Cognitive Linguistics Research Articles

THE TERM "CONCEPT" AS A BASIC CONCEPT OF COGNITIVE SEMANTICS

Today, there is much debate over the term cognitive linguistics, and there is no agreement on what exactly the term means. According to English linguists, cognitive linguistics is a branch of linguisticsIn cognitive semantics, the term "concept" refers to a mental representation of a category that encompasses a set of related objects, events, or ideas. Concepts are fundamental to human cognition and language understanding. Cognitive semantics emphasizes that the meaning of words and expressions is grounded in conceptual structures, which are shaped by our sensory-motor experiences and cultural context.

TOWARDS A LINGUISTIC STUDY OF THE CONCEPT OF "TRUTH" IN PROVERBS AND SAYINGS

The article describes cognitive linguistics, reviews of the concert, in particular, a comparative analysis of specific aspects of the concept of reality, similar and different aspects of the concept of reality in Uzbek and English parodies is carried out, substantiating examples are given.

A Corpus Analysis of ‘Disaster’ Metaphorical Expressions taken from Dawn Newspaper

As metaphor is a good tool for conceptualizing the COVID-19 pandemic. So, metaphors are extracted from COVID-19-related news stories which offer a unique lens for examining how the individual writers perceive the pandemic. The current paper aimed to describe conceptual metaphors related to COVID-19 IS DISASTER in the discourse of Pakistani newspaper’s news stories. For this purpose, the data was analyzed using the theoretical framework of “Conceptual Metaphor Theory” (CMT), which is proposed by George Lakoff and Mark Johnson in the field of Cognitive Linguistics. The antconc software was used for Dawn newspaper’s data analysis. The data was collected from January 2020 till December 2020 by using the Pragglejazz group of Identification Method for Metaphors (2007). The analysis of the corpus of "Dawn " Newspaper reveals that the conceptual metaphors COVID-19 IS DISASTER and COVID-19 IS NATURAL DISASTER were found with the frequency of 53 and 102 metaphors respectively in the data. The findings proved the effectiveness of metaphor in print media communication, its significance to understand difficult situations, efficiently communicate ideas and influence the audience. Any future research in this area would benefit from including more metaphor areas and search words by using a larger corpus.

Epithetization of love in M. Tsvetaeva’s texts

INTRODUCTION. The study relevance is due to the need for a cognitive-semantic analysis of the mechanism of epithetization in M. Tsvetaeva’s texts. This is due to the central position of the characteristic vocabulary and the category of epithet in the poet’s individual style. The aim is connected to the study of the individual style specificity of the attribute verbalization of the concept “love” in M. Tsvetaeva’s texts, in the course of which the role of epithetization in the individual style system of the poet under study is revealed, the semantic content of this concept in M. Tsvetaeva’s texts, as well as the types of epithet words that verbalize this meaning.MATERIALS AND METHODS. Based on cognitive-semantic, component, lexicographic and lexicalsemantic, as well as statistical methods of analysis, the attribute verbalization of the concept “love” in M. Tsvetaeva’s texts is analyzed. The analysis of the characteristic nomination is carried out on the basis of the “Epithets of the Russian Literary Language Dictionary”. While studying the patterns of attribute verbalization of love in the poet’s texts, the main types of qualitative meanings actualized by the poet are identified.RESULTS AND DISCUSSION. The main trend within the framework of figurative understanding of the properties of this abstract concept was the anthropomorphization of “love”, personification, and the frequent use of metaphorical and metonymic epithet words with the defined concept “love”. Occasional features are expressed both by adjectival epithets and by lexemes atypical for epithet words, the most frequent of which is the substantive. The epithet paradigm, which verbalizes the characteristics of the concept under consideration, is represented by simple as well as compound epithet complexes in various positional variations.CONCLUSION. The research is addressed to specialists in the field of studying artistic speech, stylistics, linguistic poetics, cognitive linguistics, and linguistic color studies. The conclusion is postulated that M. Tsvetaeva’s creative style is distinguished by reflection on characteristic words, hints on the interpretation of their semantics or direct commentary. Various ways of verbalizing the characteristic component of the concept “love” emphasize the significance of this concept for the poet’s work. The study results can be used in further developments on the problem of epithetization in the Russian language and linguistic studies of M. Tsvetaeva’s creation.

