A contrastive perspective on figurative language
A contrastive perspective on figurative language
Contributor(s): Paulina Biały (Editor), Marcin Kuczok (Editor), Marcin Zabawa (Editor)
Subject(s): Language and Literature Studies, Theoretical Linguistics
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Śląskiego
Summary/Abstract: In recent decades, linguistics has witnessed a rising interest in figurative language. The inspiration for this kind of research may be connected to the rise and development of cognitive semantics, which has made metaphor one of its key notions. George Lakoff and Mark Johnson, in their seminal work titled Metaphors We Live By (1980, modified and republished in 2003), denied the conviction that figurative speech is an aberration or anomaly that speakers use only in a limited number of special contexts. Lakoff and Johnson postulated that metaphor, together with metonymy, are actually pervasive ways of thinking and common cognitive tools that motivate a remarkable amount of our language (2003/1980: 3). Their findings have been developed by numerous authors, who have contributed to the Conceptual Metaphor Theory with both empirical research into various languages, as well as elaborations on the theoretical issues.1 Furthermore, it has been observed that metaphors and metonymies may vary among languages: the ways speakers use non-literal language is not universal, but to a large extent it depends on the culture, including the background of the speaker, or the specific context of language use (Kövecses 2005: 292–294). The aim of this volume is to present various examples of research into figurative language from the cross-linguistic perspective. However, first, we want to focus on the notion of figurative language as such, and notice how its understanding in linguistics has changed over the past decades. Next, we will focus on the cross-linguistic research into figurative language in contemporary linguistics. Finally, the topics undertaken in the subsequent chapters of this volume will be shortly presented and discussed. (fragment of introduction)
Series: Językoznawstwo
- E-ISBN-13: 978-83-226-3589-6
- Print-ISBN-13: 978-83-226-3588-9
- Page Count: 178
- Publication Year: 2019
- Language: English
List of contributors
List of contributors
(List of contributors)
- Author(s):Not Specified Author
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Language and Literature Studies
- Page Range:173-174
- No. of Pages:2
Conceptual metaphor as a mechanism behind figurative sense extensions of the spatial preposition at and its Polish equivalents
Conceptual metaphor as a mechanism behind figurative sense extensions of the spatial preposition at and its Polish equivalents
(Conceptual metaphor as a mechanism behind figurative sense extensions of the spatial preposition at and its Polish equivalents)
- Author(s):Maria Brenda
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Language and Literature Studies, Theoretical Linguistics
- Page Range:23-39
- No. of Pages:17
- Keywords:cognitive semantics; spatial prepositions;conceptual metaphor;
- Summary/Abstract:The recent cognitive research into spatial prepositions have shed light on the rich semantic structures spatial prepositions usually encode. Prepositional semantics is typically conceived of as a conceptual category with a prototype at the center and extended senses at various distances away from it. The extended senses may encode spatial scenes other than the one encoded by the prototype, or they may be metaphorical in nature. In fact, it is not an exaggeration to say that most, if not all, spatial prepositions have metaphorical meaning components in their semantic networks. The proposed study investigates the figurative senses of the spatial preposition at encoding the concept of coincidence. It aims to demonstrate that the cognitive mechanisms of conceptual metaphor account for its figurative sense extensions. The question of Polish equivalence is also taken into consideration. The senses of the Polish spatial prepositions w, na, przy, and o are discussed to determine to what extent they are motivated by the same metaphorical processes.
- Price: 4.50 €
Shared schemas for English and Polish prepositions. The case of for and its Polish equivalents
Shared schemas for English and Polish prepositions. The case of for and its Polish equivalents
(Shared schemas for English and Polish prepositions. The case of for and its Polish equivalents)
- Author(s):Katarzyna Rudkiewicz
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Theoretical Linguistics
- Page Range:41-56
- No. of Pages:16
- Keywords:trajecto; landmark; path schema; conceptualization; metaphorical extension
- Summary/Abstract:Equipping a linguist with effective analytical tools for contrastive analyses, cognitive methodologies provide access to subtle details of schematic representations in the languages compared, facilitating a deeper insight into the structures of languages at the conceptualization level. This paper presents a cognitive perspective on the contrastive analysis, conducted in the vein of Langacker’s Cognitive Grammar as well as Lakoff and Johnson’s Conceptual Metaphor Theory, and what follows, its contribution to a more multifaceted description of the English preposition for and some of its Polish equivalents. The cognitive analysis allows for identifying the path schema and its distinct elements as the most abstract schema that structures the semantic content of for and, being the tertium comparationis, sanctions the choice of its specific Polish equivalents.
