Conceptual Blending Theory Research Articles

The expression Certyfikat „Super HoSpa” (“Super HoSpa” Certificate) and its role in shaping the image of palliative care in the modern medical discourse

This paper is an analysis of the expression hospa, which is a part of the name Certyfi kat „Super HoSpa” (“Super HoSpa” Certifi cate), a distinction awarded to the best Polish hospices by the Rak’n’Roll Foundation. The neologism hospa is described in terms of its formal structure (as a contamination compound) and at the conceptual level (as a cognitive amalgam) using G. Fauconnier and M. Turner’s conceptual blending theory. Based on dictionary and corpus data as well as texts concerning hospices with the title “Super HoSpa”, the author reconstructs the representation of a patient-friendly hospice. What serves as a background for the description is the issues of palliative medicine and care and the stereotypical image of hospice established in the society, which the creators of the certifi cate are trying to “disenchant”, also through language.

Re-Picturing the Reception of the Spirit with Ritual Experience: The Role of Baptism in 1 Corinthians 12:13

In this article, I argue that the ritual experience of water-baptism plays an essential role in Paul's metaphorical expression and rhetorical purpose in 1 Corinthians 12:13. To explore the role of baptism, I use conceptual blending theory from cognitive linguistics to define and demonstrate the metaphorical ways in which ritual functions in the human mind. In so doing, I emphasize the performance of a ritual itself and the contextual perception of its performance, arguing for a metaphorical relationship between the two. I apply conceptual blending analysis to interpret the complex interplay of three metaphors in 1 Corinthians 12:13. I argue that Paul forms a conceptual blend of three metaphors in this verse, and that baptism, the water-rite, plays a pivotal role in this blend by providing the physical pattern of immersion and the cultural understanding of this immersion as a new belonging. Using baptism, Paul achieves his purpose of re-picturing the reception of the Spirit and appealing for social union. This verse thus presents an excellent case of the role of ritual in the emergence of early Christianity and the explanatory power of ritual studies to the New Testament texts.

A Study on the Metaphor Translation Strategies in Selected Modern Chinese Essays 1 by Zhang Peiji from the Perspective of Conceptual Blending Theory

According to the analytical framework of the three basic network models in Conceptual Blending Theory, this thesis dynamically presents the metaphor translation process and the choice of translation strategies in Selected Modern Chinese Essays 1 translated by Zhang Peiji. The study finds out that in Mirror Network Model, Zhang usually adopts literal translation while preserving the metaphorical image since the original metaphor shares the same organizational framework in both source culture and target culture; when it comes to One-scope Network Model, a majority of metaphorical images are omitted to achieve better readability while still some others are preserved to spread Chinese culture and introduce more cognitive models to target readers. And in both ways, paraphrases are added to deepen target readers’ understanding of the source text; with regard to Two-scope Network Model, Zhang mainly adopts the translation strategy of replacement with metaphors that accord with the target language, which enables him to build a bridge between the cultures of the source language and the target language.

Conceptual blending in the formation of English and Russian colour idioms based on physiological and psychological influence

In this paper the authors investigate the problem of value meaning formation in Russian and English colour idioms based on the theory of conceptual blending. Special attention is paid to physiological and psychological influence of human‘s colour perception on this cognitive process.

Mechanism of Producing Personification in Emily Dickinson’s Poetry

Personification is an influential figure of speech which is widely used in literature. It is a literary device that functions as a way of creating symbolic images that bear hidden meanings which should be deciphered through dismantling personification into segments in order to obtain the masqueraded meaning attended in each personification. The basic objective of this paper is to key out the mechanism that Emily Dickinson employs in generating personifications, and how the poet constructs the meaning of each personification. Successively, it also aims at unearthing how the elements that the poet hires in configuring personification are blended together though they are borrowed from different and incompatible fields that never meet together unless they are mapped out together metaphorically.The Conceptual Blending Theory was eminently exploited in the practical aspect of the research because it fits the purpose of the research. This theory is basically based on the cognitive construction of meaning which is an output of blending different elements to integrate them together to attain one concept. The mathematical relation (X + Y = Z) was applied to the personification so as to unscrew its elements, then blend them together conceptually to reach the essence of the personification. However, a bundle of sundry poems were selected from Dickinson‘s collection of poems randomly. Eventually, it has been noticed that Dickinson‘s personification depicts a rhetorical image to conceive metaphoric states that broaden the reader‘s imagination towards issues and themes which simulate his own daily life‘s experiences.

