Cognitive Linguistics Croft&Cruse

2: Frames, domains, spaces: the organization of conceptual structure

Human actions, including verbal interactions, take place in institutions defined by societies, such as the institutions of family, workplace, education, worship and others.

3. What is Speech Context/Situation?

S-P-E-A-K-I-N-G• Setting – both physical and psychological• Participants – speaker, hearer, addresser, addressee• Ends – goals, purposes• Act – acts (statements of fact, questions, requests,

invitations, thanks, etc.)• Key – “mood,” joking, serious, etc.• Instrumentalities – speaking, writing, text message, e-mail,

language, etc.• Norms – of behavior, of language use, cultural values, etc.• Genres – business letters, business meetings, casual

conversations, fairy tales, recipes, term papers, etc.

The Structure of Background Knowledge

Schemata (scheme): structures in memory that remain ‘active and developing’ – ‘A and B were going shopping when they had an accident.’ = They were hit by a car.

Frames: principles of organization that govern events in which they are subjectively involved – ’School’: teacher, student, assignments, desks, etc.

Scripts: a standard sequence of events that describes a situation – ‘I’m thirsty’ -> ‘Would you like something to drink?’

Scenario: knowledge of the settings and situations behind a text – Thanksgiving = turkey, family, holiday, closures, etc.

ExampleBefore carrying the rice up into the barn, the time arrives for

making merit at the threshing floor. They make a pavilion and set up a place for the Buddha image and seats for monks at the threshing ground. In the evening of the day appointed for making merit at the threshing floor, when the time arrives monks come and perform evening chants at the threshing ground. (Rajadhon 1968)

Schema: knowledge representations of rice farmingFrame: knowledge of components of making meritScript: knowledge of event sequences of making

meritScenario: actions associated with making merit

Labels such as American or British or Indian or Thai culture are referred to as if they are monolithic entities with no internal variation.

That, however, is not true. Each one of these cultures represents variations based on factors such as region, ethnicity, age, gender, class, social status, education, and profession.

Give examples as to how each factor can represent culture.

Class Group Exercise:

These are examples of culture (“middle class”):

1. Individualism (individual freedom)2. Independence and self-reliance3. Equality4. Ambition and industriousness (hard work)5. Competitiveness6. Appreciation of the good life

Give specific examples to show each of these values as culture

Class Group Exercise:

Arguments for frame semantics

• Meaning is embedded in human experience, so the meaning of restaurant is related to CUSTOMER, WAITER, ORDERING, EATING, BILL

• The experiential structure can be known as: frame, schema, script, global pattern, pseudo-text, [idealized] cognitive model, experiential gestalt, base, scene

Arguments for frame semantics, cont’d

• Cognitive linguistics/frame semantics defines words in relation to their frame.

• Deictic expressions require a frame to be interpreted, since they refer to the speech act: tense, person, spatial deixis (this, here), and definite/indefinite

• Many concepts require a context: vegetarian requires a meat-eating culture as context.

Arguments for frame semantics, cont’d

• A word allows the speaker and hearer to focus their attention on only part of an entire frame– Cf RISK – any given use refers to only part of

the RISK frame– Cf My dad wasted most of the morning on the

bus, which makes reference to relationships, working day, time as a commodity, and the fact that the bus was in service

Arguments for frame semantics, cont’d

• Croft&Cruse list a number of other types of utterances that are difficult to analyze according to truth-conditions: change in word meanings, text coherence, negation, real-world knowledge, etc.

Concepts: profile-frame organization

• We need to identify frames based on the words and constructions of a human language

• RADIUS is a profile against the base (=domain=frame) of CIRCLE

• The meaning of a linguistic unit must specify both the profile and its base

• A domain is a semantic structure that functions as the base for at least one concept profile

• No concept exists autonomously

Some consequences of the profile-frame/domain distinction

• Three allied theories:– Artificial intelligence: a script is a

frame/domain for a sequence of events– Cognitive psychology: “theory theory” states

that categorization is based not on perceptual features but on theories of biological kinds and artifacts

– Sociology: there can be differences in how communities use concepts

Some consequences of the profile-frame/domain distinction

• Q: Why is the profile-frame/domain distinction important?

2.3 Some consequences of the profile-frame/domain distinction

• Q: Why is the profile-frame/domain distinction important?

• A: Because “some distinctions in word meaning apply not to the profiled concept -- what is usually thought of as ‘the definition’ of a word -- but to its frame/domain.” – E.g. ROE vs. CAVIAR

vs.

Some consequences of the profile-frame/domain distinction

• Examples: – LAND is profiled against SEA, but GROUND is profiled against

AIR

– ROE is profiled against fish reproduction, but CAVIAR is profiled against food

– STINGY is profiled against GENEROSITY, but THRIFTY is profiled against WASTEFULNESS

– FETUS is profiled against MAMMAL, UNBORN BABY is profiled against HUMAN BABY

VS.

2.3 Some consequences of the profile-frame/domain distinction

• Polysemy can be understood as a multiplicity of frames/domains for a single item– Example: MOUTH can be profiled against BODY,

BOTTLE, CAVE, RIVER

• The range of frames/domains available for a given item may be language-specific -- this is a way in which languages differ, and can make items “untranslatable” by including cultural references

• E.g. certain foods are heaty

Extensions of the basic profile-frame/domain distinction

1. Locational and configurational profiles -- a locational profile accounts for deixis, such as the meaning of HERE; RECTANGLE is an example of a configurational profile

2.Scope of predication -- NIECE presupposes kinship relations, but you need only part of the system

Extensions of the basic profile-frame/domain distinction

3. Relationships between domains -- there can be chains of profile-frame/domain distinctions: RADIUS is profiled against CIRCLE which is profiled against SPACE

– Basic domains -- grounded in embodied human experience vs. abstract domains

– A concept may be profiled in many domains simultaneously -- the domain matrix of HUMAN BEING, or of the letter T

Domains and idealized cognitive models

• The frame/domain of a word may represent an idealized version of the world that does not include all possible real-world situations (e.g. BACHELOR)

• Encyclopedic knowledge is used to properly understand a concept, and this knowledge is all interconnected in our minds

Mental spaces

• The notion of mental space replaces the notion of possible worlds.

• A mental space is a cognitive structure that can represent beliefs and hypothetical situations

• Base space is usually present reality• Space builders are linguistic expressions that build

links between base space and other mental spaces

Mental spaces

• Mental spaces include roles and values– A role is a linguistics description describing a category

– A value is an individual that can be described by that category

• Roles and values can have counterparts across different mental spaces

• A blended space is a special mental space that combines two input spaces