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Gender peculiarities rendered in standard and slang terms
Gender peculiarities rendered in standard and slang terms
(Gender peculiarities rendered in standard and slang terms)
- Author(s):Katharine Bondarenko
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Theoretical Linguistics
- Page Range:58-68
- No. of Pages:12
- Keywords:nonstandard; slang; semantic field; gender;contrastive analysis;
- Summary/Abstract:The research aims to compare Ukrainian and English standard and nonstandard markers of gender. Contrastive analysis into standard and nonstandard forms provides information about lexicon development trends. The contrastive study of the two languages can provide arguments for the universal nature of the studied issues. The adopted methods are based in classical field theory. The fields were compiled by standard and nonstandard gender labeled lexemes. The objectives are to reveal reality fragments related to political correctness (PC) problems; to hand-pick lexical units reflecting reality fragments revealed (501 Ukrainian and 594 English lexemes); to single out lexical semantic fields; and to compare quantitative features of the fields. The lexical semantic microfields identified include: male/female nominations: age characteristics, male/female nominations: height, weight characteristics, and male/female nominations: physical (un)attractiveness. This result may be explained by the social-psychological status of substandard as part of the “humor culture” that concentrates primarily on divergences. What is crucial are properties that provide successful survival and reproduction. Gender identity is viewed as a kind of “anomaly,” with female nominations predominating in the analyzed semantic fields. An analysis of nonstandard language (slang) shows that, in the case of women, the most important properties are those that provide for successful reproduction of human race. Intellectual properties or social status are mostly neglected or even undesirable. The PC problem correlates with human psychology irrespective of the society analyzed. Language reflects primeval reproduction intentions. Thus, politically incorrect lexemes that contain semes denoting physiological deficiencies will persist. Prescriptions may cause usage narrowing (in official style, media) but will not affect real life lexicon.
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Conceptual prominence and anaphora in English and French referential metonymy
Conceptual prominence and anaphora in English and French referential metonymy
(Conceptual prominence and anaphora in English and French referential metonymy)
- Author(s):Issa Kanté
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Theoretical Linguistics
- Page Range:71-88
- No. of Pages:18
- Keywords:metonymy; anaphoric reference; cognition-utterance (CU) verbs; backgrounding; foregrounding
- Summary/Abstract:This analysis examines the issues of anaphoric reference and conceptual prominence in work for author metonymy in English and French academic discourse. It argues that contrary to the apparent violation of the Domain Availability Principle, the matrix domain of this mapping is ultimately available for anaphoric reference through a syntagmatic and/or paradigmatic construal. The study also indicates that although the target meaning is not conceptually prominent in the construction, it does involve other significant pragmatic features, such as the speaker’s rhetorical intentions and the foregrounding of the source in order to defocus the target. Finally, it is argued that common cross-linguistic and language-specific strategies are employed to background the actual agent of the verb. From this perspective, in addition to metonymy, other constructions, that is, impersonal-passive and sentential relative, are frequently used by academic researchers to background authorial presence.
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Beyond the literal and the figurative: Translation of metaphors in surrealist poetry and postmodern fiction
Beyond the literal and the figurative: Translation of metaphors in surrealist poetry and postmodern fiction
(Beyond the literal and the figurative: Translation of metaphors in surrealist poetry and postmodern fiction)
- Author(s):Łukasz Barciński
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Theoretical Linguistics
- Page Range:89-100
- No. of Pages:12
- Keywords:metaphor; literary translation; conceptual blending;literalism;
- Summary/Abstract:The study analyzes the concept of metaphor as applied for the purpose of translation analysis of literary works. The discussion will cover a wide range of approaches to metaphor (Ricoeur, Lakoff and Johnson, Derrida). Then, the study will utilize the cognitive approach to metaphor and the concept of conceptual blending, inspired by the research on cognitive poetics by Peter Stockwell. The article also deals with poststructuralist approaches to meaning and interpretation by applying Jacques Derrida’s term undecidables. Finally, the theoretical introduction will present contemporary advancements within Translation Studies related to the focus on literality: Philip Lewis’s abusive fidelity, Douglas Robinson’s neoliteralism, Antoine Berman’s negative analytic, and Lawrence Venuti’s foreignization. Next, the study offers a translation analysis of English surrealist poetry (David Gascoyne) and American postmodern fiction (Thomas Pynchon) in Polish translation, with special emphasis on the literal/figurative distinction and the possibility of transcending this duality.
