The cognitive basis of language Elements and combinatorics
The cognitive basis of language Elements and combinatorics Metaphoricity, metonymy Symbolicity (relation of convention) Indexicality (relation of necessity) Iconicity (relation of resemblance) English 306 A; Harris
Elements + combinatorics At every level • Sounds combine into syllables and morphemes • Morphemes combine into words • Words combine into phrases and sentences • Sentences combine into turns or paragraphs • Turns combine into conversations • Paragraphs combine into texts English 306 A; Harris
Meaning Signs Signifier/signified pairs Index signified association-by-necessity Icon resemblance “cow” signifier Symbol association-by-convention English 306 A; Harris
Types of signs Index A sign defined by relationship of necessity (especially cause and effect). Prototypically, think fever. Iconic A sign defined by relationship of resemblance. Prototypically, think picture. Symbolic A sign defined by relationship of arbitrariness, convention, and learning. Prototypically, think word. English 306 A; Harris
Dimensions of signs Indexicality A semiotic tendency defined by relationship of necessity (esp. cause and effect). Iconicity A semiotic tendency defined by relationship of resemblance. Symbolicity A semiotic tendency defined by relationship of arbitrariness, convention, and learning. English 306 A; Harris
Bow-wow-pooh-yo-he-hohmmmmm theories Index-to-icon-to-symbol migration theories Pooh-pooh, Yo-he-ho Index-to-icon-to-symbol Bow-wow Index-to-icon-to-symbol Hmmmmm Index+icon-to-symbol English 306 A; Harris
Metaphor and metonymy Indirect representation Something (called the vehicle) carries the primary signification for something else (tenor) that ordinarily holds that signification. Metaphor is iconic The vehicle/tenor relationship is an asserted resemblance: the tenor is said to be like the vehicle in some way. Metonymy is indexical The vehicle/tenor relationship is (not exactly necessary but) drawn from the same habitat: the tenor is related to the vehicle in some way. English 306 A; Harris
Metonymy, metaphor to go tyson to go ballistic E V TI E S E E V TI A T N A R A P M CO R P RE English 306 A; Harris
Metonymy— The principle of set membership One element of a set or a relationship (the vehicle) singled out to represent other element(s) (the tenor) • • • Hollywood loves westerns. Toronto collapses! Calgary wins in OT! All hands on deck. Thirty head of cattle. English 306 A; Harris
Metaphor— The principle of comparison One element (the vehicle) represents another element (the tenor), to which it is unrelated. • • • My love is red, red rose. Homer is a pig. Toronto is toast. The table leg is broken. The orthopedic wing is closed. Fire kills thousands every year. (Personification) English 306 A; Harris
English 306 A; Harris
“Pussy” English 306 A; Harris
“Pussy” English 306 A; Harris
“Pussy” English 306 A; Harris
“Pussy” English 306 A; Harris
“Pussy” Metaphor • Tenor = vagina • Vehicle = cat • Attributes • Warm • Furry • English 306 A; Harris
! “Pussy!” Stage 1 Metonymy (synecdoche) • Tenor = woman • Vehicle = pussy-as-vagina The ultimate devaluing of a (category of a) person: to a small anatomical component. English 306 A; Harris
“Pussy!” Stage 2 Metaphor • Tenor = the insult target • Vehicle = woman (not vagina) • Attributes = • Weak • Soft • Quitter • Means ‘Opposite of a man’, but in a wholly evaluative way. English 306 A; Harris
“Pussy” Metaphor Metonymy Metaphor Indexicality, Iconicity • a relatively mundane example of ordinary language • not a fancy literary or rhetorical device • these processes, and figuration generally, are pervasive English 306 A; Harris
We now return you to regular programming F English 306 A; Harris
Metonymy, metaphor to go tyson to go ballistic Representation Comparison The picture is metaphoric; the expression isn’t n o i at s s A i c o l i m y t i ar Si English 306 A; Harris
Conceptual metaphors TIME IS MONEY spend a day, invest three months, bank your overtime, cost me a weekend, … ARGUMENT IS WAR he attacked my point, I defended it well, she shot me down, I blew her out of the water, … ANGER IS HEAT you make my blood boil, I was steamed, he has a fiery temper, she's a hothead, … English 306 A; Harris
