Embed Size (px)
DESCRIPTION
From usage clusters to concepts : How COMPLETION IS UP in Mandarin. Wei- lun Lu 呂維倫 Masaryk University, Czech Republic. Metaphor in language. Metaphor as ubiquitous figure of lg reflecting modes of thought I n what specific ways does language reflect thought?. M etaphor and polysemy. - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
Citation preview
1
From usage clusters to concepts:How COMPLETION IS UP in Mandarin
Wei-lun Lu 呂維倫Masaryk University, Czech Republic
Metaphor in language
• Metaphor as ubiquitous figure of lg reflecting modes of thought
• In what specific ways does language reflect thought?
Metaphor and polysemy
• Metaphor as a source for polysemy (Sweetser 1990)
• Up:– The price went up.– MORE IS UP (QUANTITY)– Enjoy the ups and downs of life.– GOOD IS UP (QUALITY)
COMPLETION IS UP• Argued to account for ‘completive’ for up
(Hampe 2000; Kovecses 2001)
• This presenter is so boring that we wish he could just shut up now!
• Come on! Your time is up!
• +VERTICAL --C--I--U---> COMPLETION(SPACE) (TIME)
4
The experiential basis of CIU
• CONTAINER and vertical elevation (Tyler and Evans 2003:139ff)
• Association of the upper limit and the completion of activity
• Empirically tested (for validity and universality)?
Shang in Mandarin• Shang denoting +VERTICAL
• ta fei-shang tiankong ‘he fly-SHANG sky’(Vertical sense)
• ta guan-shang men ‘he close-SHANG door • ta guan men ‘he close door
(Highlighting end of closing process)
Research questions
• Given its similarity with up, what drives the sem extension of shang ‘completive’ from the physical meaning?
• What can a corpus-based analysis of polysemy tell us about COMPLETION IS UP?
9
Analytical framework• Principled Polysemy (Evans 2004)
• Methodological rigor in:– Sense description– Construction of semantic network
• Criterion for sense description:– Grammatical Criterion (structure)– Concept Elaboration Criterion (collocation)
10
Data
• Academia Sinica Balanced Corpus of Modern Chinese
• Manual examination of 200+ tokens
Results
• ‘Completive’: [V] – [shang] – [N] only
• Derivation of ‘completive’ in [V] – [shang] – [N]
• Imagistic structure of relevant senses in network (SOURCE-PATH-GOAL)
‘Completive’
• V of contact or connection (e.g. guan ‘close,’ he ‘bring together,’ peng ‘touch,’ zhuang ‘bump,’ lian ‘link,’ jie ‘connect,’ etc.)
‘Attached’
• V of applying substance (e.g. pen ‘spray,’ shua ‘brush,’ tu ‘spread,’ sa ‘scatter,’ hua ‘draw,’ xie ‘write,’ etc.)
• N in the co-text prompting SURFACE, on which the substance is applied
13
14
‘Vertically attained’
• V of vertical elevation, usu. involving effort (e.g. deng ‘mount,’ pa ‘climb,’ tiao/yue ‘jump,’ etc.)
• N involving SURFACE, on top of which the moving figure can rest
Results
• ‘Completive’: [V] – [shang] – [N] only
• Derivation of ‘completive’ in [V] – [shang] – [N]
• Imagistic structure of the relevant senses in the sem network (S-P-G)
Image-schema (‘vertically attained’)
• S-P-G: PATH and GOAL highlighted• Conceptual contents elaborated:
– VERTICAL ELEVATION (by V)– SURFACE (by N)
Image-schema (‘attached’)
• S-P-G: GOAL highlighted• Only SURFACE elaborated (by N)• VER not present
Image-schema (‘completive’)
• S-P-G: GOAL highlighted (contact)• SURFACE much less obvious
19
Path of semantic extension
• Derivation of ‘completive’: Gradual attenuation of conceptual content
• Specific to [V] – [shang] – [N]
‘Vertically attained’
‘Attached’
‘Completive’Reduction of VERTICALITY
Reduction of SURFACE
Making sense of shang ‘completive’
• Construction-specific
• Prototypical gestalt prompted by shang:– VERTICAL ELEVATION– REST ON A SURFACE
• Result of gradual reduction of the various facets of the conceptual scene prompted by cx
COMPLETION IS UP• At work on lexical meaning in a
construction-specific way
• Conceptually complex – VERTICALITY– SURFACE
• A result of semantic attenuation (Langacker 1999)
Implications
• Promise of construction grammar in the investigation of CM
• Corpus evidence (usage-clusters) as an empirical alternative approach to CM
• Different take from a pure conceptualist/experientialist explanation
23
Future research
• The derivation of English up ‘completive’?
• COMPLETION IS UP in English?
• COMPLETION IS UP as a universal CM?
24
Acknowledgements
• Arie Verhagen, I-wen Su, MA students in CL class
• “Employment of Best Young Scientists for International Cooperation Empowerment” (CZ.1.07/2.3.00/30.0037) co-financed from European Social Fund and the state budget of the Czech Republic