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A metaphostructional analysis of sports terms in the context of business
A metaphostructional analysis of sports terms in the context of business
(A metaphostructional analysis of sports terms in the context of business)
- Author(s):Jarosław Wiliński
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Theoretical Linguistics
- Page Range:101-121
- No. of Pages:21
- Summary/Abstract:In this paper, a quantitative corpus-based analysis of sports terms is conducted. The aim of this analysis is to uncover subtle distributional differences between sports terms occurring in the context of business: in other words, to determine which source domain lexemes derived from sports terminology are strongly attracted to or repelled by the target domain of business. To this end, the corpus-based method, referred to as metaphostructional analysis, is applied and the data are extracted from the magazine section of the Corpus of Contemporary American English. The findings of the analysis show that there are indeed sports terms that are significantly attracted to or repelled by the target domain of business, and that these instantiate various metaphorical correspondences.
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Figurative meanings on the lexical levels of phonic and signed languages: A (nearly) perfect fit
Figurative meanings on the lexical levels of phonic and signed languages: A (nearly) perfect fit
(Figurative meanings on the lexical levels of phonic and signed languages: A (nearly) perfect fit)
- Author(s):Krzysztof Kosecki
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Theoretical Linguistics
- Page Range:125-143
- No. of Pages:19
- Keywords:articulation; metaphor; metaphtonymy; metonymy; sign; signed languages; source domain;vehicle;
- Summary/Abstract:The paper assumes the cognitive linguistic perspective and illustrates patterns of similarity in the expression of figurative meanings on the lexical levels of phonic and signed languages. Major types of metaphors, metonymies, and some forms of metaphor-metonymy interaction are present in both these systems of communication. While in phonic languages the source domains of metaphors and the vehicles of metonymies usually operate on the level of words or expressions, their signed counterparts can be traced only to selected articulation parameters of individual signs. In spite of this fundamental structural difference, figurative meanings in the languages of the deaf are as pervasive as in phonic communication.
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On dogs, cows, and donkeys: The use of animal metaphors in linguistic insults
On dogs, cows, and donkeys: The use of animal metaphors in linguistic insults
(On dogs, cows, and donkeys: The use of animal metaphors in linguistic insults)
- Author(s):Łukasz Matusz
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Theoretical Linguistics
- Page Range:145-160
- No. of Pages:16
- Keywords:metaphor; zoosemy; insults;verbal aggression;
- Summary/Abstract:The article provides a brief contrastive look at animal metaphors (zoosemes) and their application in the language practice of insulting. Animal metaphors constitute a significant theme used in verbal aggression. Also, certain animal categories, such as dog, pig, donkey, and cow, appear to be more universal vectors of dysphemistic qualities than others. Animal metaphors in English reveal strong dysphemistic tendencies, as indicated by a high ratio of dysphemistic zoosemes to animal metaphors in general. Therefore, further research into animal metaphors, alongside investigations concerning verbal aggression, appears to be worthwhile and informative.
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Impoliteness in Polish and English computer-mediated communication
Impoliteness in Polish and English computer-mediated communication
(Impoliteness in Polish and English computer-mediated communication)
- Author(s):Monika Zięba-Plebankiewicz
- Language:English
- Subject(s):Theoretical Linguistics
- Page Range:161-171
- No. of Pages:11
- Keywords:impoliteness; CMC; strategy; positive face;negative face;
- Summary/Abstract:The paper focuses on the issue of impoliteness in computer-mediated communication (CMC). The specific features of CMC that differentiate it from face-to-face communication are believed to promote crude expression of opinions, especially in anonymous discussion boards, regardless of the linguistic background of their users. The theory of impoliteness is presented to provide a theoretical background for the research into the language of discussion boards. The research aims at discovering the impoliteness strategies that are employed by Polish and English users and the frequency with which the identified strategies occur in the selected discourse.
- Price: 4.50 €
