Process Of Meaning Construction Research Articles

Building The Ark: Text World Theory and the evolution of dystopian epistolary

Told through a series of interrelated documents (including emails, text messages, newspaper clippings and blog posts), Annabel Smith’s interactive digital novel The Ark epitomises the contemporary hybridity of the dystopian genre. Designed to be fully immersive, the story can be engaged with across media, enabling readers to ‘dive deeper into the world of the novel’ and challenge how they experience dystopian texts. Taking a Text World Theory perspective, I examine the implications of this challenge, investigating the impact of transmedial storytelling on world-building and exploring the creative evolution of dystopian epistolary more broadly. In analysing both the ebook element of The Ark and certain facets of its companion pieces (which take the form of a dynamic website and a smartphone app), I investigate the creation of the novel’s text-worlds, considering the process of multimodal meaning construction, examining the conceptual intricacies of the epistolary form and exploring the influence of paratextual matter on world-building and construal. In doing so, I offer new insights into the conceptualisation of ‘empty text-worlds’, extend Gibbons’ discussions of transmedial world-creation and argue for a more nuanced understanding of dystopian epistolary as framed within Text World Theory.

Public Discourse and Category Formation: A Topic Modelling Exploration of ‘Historical Shops’ on Italian Media

This paper addresses the role of public discourse in processes of category formation. Tracing the emergence and diffusion of a category on the media, and exploring the discourses generated on the media within and around the emerging category, the paper reflects on how these discourses concur in performing the very category they portray. The focus is set on the Historical Shops category, as part of broader processes of urban categorisations for local development and regeneration. By means of a Topic Modelling of a corpus of 3262 press articles collected from Italian news sources between 2009 and 2019, the paper finds that public discourse plays three main roles: echoing category creation processes by policymakers, grounding the rising category in wider discourses of retail crisis, urban degradation, regeneration and overtourism, and narrating it by explaining what Historical Shops are, where they are located, which issues they face and which responses they receive at different institutional levels. Overall, in this paper, the semi-automated techniques afforded by Topic Modelling offer a way to enter the meaning construction processes and elicit the agential role of public discourse in the formation of a category.

Meaning construction in interactive academic talk

AbstractMental spacesare conceptual structures for meaning representation and interpretation in discourse. They are pervasive in everyday language as an important aspect of ongoing language processing and meaning construction (Hamawand 2016). The application ofMental Space Theory(MST) to the analysis of real, attested examples of discourse (e.g. Conversation Analysis) has been undertaken through productive exchanges (seeHougaard 2004,2005,Oakley & Hougaard 2008,Oakley 2009). The integration links external, observable language behaviors to internal, conceptual mental operations (Williams 2008), revealing that the cognitive dimensions of discursive approaches are essential to the analysis of talk-in-interaction. This study focuses on the technical aspects of Conversation Analysis in interactive academic talk and shows how MST can provide a subsequent framework for making plausible accounts of the meaning construction process underlying typical conversational moves in this unique talk setting. The data analyses show that the accessibility and selectivity of cognitive mappings contribute to shaping the structurality of meaning representation, transmission, and interpretation. The findings have implications for understanding and characterizing how co-constructed meaning enters into individual and collective conceptualization in higher education communication.

“So, Obama is a Muslim?”: Toward Figurative Spaces and Blends in US Same-Sex Marriage Discourse

This article investigates the meaning construction processes of novel figurative expressions found in the discourse on the US legalisation of same-sex marriage. It is argued that mental spaces theory and conceptual blending theory (MSCB) can be of great analytical benefits when dealing with this type of data. Four cases of novel figurative spaces and blends, namely the Divided Self construal, the Generic is Specific construal, the single-scope blending, and the megablending, are examined to shed light on how same-sex marriage controversies are conceptualised by means of the viewpointed nature of figurative language. In addition, based on the analyses of the four selected cases, this article ends with a discussion on why MSCB is an appropriate choice for examining novel figurative expressions in discourse. Keywords: figurative language; mental spaces; conceptual blending; meaning construction; same-sex marriage

Actions Speak Louder Than Words: How Trust and Commitment Enhance Team Action Listening