Монгол хэлний “дээр” хэмээх үгийн танин мэдэхүйн утга зүйн судалгаа

Cognitive linguistics regards the meaning of language as humans' subjective interpretation of the world. As men communicate with the world through their bodies, their views are self-centered. Those views are reflected in languages. Therefore, it is possible to reveal the unique way of thinking reflected in a language by analyzing the semantic system related to words. This research examines some spatial semantic characteristics of the spatial term “дээр” in the Mongolian language. For this, the study determines its fundamental meanings and schemas related to them based on the basic concepts of spatial semantics of Zlatev (2007) among the cognitive semantics. According to the frame of reference, the word “дээр” spatially indicates a level of height between two things and certain location on a thing. Due to these schematic characteristics, this word does not indicate active or directional motions but static situations.

SOME OBSERVATIONS ON THE LANGUAGE CHARACTERISTICS OF A UKRAINIAN DIALECT’ SPEAKER OF A NON-EXISTING VILLAGE OF ODESA REGION

The purpose of the article is to describe the speech characteristics of the informant, a native resident of the village of Olenokorytske, Krasnooknyanskyi (Podilskyi) district, Odesa region. The object of the research is the speech of the informant, a former resident of this village; subject — dialect elements in her speech. Both general scientific methods and purely linguistic methods are used based on linguopersonological approach: descriptive and comparative methods, the method of direct interview of the informant, the method of observation (included and excluded), component analysis, the method of documenting and transcribing language data, in particular, the method of practical transcription. The scientific novelty of the study is determined by the fact, that for the first time in domestic linguistics, attention was drawn to the dialect of the village of Olenokorytske, Krasnooknyanskyi (Podilskyi) district, Odesa region of Ukraine. The dialectal elements are identified and analyzed at the phonetic, morphological, syntactic, lexical, phraseological and paremiological levels. The facts of interdialect influence are established. The obtained results of the study allow us to come to conclusion that the informant’s speech is characterized by the stability of dialectal elements at all levels of the linguistic system, preserving certain archaic forms, regional lexical and phraseological inernationalisms. The practical value lies in the possibility of using its results in research in the field of dialectology, history of linguistics, cognitive linguistics, sociolinguistics, linguopersonology. The prospects of the research can be seen in the further detailed description of the language picture of the informant’s world.

VERBALIZATION OF THE CONCEPT OF ABSENСE IN MODERN ENGLISH

The article is devoted to the study of the ways of expressing and representing the concept of ABSENCE in modern English. The article analyses how this concept is reflected in different linguistic forms and contexts, studies the lexical means by which the concept of absence is verbalised in English. The purpose of the proposed study is to determine the peculiarities of verbalisation of the universal concept of ABSENCE. The object of the analysis is the concept of ABSENCE, the subject of the study is its semantic and axiological features. The research material was based on 5 well-known English-language explanatory dictionaries. The methods of etymological analysis, which made it possible to identify the primary semantic characteristics of the ABSENCE concept; analysis of lexicographic sources, which allowed to form the first idea of the concept and the means of its expression; the method of semantic analysis, which helped to identify the conceptual features of the studied concept were used. The study examines the etymology of the English lexical unit nominating the ABSENCE concept, analyses the interpretation of the words representing the ABSENCE concept on the basis of dictionaries of the modern English language, identifies the main conceptual meanings and axiological characteristics of the analysed concept. It has been established that the universal, abstract concept ABSENCE in modern English is a multifaceted, semantically voluminous concept; it is verbalised with the help of the noun absence and the adjective absent. According to its etymological meaning, it developed as the absence or lack of presence. The ABSENCE concept is cognitively more negatively labelled. Based on the analysis of dictionary entries, the following features of the ABSENCE concept have been identified: existential absence, temporary absence, spatial absence, inaccessibility (unattainability), lack, lack of possession. We see the prospect of further research in the comparative analysis of the verbalisation of the concept of ABSENCE/ABSENSE in Ukrainian and English languages. The practical value of the research results lies in the possibility of using its materials and results in the development of theoretical and practical courses on the problems of general linguistics, cognitive linguistics, discourse studies, linguistic and cultural studies. The materials of the study can be reflected in lexicography in the compilation of cognitive dictionaries of basic concepts.