Conceptual Metonymy PRODUCER FOR PRODUCT I only read Dr. Seuss, she wore Calvin Klein last night, the Wolf Blass has too much tannin, … CONTAINER FOR CONTAINED that’s a tasty dish, the needle was the death of her, he drank the whole bottle, … PERSON FOR INSTRUMENT I’m parked out back, she’s the lead guitar, he’s the drill press, … PLACE FOR PEOPLE BC voted conservative, Alberta likes cowboy movies, Thunder Bay is surprisingly liberal, … PLACE FOR INSTITUTION Ottawa raised our taxes again, Queen’s Park changed the speed limits, … English 306 A; Harris
Indexicality is metonymic Defined by association (rather than similarity; often on necessity) There must be a certain physical, temporal, or metaphorical relation between referential objects for the words/expressions to function English 306 A; Harris
Indexicality Egocentricity Speaker-oriented • Deixis (pointing words) Anthropocentrism Human-oriented • Inherent orientation (human -body orientation projected to objects) English 306 A; Harris
Indexicality Deictics Gk. deiktos ≈ “to show” • Pointing words Langauge which works by ‘gesturing outward’ from speaker (the ego), to other objects English 306 A; Harris
Indexical orientation — Deictic centre Lexical egocentricity Pronouns • EGO = 1 st person (I, me, …) • EGO+others = 1 st person plural (we, us, …) • Hearer-of-EGO = 2 nd person (you, your, …) • Hearer-of-EGO+others = 2 nd person plural (you, your, …) • Not-EGO-and-not-hearer-of-EGO = 3 rd person (he, she, it, …) • Not-EGO-and-not-hearer-of. EGO+others = 3 rd person plural (they, them, …) English 306 A; Harris
Indexical orientation — Deictic centre Lexical egocentricity Proximals • Speaking location • Where-EGO-is: here, near, … • Where-EGO-is-not: there, far, … • Speaking time • When-EGO-is: now, today, … • When-EGO-is-not: then, tomorrow, … • Relative location to speaker • Close-to-EGO: this, these, … • Not-close-to-EGO: that, those, . . English 306 A; Harris
Indexicality Anthropocentricity Gk. anthropos ≈ “man” (hu)man-centred Inherent orientation: human orientation projected onto artefacts and entities) • front, back • left, right • before, behind English 306 A; Harris
Deictic (egocentric) vs. Inherent (anthropocentric) Orientation e c o g e ic r t n - o p o r h t an tric n ce English 306 A; Harris
Metonymy in literature Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears. William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar I should have been a pair of ragged claws Scuttling across the floors of silent seas. T. S. Eliot, "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" English 306 A; Harris
Iconicity is metaphoric Defined by similarity (rather than association) Sequential order “Don’t drink and drive” Distance Immediacy of action Quantity Reduplication English 306 A; Harris
Iconicity Principle of sequential order Unless marked, the order of words mirrors the order of events. • He kicked sand in my face and I got mad. • I got mad and he kicked sand in my face. English 306 A; Harris
Iconicity Principle of distance Linguistic distance (proximity) tends to mirror conceptual distance. • She squeezed me. • She gave me a squeeze. • She gave a squeeze to me. English 306 A; Harris
Iconicity Principle of quantity Length of utterance correlates with (speaker’s perception of) quantity of concept. • Dinosaurs lived a l o o o n g time ago. • Dinosaurs lived a long, … time ago. • Lawyerese. • Political speeches. English 306 A; Harris
Iconicity — Principle of quantity Reduplication Japanese hito 'person' hitobito ’group of people' kami 'god' kamigami ’group of gods' Mandarin xiao 'small' xiao 'very small' gaoxing 'happy' gaogaoxing 'very happy' English 306 A; Harris
Iconicity — Principle of quantity Reduplication /ora¯/ = man / ora¯/ = all sorts of men /anak/ = child /anak/ = all sorts of children /ma¯a/ = mango / ma¯a / = all sorts of mangoes English 306 A; Harris
Iconicity — Principle of quantity Reduplication Download the= all. SIL / ora¯/ sorts of men to =see /anak/ = child. IPA fonts /anak/ all sorts of children these /ma¯a/ = mango / ma¯a / = all sorts of mangoes transcriptions in PPS files /ora¯/ = man English 306 A; Harris
Iconicity — Principle of quantity Conceptual Reduplication Trinidad and Tobago [j. Eswij] • emphatic confirmation, agreement; interjective intensifier • yes-we? • yes-whee? • yes-oui! English 306 A; Harris
Any questions? Elements and combinatorics Metaphoricity, metonymy Symbolicity (arbitrariness, convention, learning) Indexicality (relation of association) • Egocentricity (deixis) • Anthropocentricity (inherent orientation) Iconicity (relation of resemblance) • Sequential order • Distance • Quantity English 306 A; Harris
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