Research has primarily focused on listening at the interpersonal level and argued that it is the most important oral communication type. However, listening at the team-level a critical determinant of team success remains unexplored. It is shaped by team members’ interactions that entails an ongoing process of collective meaning construction. In this study we offer a more nuanced understanding on team listening by addressing an often overlooked aspect, that is taking action based on what has been listened to. The action component of team listening is a powerful feedback mechanism indicating that the messages are being heard and understood. Team members by acting upon the messages being discussed, demonstrate team action listening that enhances team success. In this study, we empirically test the antecedents of team action listening and its relation to team success. To test our hypotheses we modelled real-life teaming scenarios in corporate environments where team members work in task-oriented, self-managing, temporary teams over time. We used a multi-year pooled data, drawn from diverse populations triangulating qualitative and quantitative data to understand team action listening, its antecedents and consequences. Studying 472 team members representing 98 teams through structural equations modeling and interviewing team members, this study shows that: a) teams remarkably listen through taking actions, b) teams that establish action listening are more successful. The results of our study provide evidence that team trust has a positive significant relationship with team action listening and this relationship is mediated by team commitment.

The resemioticisation of the socio-cultural construct of Nowruz festival in Tehran’s “Fatemi Spring” billboards

ABSTRACTThis study explores how the socio-cultural aspects of Nowruz are resemiotised to represent, orient and organize ideological constructs in Tehran’s “Fatemi Spring” billboards. These billboards are semiotic constructs with mixed messages about the coincidence of the Iranian new year festival of Nowruz at the beginning of spring and the Shia religious mourning on the occasion of the passing away of the holy prophet’s daughter Fateme, known as the Fatemiye period. Based on an integrated social semiotics approach, the study draws on multimodal analysis to elucidate the way semiotic resources are used for ideological transition within this discursive context. Quantitative enquiry methods are applied to illuminate the meaning construction processes shaped by the research corpus. The results show that in the generic discourse of Fatemi Spring billboards, the elements of Fatemiye mourning that belong to Shia beliefs are mostly preferred and the natural elements of spring are replaced by the Nowruz celebration rituals. Thus, people in power (billboard designers) appear to apply these ideological structures as a means to exercise discursive control over Tehran citizens.

Deciphering Novel Expressions: A Proposal for an Integrated Cognitive Meaning Construction Analysis

<p>Niniejszy artykuł stanowi głos w dyskusji na temat istoty nowego znaczenia językowego powstającego w procesie konstrukcji znaczenia motywowanego przez warstwę semantyczną języka oraz mentalne reprezentacje przywoływane w trakcie recepcji określonej sceny językowej z uwzględnieniem kontekstu tworzonego i przetwarzanego przez podmiot mówiący i odbiorcę, będących uczestnikami danego dyskursu. Aby wyjaśnić kognitywne mechanizmy konstrukcji znaczenia w umyśle użytkownika języka w artykule zaproponowano odwołanie się do teorii pojęć leksykalnych i modeli kognitywnych autorstwa V. Evansa (2009), teorii amalgamacji konceptualnej G. Fauconniera i M. Turnera (2009) oraz koncepcji bieżącej przestrzeni dyskursu R.W. Langackera (2002). Motywacją stojącą za integracją tych różnych podejść w obrębie semantyki kognitywnej jest próba stworzenia ramowego narzędzia analizy nowych znaczeń z uwzględnieniem trzech poziomów konstrukcji znaczenia: (i) reprezentacji leksykalnej, (ii) przetwarzanie pojęć oraz (iii) interakcji dyskursywnych.</p>

How words for sensory experiences become terms

Given the double nature ofexperiencing foodas individual as well as shared experience and knowledge, the question is how to connect the observed variability of expressing such a sensory experience with a normalized requirement for developing (food) terminology. On the basis of descriptions of food experiences in actual practices involving the way food is consumed, evaluated and expressed by individuals – experts or not – in all their diversity, we propose to contribute cognitive (psychological and linguistic) expertise to terminology research. We analyze terms as cognitive units, defined within a psychological theory of natural categories as acts of meaning. In tracking the processes of terminological meaning construction in discourse we find intersubjective experience within the complex process of terminologization.