THE SAPIR – WHORF HYPOTHESIS AND THE IDEA OF LINGUISTIC RELATIVITY (LINGUISTIC HISTORIOGRAPHIC ASPECT)

The purpose of the article is to reveal the views of E. Sapir and B. L. Whorf on the relationship between language, thinking and reality (experience), to briefly analyze some interpretations belonging to the critics of the Sapir — Whorf hypothesis, to identify those statements of Sapir and Whorf that have retained their value for linguistics at the beginning of the XXI century. The object of study is the phenomenon traditionally called the “Sapir — Whorf hypothesis”. The subject of the study is the views of Sаpir and Whorf on the relationship between language, thinking and reality (experience), as well as their interpretation in the studies of critics of these views, which did not always reflect the true views of Sаpir and Whorf. The result of the study is to identify the essence of the statements of the critics of the Sapir — Whorf hypothesis, who put forward “strong” and “weak” versions of this “hypothesis”, and to clarify the achievements of Sаpir and Whorf. The authors of the article emphasize that Whorf viewed linguistic relativity not as a hypothesis but as a principle. While hypotheses need to be proved to turn them into theories, principles do not. The principle of linguistic relativity has a long tradition. Plato, Aristotle, F. Bacon, J. Locke, J. G. Hamann, J. G. Herder, W. von Humboldt, O. O. Potebnia, and J. Baudouin de Courtenay have already spoken about the influence of language on thinking. The article uses the actualist method, which involves, on the one hand, a historical view of the problem under consideration, and, on the other hand, the use of such techniques and procedures as source analysis (linguistic texts) and synthesis of the data obtained, comparison, abstraction and logical historical and scientific reconstruction. Conclusions: Sapir and Whorf’s undoubted merit to science was their pioneering study of a number of cognitive processes. This gave a powerful impetus to the development of cognitive linguistics, ethnolinguistics, psycholinguistics, linguocultural studies, and linguistic conceptology. Linguistic relativity is a modern research paradigm.

A Cognitive Linguistic Approach to analyze the top 10 internet buzzwords in 2023

With the rapid development and popularization of the Internet and new media, network language has gradually become an important communication tool for daily communication. The annual top ten network buzzwords reflect the categorization of public perception of current affairs and hot topics. From the perspective of cognitive linguistics, constantly innovating network language is closely related to cognitive factors. Therefore, this article analyzes the top ten network buzzwords of 2023 from the perspective of cognitive linguistics'metaphor theory to reveal the cognitive mechanisms and social and cultural implications behind them. The research results show that the characteristics of network buzzwords are consistent with the explanations of language characteristics and cognitive mechanisms in cognitive linguistics. Cognitive linguistics provides effective theories and tools for analyzing network language.

Mandarin posture verbs

Abstract Posture verbs have attracted considerable interest within Cognitive Linguistics. This study continues this line of research by investigating usage-based patterns associated with these verbs when used in their literal posture senses. The data for the study comes from the Lancaster Corpus of Mandarin Chinese and the CALLHOME Mandarin Corpus. We investigate the frequencies and distributions of the Mandarin posture verbs 坐 zuò ‘sit’, 站 zhàn ‘stand’, and 躺 tǎng ‘lie’ in four construction types: directional constructions, aspectual suffixes, serial verb constructions, and locative constructions. The analysis confirms the primacy of zuò, zhàn, and tǎng and, among other results, reveals a significant absence of locative phrases with the dynamic forms of the verbs as used with directionals.

