cognitive-semantics

CognitiveSemanticsThestudyofsemanticswithintheframeworkofcognitivelinguisticsOutlineofourpresentation•4.1cognitivelinguisticsasanapproach•4.2characteristicsofcognitivelinguistics•4.3prototypetheory4.3.1characteristicsofprototypicality4.3.2casestudyofprototype:fruit4.1cognitivelinguisticsasanapproachWhatiscognitivelinguistics?Whatarethemainviewsofcognitivelinguistics？Whatarethedifferencesbetweenotherapproaches？Cognitivelinguisticsisanapproachtotheanalysisofnaturallanguagethatfocusesonlanguageasaninstrumentfororganizing,processingandconveyinginformation.(Geeraerts,1997)Thecognitiveperspectivealsoholdsthatlanguageispartofacognitivesystemwhichcomprisesperception,emotions,categorization,abstractionprocesses,andreasoning.Allthesecognitiveabilitiesinteractwithlanguageandareinfluencedbylanguage.Cognitivelinguisticsisnotasingletheoryoflanguage,butratheraclusterofbroadlycompatibleapproaches.themainviewsofcognitivelinguistics•experientialview（经验观）•prominenceview（凸显观）•attentionalview（注意观）Experientialviewthinksthatpeople’sdescriptionofthingsisnotjustlimitedtobeingobjectivelydescribed,buttendstoprovidearichandfairlynaturaldescriptionofthemeaningsbasedonpeople’sexperience.carNotonlystatethatacarhasabox-likeshape,thatithaswheels,doors,andwindowsalsomentionthatacariscomfortableandfast,thatitoffersmobility,independenceandperhapssocialstatussomepeoplemayconnectthenotionofcarwiththeirfirstloveaffair,orwithinjuryiftheywereonceinvolvedinanaccident.Byaddingtheseattributes,peopleincludeassociationsandimpressionswhicharepartoftheirexperience.Whilethelasttwoitems(‘firstloveaffair’,‘injury’)pointtoaverypersonal,subjectiveexperience,attributeslike‘comfort’,‘speed’,‘mobility’and‘independence’seemtobepartofourcommunalexperienceofcars.Dadexploded.Inordertogetafullgraspofthisutteranceandthenotionofangerexpressed,wewillcallupourknowledgeofactualexplosionsofgasstoves,fireworksandevenbombs.Thismeansthatwewillmakeuseofourexperienceoftheconcreteworldaroundus.Theselectionandarrangementoftheinformationisdeterminedbythedifferentdegreesofprominencecarriedbytheelementsinvolvedinasituation.Abuscrashedintoatree.Atreewashitbyabus.Thereasonisthatthemovingbusisthemostinterestingandprominentaspectofthewholesituation,andthereforewetendtobeginthesentencewiththenounphrasethebus.Attentionalviewisbasedontheassumptionthatwhatweactuallyexpressreflectswhichpartsofaneventattractourattention.Abuscrashedintoatree.Howthebusstartedtoswerve,howitskiddedacrosstheroadandrumbledontotheverge.Althoughallthishappenedbeforethebushitthetree,itisnotmentionedbecauseourattentionisfocusedonthecrucialpointwherethepathofthecarended.OtherapproachestolanguagePhilology(传统语文学）HistoricalcomparativelinguisticsStructurallinguisticsTransformationalgenerativelinguisticsFunctionallinguisticsStructurallinguisticsisanapproachtolanguageviewingitasastaticorclosedsystemofinterconnectedunits.takethelinguisticsymbolsasitsframeofreferenceemphasizethedescriptionandanalysisoftheinternalstructureofalanguageneglectthemeaningoftheword,thinkingthemeaningofawordexistsinastateofcontrastwithothersignsthatiseithersyntagmaticorparadigmatic,orintermsofstimulusandresponsetoexplainthemeaning.Cognitivelinguisticstakestherealhumanbeingasitsframeofreferenceemphasizestheanalysisoftheconceptualandexperientialbasisoflinguisticcategories(languageisasystemofcategories)takesmeaningasitsresearchfocus,thinkingthemeaningofawordisnottheresultofthestimulus,butoriginatesfrompeople’sactualexperience,categorizationandconceptionsystem.Transformationalgenerativelinguisticstriestoexplainthementalphenomenonthatpeopleusethefinitewordstogenerateinfiniteacceptablesentences.takestheidealhumanbeingasitsframeofreference.bothagreethattherecanbenoknowledgewithouttheexistenceofmentalrepresentation,butTGlinguisticsanalyzeslanguageonlyintheframeworkofhumanmind;whereas,cognitivelinguisticsanalyzeslanguageinamorecomprehensivewaythroughaspectsofpsychology,physiology,society,culture,communicationandsoon.Inthegenerativemodel,thestructureoflinguisticexpressionisdeemedtobedeterminedbyaformalrulesystemthatislargelyindependentofmeaning.Congnivistsarguethatlinguisticstructureisadirectreflexofcognitioninthesensethataparticularlinguisticstructureisassociatedwithaparticularwayofconceptualizingagivensituation.Essentially,thetwoapproachesdifferintheepistemologicalroleofnaturallanguage.TGlinguisticsregardslanguageasreflexofmentalconstruction;whereas,cognitivelinguisticstakesitasreflexofthewholecognitivesystem.Arangeoffunctionally-basedapproachestothescientificstudyoflanguagehavebeentermedfunctional.Halliday'sSystemicfunctionalgrammarEmphasizethepracticaluses,communicativefunction,andthesocialcontextoflanguage.threemeta-functions(theideational,theinterpersonalandthetextual)toanalyzelanguageinthetextuallevelintermsoffunction.Cognitivelinguisticsholdsthesameideathatlanguageisinfluencedbymanyfactorssuchasenvironment,organisms,society,culture,historyandsoon.Cognitivelinguisticsandfunctionallinguistics(withitsemphasisondiscours