‘I am How I Consume’: The Construction of Identity through Use of the Mobile Telephone

Although identity construction has been discussed extensively in relation to consumption, such studies have also been criticised for reducing consumption objects into mere signifiers or symbols of various identities, ignoring the complex meaning construction processes of objects in use. This paper addresses this criticism, through a study of mobile telephone consumption practices in Sri Lanka, by examining how different usage patterns of the mobile telephone could play a role in consumer identity construction processes. The study focuses on three consumer groups: senior business managers, young consumers representing a high socio-economic stratum, and young consumers representing a lower socio-economic stratum. The findings indicate that consumers use differences in consumption patterns as a means of distinguishing their identities from those of others; further, varying the consumption patterns is used by consumers to manage multiple identities of the same individual.

The Post-Rationalist Projective Reactive, PRPR: Validation of the First Post-Rationalist Projective Test

<p>Starting from the epistemology of complexity and subjectivity, a new instrument has been devised to investigate the subjective ways in which experiences are self referred at the level of immediate experience. The construction and validation process of the Post-Rationalist Projective Reactive (PRPR) are described, the first cognitive post-rationalist projective tool. It investigates Personal Meaning Organizations (PMOs) according to the adaptive and evolutionary post-rationalist approach.</p><p>Using 20 stimulus tables, it allows respondents to go deeper into the specific narrative plots of their personality and to understand their inner film, to focus on their subjective feelings. PRPR was administered to a cohort of 294 subjects. A Reliability Analysis and a Cluster Analysis were carried out.</p><p>Cluster analysis identified four clusters that overlapped with the theoretical PMOs description. PRPR pictures showed good internal consistency as Reliability Analysis. Significant convergent validity correlations were found with the results of the Mini Questionnaire of Personal Organization (MQPO; r = .71, p < .001) and of clinical interviews (r = .76, p < .001).</p><p>The PRPR proved to be both a valuable support for the PMO construct and an effective assessment tool capable of delving into the processes of subjective meaning construction to understand the cognitive organizational closure, reducing the distance between immediate experience and its explanations.</p>

Design Features for Linguistically-Mediated Meaning Construction: The Relative Roles of the Linguistic and Conceptual Systems in Subserving the Ideational Function of Language.

Recent research in language and cognitive science proposes that the linguistic system evolved to provide an “executive” control system on the evolutionarily more ancient conceptual system (e.g., Barsalou et al., 2008; Evans, 2009, 2015a,b; Bergen, 2012). In short, the claim is that embodied representations in the linguistic system interface with non-linguistic representations in the conceptual system, facilitating rich meanings, or simulations, enabling linguistically mediated communication. In this paper I build on these proposals by examining the nature of what I identify as design features for this control system. In particular, I address how the ideational function of language—our ability to deploy linguistic symbols to convey meanings of great complexity—is facilitated. The central proposal of this paper is as follows. The linguistic system of any given language user, of any given linguistic system—spoken or signed—facilitates access to knowledge representation—concepts—in the conceptual system, which subserves this ideational function. In the most general terms, the human meaning-making capacity is underpinned by two distinct, although tightly coupled representational systems: the conceptual system and the linguistic system. Each system contributes to meaning construction in qualitatively distinct ways. This leads to the first design feature: given that the two systems are representational—they are populated by semantic representations—the nature and function of the representations are qualitatively different. This proposed design feature I term the bifurcation in semantic representation. After all, it stands to reason that if a linguistic system has a different function, vis-à-vis the conceptual system, which is of far greater evolutionary antiquity, then the semantic representations will be complementary, and as such, qualitatively different, reflecting the functional distinctions of the two systems, in collectively giving rise to meaning. I consider the nature of these qualitatively distinct representations. And second, language itself is adapted to the conceptual system—the semantic potential—that it marshals in the meaning construction process. Hence, a linguistic system itself exhibits a bifurcation, in terms of the symbolic resources at its disposal. This design feature I dub the birfucation in linguistic organization. As I shall argue, this relates to two distinct reference strategies available for symbolic encoding in language: what I dub words-to-world reference and words-to-words reference. In slightly different terms, this design feature of language amounts to a distinction between a lexical subsystem, and a grammatical subsystem.

Constructivism and Learning in the Age of Social Media: Changing Minds and Learning Communities

Social media provide new means and opportunities for learning that are consistent with major tenets of both social and cognitive constructivism, and extend the process of learning and meaning construction to more diverse communities and universally accessible shared activities that are jointly and concurrently engaged in by both peers and experts.

