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Counting And Measuring: A Theoretical And Crosslinguistic Account, Susan Rothstein Dec 2016

Counting And Measuring: A Theoretical And Crosslinguistic Account, Susan Rothstein

Baltic International Yearbook of Cognition, Logic and Communication

In this paper, I show that expressions like two glasses of wine are ambiguous between counting and measuring interpretations, and that each interpretation is associated with a different semantic representation. In each interpretation, glasses has a different function. In the counting interpretation, glasses is a relational noun, while in the measure interpretation, glasses is a measure head analogous to litre. This difference leads to a number of grammatical contrasts which can be explained by differences in the grammatical structure. I discuss whether these differences are only semantic or also expressed in the syntactic representation. The assumption that syntax directly reflects …


The Semantics Of Motion Verbs In Russian, Maria Gepner Dec 2016

The Semantics Of Motion Verbs In Russian, Maria Gepner

Baltic International Yearbook of Cognition, Logic and Communication

Within the group of imperfective motion verbs in Russian there exists a further subdivision into determinate and indeterminate verbs. Traditionally the distinction is said to lie in the direction of motion the verbs encode: motion in one direction or in different directions. In this paper I am going to argue that this distinction is not enough. I will claim that determinate verbs encode singular eventualities and indeterminate verbs are pluractional. Thus in the normal case, imperfective verbs are plural predicates which include singular and plural events in their denotations, in the case of motion verbs, imperfective denotations are subdivided into …


On The Polysemy Of The Lithuanian Už. A Cognitive Perspective, Inesa Šeškauskienė, Eglė Žilinskaitė-Šinkūnienė Dec 2015

On The Polysemy Of The Lithuanian Už. A Cognitive Perspective, Inesa Šeškauskienė, Eglė Žilinskaitė-Šinkūnienė

Baltic International Yearbook of Cognition, Logic and Communication

Adhering to the principle of motivated polysemy, this paper sets out to demonstrate how the principle works in interpreting numerous senses of the Lithuanian preposition ‘behind, beyond’. The present investigation relies on the cognitive linguistic framework employed, first of all, by Lakoff (1987), Langacker (1987), Talmy (2000), Tyler and Evans (2003), and Tyler (2012), who mainly worked on English, and such linguists as Tabakowska (2003, 2010) and Shakhova and Tyler (2010), who attempted to investigate inflecting languages, such as Polish and Russian. Based on such semantic principles as types of Figure and Ground, their relationship (geometric, functional, etc.), …


Editors’ Introduction, Michael Glanzberg, Jurģis Šķilters Dec 2015

Editors’ Introduction, Michael Glanzberg, Jurģis Šķilters

Baltic International Yearbook of Cognition, Logic and Communication

Spatial cognition can be considered as a set of foundational and central cognitive abilities that enable a variety of conceptual processes, both non-verbal and verbal. Further, according to recent research, spatial thinking seems to be critical in the development of abstract knowledge and in the processes of abstraction. Although there is a consensus regarding the role and impact of spatial cognition, there are a number of different, divergent, and sometimes even discrepant theoretical and methodological perspectives in the study of spatial cognition.


Metaphor And Lexical Semantics, Michael Glanzberg Jan 2007

Metaphor And Lexical Semantics, Michael Glanzberg

Baltic International Yearbook of Cognition, Logic and Communication

ABSTRACT: This paper shows that several sorts of expressions cannot be interpreted metaphorically, including determiners, tenses, etc. Generally, functional categories cannot be interpreted metaphorically, while lexical categories can. This reveals a semantic property of functional categories, and it shows that metaphor can be used as a probe for investigating them. It also reveals an important linguistic constraint on metaphor. The paper argues this constraint applies to the interface between the cognitive systems for language and metaphor. However, the constraint does not completely prevent structural elements of language from being available to the metaphor system. The paper shows that linguistic structure …


Metaphorical Meanings. Do You See What I Mean?, Marga Reimer Jan 2007

Metaphorical Meanings. Do You See What I Mean?, Marga Reimer

Baltic International Yearbook of Cognition, Logic and Communication

My intention in this paper is to propose a conception of metaphorical meaning on which the meaning of a metaphor includes propositional as well as non-propositional features. I will make two general claims on behalf of the proposed account: first, it is intuitive; second, it is of theoretical value. In claiming that the proposed account is of theoretical value, I mean only that its adoption leads to an increased understanding of the nature of metaphor: of metaphorical thought and ofmetaphorical communication in particular.