Lexical Expressions of Motion in Physical Environments a Cognitive Linguistics Perspective

This study aims to delve into the interaction between motion verbs, manners, and paths in the Vietnamese language to look at the lexicalization of motion occurrences. Utilizing Talmy's lexicalization patterns for cognitive linguistics, the study seeks to understand how Vietnamese encodes and conceptualizes motion events in a variety of physical contexts, such as the air, water, and land. A mixed-methods approach is used in this work, integrating qualitative analysis of annotated textual data with quantitative frequency analysis. Vietnamese has a rich system of motion verbs that may be paired with manner and path expressions to produce complex and subtle descriptions of movement, according to the research. The language displays intricate differences when describing the direction, velocity, and kind of vehicle of motion, in addition to various linear, curved, vertical, circular, and multidirectional routes. The complex interplay between language, cognition, and the embodied experience of motion is highlighted by this linguistic variety, which is a reflection of Vietnamese speakers' astute observation and interpretation of the physical world. The work adds to our knowledge of how language organizes and expresses the basic idea of motion and provides insights into the cognitive and cultural bases of language expression.

Salvation, Enlightenment and Awakening in Shaping Followers' Perception and Understanding of Their Faith: A Linguistic Exploration

This paper examines how religious concepts of salvation, enlightenment, and awakening shape followers’ perception and understanding of their faith. Drawing on theories of language ideology (Woolard, 1998) and linguistic structuration (Giddens, 1979), it explores how linguistic and conceptual variations surrounding these key terms influence religious worldviews. A mixed methods approach integrates comparative-historical case studies, interviews, surveys, and textual analysis of three religious’ denominations. Findings reveal ideological divergences in the metaphorical framing of the key concepts, relating to differences in perceived resonances and definitions among followers. The study demonstrates that religious conceptual systems transmit between contexts via semiotic processes of indexicality and erasure, undergoing shifts in meaning. These ideological variations in turn contribute to divergent understandings of core principles across faith traditions. Ultimately, illuminating conceptual divergences and the symbolic processes by which they spread provides vital insight into religion’s cultural logic and diversity. The research contributes to theoretical models of religious language’s co-constitutive relationship with thought and experience. It offers an empirical approach employing cognitive linguistics and the sociology of religion to promote understanding across belief systems in an increasingly pluralistic world.

EXPLORING THE COGNITIVE DIMENSIONS OF LANGUAGE ACQUISITION

Cognitive Linguistics, as an expanding discipline in language study, delves into language as a mental phenomenon, presenting a holistic approach that integrates linguistic and cognitive elements. Unlike traditional linguistics, which scrutinizes syntactical patterns, word structures, grammar rules, phonology, semantics, and lexical meanings, Cognitive Linguistics offers a comprehensive model that interweaves various closely connected theories. This study seeks to elucidate the manifestations of Cognitive Linguistics in language, providing scholars with a discerning analysis of existing theories. Furthermore, employing methods of descriptive and comparative analysis, this study aims to demonstrate the impact of Cognitive Linguistics on language processing and acquisition. It highlights its significance in second language acquisition while elucidating the underlying mental processes involved. The paper offers a succinct overview of this evolving discipline, encapsulating its unique characteristics within the encompassing term Cognitive Linguistics.