Uma proposta para o estudo da percepção: em torno da semiótica cognitiva

Em cinco décadas de projeto científico, a semiótica francesa trilha o caminho vaticinado por Hjelmslev (1975, p.132-133), inscrito nas últimas palavras deProlegômenos a uma teoria da linguagem: a passagem da imanência à transcendência, ambas governadas pela imanência. Dentro de sua pequena história, são três “abordagens” na elaboração de suas metodologias: inteligível, sensível e cognitivo. Na inteligível, impera o formalismo do percurso gerativo do sentido; na sensível, a incorporação de um corpo que sente; na cognitiva, por fim, há a necessidade de passar de um corpo-carne para um corpo cognitivo, introduzindo a atividade cognitiva do sujeito na apreensão do sentido. Com base no instrumental teórico da semiótica francesa e tomando a nomenclatura “semiótica cognitiva”, usada por alguns autores, como Klinkenberg (2000, 2001, 2010), a proposta deste artigo é tentar responder ao problema da percepção, dando continuidade às discussões da semiótica sensível para entender como o sentido se constrói pelo viés da abordagem cognitiva. Assim, integrando as abordagens inteligível, sensível e cognitiva, propõe-se o “esquema da semiose da percepção” para entender o processo de construção do sentido.

Like the machete the snake: Integration of topic and vehicle in poetry comprehension reveals meaning construction processes.

This research was funded by the following grants: The European Commission (Marie Curie IOF: NARLYR 235129) to C.P.; Junta de Andalucia and ERDF (P09-SEJ-4772) to J.V. and J.S.; Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (PSI2012-32464) to J.S.; Leverhulme fellowship (VP1-2012-032) to J.S.

PROSES KONSTRUKSI MAKNA DALAM BAHASA JAWA DAN INDONESIA

AbstractThis study aims to describe meaning construction processes in Javanese and Indonesian.It employed cognitive linguistic theories. The data sources were written and spokenlanguages in newspapers, books on Javanese and Indonesian proverbs, and conversations.The data were collected through the documentation and reflective-instrospective methods.They were analyzed using the referential and abductive inferential methods. Based onthe results of the analysis, it can be concluded that meanings are constructed based onthe experiences embodied in a human’s mind through a conceptualization process. Thereare facts showing how meanings are constructed, for example, metaphors, proverbs,derivational forms, three language metafunctions, and a variety of language uses indifferent situations.Keywords: meaning, construction

From social movements to cloud protesting: the evolution of collective identity

This article develops a conceptual framework for understanding collective action in the age of social media, focusing on the role of collective identity and the process of its making. It is grounded on an interactionist approach that considers organized collective action as a social construct with communicative action at its core [Melucci, A. 1996. Challenging codes: Collective action in the information age. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press]. It explains how micromobilization is mediated by social media, and argues that social media play a novel broker role in the activists' meaning construction processes. Social media impose precise material constraints on their social affordances, which have profound implications in both the symbolic production and organizational dynamics of social action. The materiality of social media deeply affects identity building, in two ways: firstly, it amplifies the ‘interactive and shared’ elements of collective identity (Melucci, 1996), and secondly, it sets in motion a politics of visibility characterized by individuality, performance, visibility, and juxtaposition. The politics of visibility, at the heart of what I call ‘cloud protesting’, exacerbates the centrality of the subjective and private experience of the individual in contemporary mobilizations, and has partially replaced the politics of identity typical of social movements. The politics of visibility creates individuals-in-the-group, whereby the ‘collective’ is experienced through the ‘individual’ and the group is the means of collective action, rather than its end.

El discurso de los expertos a propósito de la telerrealidad

This paper presents the experts’ discourse about the process of meaningconstruction around Reality TV and reality shows. They are much more than a genres’ repertoire, as they constitute a solid trend in current TV. These contents are very controversial but they are also appreciated by the audience; they are characterized by the salience attributed to common people, an exhibition of their privacy and a high degree of spectacularization. The purposes of this research were to explain which is the scope of these popular programs, which social imaginary are they building up, how they can get the viewers involved and which is the role played by the medium. A Delphi study was completed in order to capture a consensual discourse based on the opinions of experts coming from diverse disciplines related to the topic.