A Frame-Based Analysis Of Synaesthetic Metaphors, Wiebke Petersen, Jens Fleischhauer, Hakan Beseoglu, Peter Bücker Jan 2007

A Frame-Based Analysis Of Synaesthetic Metaphors, Wiebke Petersen, Jens Fleischhauer, Hakan Beseoglu, Peter Bücker

Baltic International Yearbook of Cognition, Logic and Communication

The aim of this paper is to use a frame-based account to explain some empirical findings regarding the accessibility of synaesthetic metaphors. Therefore, some results of empirical studies will be discussed with regard to the question of how much it matters whether the concept of the source domain in a synaesthetic metaphor is a scalar or a quality concept. Furthermore, typed frames are introduced, and it is explained how the notion of a minimal upper attribute can be used in the analysis of adjective-noun compounds. Finally, frames are used to analyze synaesthetic metaphors; it turns out that they offer an …


Metaphorical Singular Reference. The Role Of Enriched Composition In Reference Resolution, Anne Bezuidenhout Jan 2007

Metaphorical Singular Reference. The Role Of Enriched Composition In Reference Resolution, Anne Bezuidenhout

Baltic International Yearbook of Cognition, Logic and Communication

It is widely accepted that, in the course of interpreting a metaphorical utterance, both literal and metaphorical interpretations of the utterance are available to the interpreter, although there may be disagreement about the order in which these interpretations are accessed. I call this the dual availability assumption. I argue that it does not apply in cases of metaphorical singular reference. These are cases in which proper names, complex demonstratives or definite descriptions are used metaphorically; e.g., ‘That festering sore must go’, referring to a derelict house. We are forced to give up dual availability in these cases because a process …


Metaphor And The 'Emergent Property' Problem: A Relevance-Theoretic Approach, Deirdre Wilson, Robyn Carston Jan 2007

Metaphor And The 'Emergent Property' Problem: A Relevance-Theoretic Approach, Deirdre Wilson, Robyn Carston

Baltic International Yearbook of Cognition, Logic and Communication

The interpretation of metaphorical utterances often results in the attribution of emergent properties; these are properties which are neither standardly associated with the individual constituents of the utterance in isolation nor derivable by standard rules of semantic composition. For example, an utterance of ‘Robert is a bulldozer’ may be understood as attributing to Robert such properties as single-mindedness, insistence on having things done in his way, and insensitivity to the opinions/feelings of others, although none of these is included in the encyclopaedic information associated with bulldozers (earth-clearing machines). An adequate pragmatic account of metaphor interpretation must provide an explanation of …


Metaphor And Metalanguage, Michiel Leezenberg Jan 2007

Metaphor And Metalanguage, Michiel Leezenberg

Baltic International Yearbook of Cognition, Logic and Communication

This paper consists of two sections: first, I return to the question of precisely which contextual factors are at work in metaphorical interpretation, and of the relation between asserted, presupposed and implied information; the upshot of this will be a renewed emphasis on metaphor as a discourse phenomenon. Second, I sketch a preliminary argument as to what a social practice account of metaphor might look like. Recent explorations of the contextual factors involved in the interpretation ofmetaphor make crucial use of David Kaplan’s Logic of Demonstratives, with its sophisticated treatment of context-dependence, and of the work on assertion developed by …


Illness As Metaphor? The Role Of Linguistic Categories In The History Of Medicine , Ulrike Kistner Jan 1998

Illness As Metaphor? The Role Of Linguistic Categories In The History Of Medicine , Ulrike Kistner

Studies in 20th & 21st Century Literature

Susan Soniag's studies on "Illness and Metaphor" raise a host of questions, based on the twin suppositions running through her project: the ubiquity and pervasiveness of metaphoric constructions of illness on the one hand, and the vision of a liberation from metaphors of illness on the other hand. This paper sets itself the task to explain and resolve this paradox. To this end, concepts of metaphor have to be linguistically defined and differentiated, both structurally and within an archaeology of (medical) knowledge; for it is only on the basis of such a differentiation that we can show how metaphorical language …


Paul Celan's Linguistic Mysticism, Shira Wolosky Jan 1986

Paul Celan's Linguistic Mysticism, Shira Wolosky

Studies in 20th & 21st Century Literature

Paul Celan's works often seem to grant to language an autonomy that isolates poetic from extra-poetic concerns, including religious ones. The status of language in Celan, however, should be assessed in the context of its status within Judaic mysticism. While the importance of mysticism for Celan has been recognized, the degree to which Judaic mysticism differs from other mystical traditions has been less so. This is especially true with regard to the place given to language in the Kabbalah, and the structures and assumptions that its conception of language implies. Of importance to Celan, for example, is the Kabbalistic notion …


The Nature Of Meaning Of Stories In Conversation, Livia Polanyi Sep 1981

The Nature Of Meaning Of Stories In Conversation, Livia Polanyi

Studies in 20th & 21st Century Literature

Although everyday stories told in the course of ongoing conversations are as open to multiple readings as many literary texts, the participants in the conversational storytelling situation must assign a meaning to a given telling of a story in order to facilitate the absorption of the story into the state of general talk which normally obtains. In the present paper, work done by the American linguistic school of narrative analysis (as begun by Labov and Waletzky and further developed by the author of this paper) is brought together with insights into conversational storytelling from ethno-methodological conversation analysts (Sacks, Jefferson, etc.) …