Grammar as Image 3301-JF277
The course is devoted to a discussion of selected aspects of the approach to linguistic meaning and grammar postulated within the theory of cognitive grammar. Specifically, it is aimed at a detailed presentation of the idea that all linguistic resources, including the grammatical ones, are fundamentally symbolic in nature and should be viewed primarily as tools for conveying meaning. In turn, grammatical phenomena should be viewed as largely motivated by semantic factors. The topics discussed during the course will include the following:
- the idea of meaning understood as conceptualization
- the idea of conceptualization as involving both the conceptual content and its construal
- dimensions of construal
- the count/mass distinction for nouns and the perfective/imperfective distinction for verbs as grammatical reflections of differences in construal
- the semantics of the present tense construction in English and its role in motivating the grammatical behavior of the construction in question
- the issue of virtuality in language and conceptualization
- the issue of subjectivity and subjectification
- the relevance of construal for the theory and practice of translation.
Course coordinators
Type of course
Bibliography
Evans, Vyvyan and Melanie Green. 2006. Cognitive linguistics. An introduction. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
Langacker, Ronald W. 1987. "Nouns and verbs". Language 63-1. 53 - 94.
Langacker, Ronald W. 1988a "An overview of cognitive grammar". In Rudzka-Ostyn, Brygida (ed.). Topics in cognitive linguistics. Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins. 3-48.
Langacker, Ronald W. 1988b. "A view of linguistic semantics". In Rudzka-Ostyn, Brygida (ed.). Topics in cognitive linguistics. Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins. 49-48.
Langacker, Ronald W. 1990. Concept, image, and symbol: the cognitive basis of grammar. Berlin and New York : Mouton de Gruyter.
Langacker, Ronald W. 1999a. "Losing control: grammaticalization, subjectification and transparency". In Blank, Andreas and Peter Koch (eds.). Historical semantics and cognition. Berlin and New York: Mouton de Gruyter. 147-175.
Langacker, Ronald W. 1999b. "Virtual reality". Studies in the linguistic sciences 29.2. 77-103.
Langacker, Ronald W. 2001. "The English present tense". English language and linguistics 5.2. 251-272.
Langacker, Ronald W. 2008. Cognitive grammar. A basic introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Taylor, John R. 2002. Cognitive grammar. Oxford: Oxford University Press.