Analysis of Conceptual Metaphors in the Political Discourse of Daily Newspapers: Structure, Function, and Emotional Appeal (Ma Thesis)

The present paper explores the structure, function, and the potential of conceptual metaphors in the political discourse of daily newspapers to provoke an emotional reaction with the electorate, i.e. readers. The two groups of metaphors that are investigated include CONFLICT and SPORT metaphors. Consequently, the corpus consists of metaphorical expressions corresponding to the two previously mentioned conceptual keys, extracted from the on-line editions of The New York Times during December 2011. The paper resides on an integrated theoretical framework that encompasses the basic tenets of the Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT), the fully developed model of the Conceptual Blending Theory (CBT), and the Conceptual Act Theory of Emotion. Additionally, basic tenets of the Circumplex Model of Affect and the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS) are also utilized. The present research is conducted in two stages: 1) metaphorical expressions from the corpus are analyzed in terms of their structure and function through the concomitant use of the CMT and CBT models; 2) building on the Conceptual Act Theory of Emotion, Russell’s circumplex, and the PANAS model, the second stage of the research uses appropriate questionnaires to test whether the metaphorical expressions extracted from the corpus can provoke an actual tangible emotional reaction with the experimental subjects. The reaction is measured in terms of affect, and in terms of specific emotion concepts. Such research design is meant to reveal both the cognitive mechanisms that underlie the construction of metaphorical conceptual integration networks, and the mechanisms that facilitate the development of an emotional response. Furthermore, the results obtained from the two parts of the present research are compared and investigated for potential points of intersection. Additionally, the results of the present study are also compared against the results obtained from the previous research in the field, predominantly conducted within the CMT framework. Finally, the paper also presents additional evidence in favor of the joint use of the CMT and the CBT frameworks. Based on the analyses, it can be concluded that all metaphorical conceptual integration networks from the present corpus appeared as single-scope networks. Additionally, a high degree of systematicity of emergent structures was also recorded, which was accounted for by the highly entrenched nature of the two conceptual keys, and links were established with the systematic nature of compression. The two main cognitive mechanisms that facilitate the creation of an emotional reaction are backward projections and coupled elaboration, which in turn enable metaphors to function as powerful persuasive tools. The second part of the research revealed that metaphorical expressions from the corpus can provoke a certain degree of an emotional response with the readers, i.e. experimental subjects. In addition, the recorded reactions also showed a certain degree of consistency. In conclusion, metaphor poses as a powerful rhetorical tool that can influence individuals’ reasoning and behavior by influencing their emotional and affective states. Future research should attempt to further reveal the nature of interaction between the processes of meaning and emotion construction.

Nigerian Students’ Perceptions and Cultural Meaning Construction regarding Academic Integrity in the Online International Classroom

Abstract By presenting perceptions of Nigerian students enrolled in the online international postgraduate programmes of the University of Liverpool regarding academic integrity, this paper aims to explore Western ideas, such as originality and plagiarism that are extraneous in the students’ local cultures. Different historical and cultural circumstances may contribute to the construction of diverse meanings that online students attribute to these concepts. The multidisciplinary study follows phenomenological research design (van Manen, 1997; Creswell, 2007) and combines cultural anthropology (Hall, 1996, Hannerz, 2001; Coleman et al., 2010) as well as online education (Anderson, 2008) in the research. The paper promotes a non-judgmental and culturally aware approach when dealing with issues of academic integrity, intends to find ideological reasons in authentic cultural belief systems that may demonstrate that the common ‘nonunderstanding’ concerning academic integrity is due to a culture-dependent meaning construction process, which leads to the ideological misinterpretation of these Western concepts.

Relational diversity affects ease of processing even for opaque English compounds

Recent research has indicated that understanding compound words involves an attempt at semantic composition of the constituent words, and that this meaning construction process involves an attempt to identify a relation linking the constituents. Research with novel compounds, where a meaning construction process is necessary, has shown that relational interpretations compete to be selected during comprehension, and that increased competition leads to increased processing difficulty. The current project investigates relational competition during the processing of transparent and opaque English compounds. The results show that the diversity of possible relational interpretations affects the ease with which participants can make a lexical decision for a compound. This is true even for opaque compounds, where the identification of the meaning of the compound cannot, by definition, be the result of the meaning construction process. This suggests that initiation of the meaning construction process is obligatory during compound processing.