The semantics of language in Eugène Ionesco’s plays

The goal of this paper is to present the characteristics of Eugène Ionesco’s dramatic texts, a reason why the genre of avant-garde and theatre of the absurd are also considered, with a view to revealing their major ways of functioning. By pointing out the different dimensions of dramatic language, the emphasis is on those elements that differ from current oral and written language. Starting from the times of decadentism, a crisis of character can be noted in the theater around a type of individual who, as an alienated individual, cannot find his identity in a hostile surrounding world. One of the direct consequences of this crisis will be the impossibility of interpersonal communication, which will be best demonstrated with the concept and tenets of the theater of the absurd. In this context, the study of the theater of the 20th century is done from the perspective of cognitive semantics, as an autonomous level of language. The approach is organised around two notions: dramatic conventions and the actual language of the dramatic texts. The interpretative theory rooted in semantics is applied while analysing Ionesco’s short plays. The starting point is the linguistics of the text as described by Eugen Coşeriu. Capturing the meaning and the means by which it is constructed is one of the objectives in accord with the main principles of cognitive linguistics. The way of analysing the meaning in a text is given by the presence of some textual functions, as possibilities provided by language through relationships that the linguistic sign establishes in the discursive act. The specificity of the discourse comes from the combination of verbal and non-verbal elements, in order to highlight the playwright’s original style. The particularities of this type of language based on an ontological representation of the actional nature in human existence are also investigated. There are two dimensions recognisable in the language of literature: one is specific to the genre and the other one is particular, giving originality and uniqueness. The textual meaning in between these dimensions needs to be reconstructed from all their constituents identifiable at different levels of analysis. Ionesco distanced himself from the conventional and traditional theatre, finding a new formula for the dramatic genre in his own vision of what drama should be like. Ionesco’s dramatic work includes short plays and extensive plays in which the author expresses his adversity against totalitarian regimes. He is the representative of the theater of the absurd and anti-theater. The corpus for this research is composed mainly of the plays The Bald Soprano, The Lesson and The Chairs, the most representative plays for the avant-garde spirit, short plays on the theme of language emptied of meaning and non-communication. Language has an impact on thinking and the resulting actions, which relates it to the ontology of human existence. As dramatic language is preponderently structured on dialogical interactions (and less on monologues, soliloquies and asides), its essence can be revealed by decomposing and recomposing them, from the angle of the conventions specific to the dramatic genre. The analysis of the selected fragments from the corpus has the role to highlight their semantic features in terms of conceptual representations.

The Implementation Strategies of MTI Translation Teaching from the Perspective of Cognitive Linguistics

This paper is mainly concerned with the implications of cognitive linguistics for MTI translation teaching, with an emphasis on the implementation strategies and teaching procedures. Cognitive linguistics sheds new light on translation teaching by focusing on the translation process itself and regarding translation as a cognitive activity of the translation subject. The three major steps of translation teaching include both the design of the framework structure and the handling of the details, reflecting the teaching philosophy of teachers as “guiders” and “facilitators” and students as “active constructors of knowledge meaning”, which provides practical ideas for the adjustment of translation teaching.

A Study on the Semantics of the Sichuan Dialect Word Ba Based on the Cognitive Perspective

The Sichuan dialect word ba is widely used and has a high frequency of occurrence within the dialect area. It is characterized by its rich semantic meanings and diverse parts of speech, making it one of the most representative common words in Sichuan dialect. However, existing dialect dictionaries have issues such as incomplete definitions, unclear interpretations, and uncertain grammatical properties, which call for further careful revisions. Cognitive linguistics, one of the current research hotspots in linguistics, can fundamentally explain the intrinsic mechanisms and external manifestations of lexical semantic formation. This paper, based on the cognitive perspective and within the macro-framework of Prototype Category Theory, employs the theories of metaphor, metonymy, and image schema to conduct a micro-level analysis and clarification of the original meaning and extended meanings of the Sichuan dialect word ba. It attempts to provide cognitive reasoning for interpreting the meanings of dialect words in dictionaries, as well as to offer new perspectives and cases for exploring the semantics of dialect words.

Cognitive linguistics-inspired language instruction

Second language acquisition (SLA) or second/foreign language teaching has been influenced to various degrees by key linguistic theories, including structural linguistics (Bloomfield, 1933; Saussure, 1959), generative linguistics (Chomsky, 1957, 1965), systemic functional linguistics (Halliday, 1973), and, more recently, contemporary Cognitive Linguistics (CL; Goldberg, 1995; Lakoff, 1987, 1993; Langacker, 1987, 1991; Talmy, 1988, 2000), a theory composed of several related linguistic approaches often viewed as a response or complement to generative linguistics. While structural linguistics, generative linguistics, and systemic functional linguistics have each provided a theoretical impetus for one or more of the prominent language teaching methods or approaches over the past century (such as the Audiolingual method, the Natural method, and the Communicative Language Teaching method), CL, as a newcomer, has begun to exert a growing influence since the early 1990s. Given that the purpose of this research timeline article is to present a historical overview of the key thoughts and studies on CL-inspired approaches to instructed second language acquisition (ISLA),1 a brief discussion of CL's main differences from the other linguistic theories and its key theoretical tenets is in order.

