolates

3.5.1 Structural schematization A scale can be applied even when it something is not strictly measurable: Sally is very pregnant.

3.5.2 Force dynamics Force dynamics involve causation and enablement and determine the marking of subject, object and oblique arguments, also active vs. passive voice. Modal verbs also mark force dynamics, both in terms of compulsion (you must leave) and epistemic conjecture (she must be ill).

3.5.3 Relationality Some concepts (adjectives and verbs) are relational (ROUND, RUN), some (nouns) aren’t (TABLE). A relational concept profiles the interconnections between entities, while a noun profiles the entities that are interconnected.

3.6 Conclusion All aspects of linguistic expression are influenced by construal. Construal is generally consistent across a given expression (e.g., verb aspect and noun countability generally do not conflict. There are many default construals, but cognition and language are flexible.

3.6 Conclusion There is some interaction between language and experience – our experience is influenced by our language and vice versa, but it is not absolute. Conventional imagery – these are language- specific structures, e.g., I am cold, J’ai froid, Je mi zima