Water as Metaphor of Human Beings in English and Vietnamese Poems

This study aims to investigate the conceptual metaphors of water, which are metaphorically used to describe human beings, emotions, behaviours and relationships in English and Vietnamese poems. Based on the theory of cognitive linguistics and conceptual metaphors of Kövecses (2002) and Lakoff and Johnson (1980), this study examined 200 English and Vietnamese samples from a collection of poems written in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Through the application of descriptive, quantitative, and qualitative approaches and contrastive analysis, the study reveals that there are 6 categories of water images which are metaphorically used to characterize human beings. The study also finds out the similarities and differences between conceptual metaphors of water symbolizing human beings in English and Vietnamese poems. This investigation is hoped to improve our understanding of how metaphorical phenomena are interpreted across languages and enhance the process of teaching and learning English.

Conventionality matters in Chinese metaphor but not simile comprehension: evidence from event-related potentials.

Metaphor and simile, two prevalent forms of figurative language widely employed in daily communication, serve as significant research subjects in linguistics. The Career of Metaphor Theory in cognitive linguistics posits that as conventionality increases, the cognitive mechanisms of metaphor comprehension shift from "comparison" to "categorization." In line with this notion, prior electrophysiological investigations have revealed that novel metaphors elicit a stronger N400 brain response compared to conventional metaphors. However, the observed N400 difference between conventional and novel metaphors may merely stem from the familiarity contrast between them, as conventional metaphors are typically more familiar than novel ones. To address this dichotomy, the present study not only compared the N400 responses between conventional and novel metaphors but also between conventional and novel similes. While conventional and novel similes differ in familiarity, similar to conventional and novel metaphors, both are processed via "comparison" mechanisms. The results revealed that novel metaphors elicited larger N400 amplitudes compared to conventional metaphors, aligning with previous findings. In contrast, no significant N400 differences were observed between conventional and novel similes, suggesting that familiarity disparity is unlikely to account for N400 distinctions. Our findings imply that conventional and novel metaphors undergo distinct cognitive processing mechanisms ("comparison" versus "categorization"), thereby providing further empirical validation for the Career of Metaphor Theory.

ENUMERATION AS A MEANS TO STRUCTURE THE INSTITUTES DOMAIN WITHIN ECONOMIC SYSTEM IN ENGLISH ECONOMIC DISCOURSE

The paper examines the concept of enumeration from the perspective of cognitive linguistics, focusing on economic discourse as its subject matter. Enumeration serves as a tool for organizing and representing professional conceptual information. This cognitive approach to the study of enumeration involves analyzing both homogeneous and heterogeneous enumerative sequences. In economic discourse, homogeneous enumerative series consist of elements within the same semantic field, typically representing economic sectors of human activity. Conversely, heterogeneous enumerative series indicate the intersection of various spheres of human activity within the economic context.The structure of enumerative series in economic discourse has two main components: linear and hierarchical. The linear structure is characterized by elements arranged in direct sequence. In this study, linear enumerations are identified by the presence of two or more elements, with the most effective and accurate information transfer occurring in three-component structures. Additionally, the study notes enumerative block. As a result of the enumerative elements of the main enumerative series is subdivided into a subordinate system were defined series analysis such domains of the economic cases where a sentence contains multiple enumerative series. In case of a hierarchical structure one of the as: the processes domain, the institutes domain, the instruments domain and the indicators domain. The institutes domain is analysed in this paper. The study of homogeneous enumerative series within the institutes domain facilitates differentiation of institutions by type and form of economic activity. The types identified include financial institutions, companies (such as insurance companies and private non-farm establishments), with cooperatives serving as one form of organizational activity. The analysis of heterogeneous enumerative series revealed a more varied set of institutional types, encompassing companies like insurance companies, along with various organizational forms of economic activity, such as partnerships, trade unions, and trade associations. Overall, this research establishes the role of both homogeneous and heterogeneous enumerative series in structuring texts and conceptualizing content within economic discourse.