Verbing and Linguistic Innovation

Denominal verbs are produced by a syntactic category shift,conversion, in which the word’s inflectional and combinatory potential change while its internal composition does not (Valera, 2015: 322). Perhaps no language owes as many of its verbs to the conversion strategy as English (Koutsoukos, 2021), the majority being denominal (noun-derived) verbs, e.g.,Widespread seedless cultivars typicallyfruittwice yearly in the Caribbean. Denominal conversion has been the predominant method of verb creation since the 13th century (Gottfurcht, 2008), with the result that denominal verbs present a continuum of conventionality ranging from conventional verb-phrase replacements likepaint, trash, pocket, motherto evanescent innovations likeadultingandcriming. Language users must rely on certain inferential strategies to figure out what novel denominal verbs mean, combining information from multiple sources, including salient properties of the source noun’s denotatum, the event structure of the clause in which that noun serves as a predicator, and socio-cultural knowledge. How exactly does this work? Our answer recalls the major lessons of Clark and Clark’s seminal 1979 paper “When Nouns Surface as Verbs”: denominal verbs have context-dependent rather than fixed meanings, and their interpretations rely on cooperation between speaker and hearer. These are lessons seemingly forgotten by proponents of recent, influential derivation-based accounts, which leverage the formal similarity between denominal verbs and noun-incorporating verbs likebackstabandmanspread. While, as discussed here, syntacticized approaches to semantic representation fail to account for the interpretive latitude that denominal verbs actually display, there are reasons to reject a strong view of context dependence as well. For Clark and Clark, interpretations of innovative denominal verbs either directly reflect criterial features of their source nouns or aread hoc, derived from “moment-to-moment cooperation,” including gestures, allusions, and “other momentarily relevant facts about the conversation” (1979: 783). We argue that denominal interpretations are more tightly regulated, and involve reconciling the results of four distinct interpretive strategies: nominal frame computation, verb-construction integration, co-composition and, finally, conceptual blending. To describe these interpretive strategies, we bring to bear a suite of analytic tools developed to model everyday language understanding: Construction Grammar (Michaelis, 2004;Goldberg, 2006;Michaelis, 2011), enriched composition (Pustejovsky, 1998;Pustejovsky, 2012), Conceptual Blending Theory (Fauconnier and Turner, 2004), and Frame Semantics (Fillmore, 2006;Andor, 2010). In line withClark and Clark’s (1979)convention for the interpretation of innovative denominal verbs, we argue that nouns used in innovative denominal formations are chosen based on relational properties of entities denoted by those nouns, whether common or proper (e.g., shape, behavior, composition, use, provenance). At the same time, the descriptive framework that we propose leaves fewer interpretive factors to vagaries of context.

Yahya Kemal’in ‘Sessiz Gemi’ Şiirinin Bilişsel Poetik Çözümlemesi

This study is a cognitive stylistic/poetic analysis of one of Turkish literature’s best-known poems ‘Sessiz Gemi’ (Silent Ship) by Yahya Kemal Beyatlı. More specifically, based on the premises of Conceptual Metaphor Theory (Lakoff & Johnson, 1980) and Conceptual Blending Theory (Fauconnier & Turner, 1998, 2002), the study aims to identify the conceptual devices and strategies used in the construction and interpretation of the poem. The analysis reveals that the poem is rich in conceptual projections and symbols, which make the whole poem an allegory for the concept of ‘death’. Within the frame of JOURNEY, a blend is constructed between the sea voyage and the abstract concept of death, which entails several conceptualizations that match with the metaphors CHANGE OF STATE IS CHANGE OF LOCATION, DEATH IS GOING TO A FINAL DESTINATION and DEATH IS REST proposed by Lakoff and Turner (1989). The study reveals that a cognitive poetic approach to literary texts is significant in disclosing the conceptual processes the human mind undergoes to sort out the composition of the text by the writer and decomposition by the readers.

SEMANTIK BANDINGAN: PENGENALAN KEPADA TEORI PENGADUNAN KONSEPTUAL

Conceptual Blending Theory (Fauconnier & Turner, 2002) aims to provide a general cognitive model related to meaning construction. This theory was created based on the fundamental question raised by contemporary linguists about how a new concept is formed based on the human cognition system. According to Fauconnier, the theory encompasses all domains of meaning creation, whether involving language domains (metaphors, advertisements, and satire) or the use of gestures to convey non -linguistic meaning, such as the way people line up to get tickets at the cinema or certain symbolism in communication. If we can see at the current scenario in linguistic research, this theory has attracted wide attention in various fields of research, from the study of discourse analysis by Oakley (2008), the study of Haiku by Hiraga (1999) to the study of ritual by Sweetser (2000). Due to its holistic nature, it is not surprising that this theory has been heavily criticized by some linguists from the structural school (Broccias, 2004; Gibbs, 2000), and not least there are some Vygotsky scholars (scholars that influenced by Vygotsky thought) who doubted the ability of this theory. Therefore, this paper is written to (i) provide an overview of the proposed theory; (ii) display some analysis of non-linguistic domains based on conceptual blending perspective; and lastly (iii) some counter respond to a previous criticism about this theory.

중국어 피트니스 텍스트에 대한 인지적 분석? 도식 내 역전현상, 통합 및 정교화에 대하여

This article studies ‘Cognitive Model’ of Sports Text(Fitness Text) in Chinese. In the paper The author has used ‘Conceptual Metaphor(Subject-Self Metaphor)’, ‘Conceptual Metonymy’, ‘Cognitive Grammar(Action Chain Model & Elaboration)’, ‘Conceptual Blending Theory(Integration)’ and ‘Image Schema(Container Schema & Vertical Schema)’ in Cognitive linguistics to explain the Semantic structure of Sports Text(Fitness Text).

Thinking Through Monuments: Levantine Monuments as Technologies of Community-Scale Motivated Social Cognition

This study proposes that monuments are technologies through which communities think. I draw on conceptual blending theory as articulated by Mark Turner and Gilles Fauconnier to argue that monuments are material anchors for conceptual integration networks. The network model highlights that monuments are embedded in specific spatial and socio-historical contexts while also emphasizing that they function relationally by engaging the imaginations of communities. An enactivist understanding of these networks helps to explain the generative power of monuments as well as how they can become dynamic and polysemic. By proposing a cognitive scientific model for such relational qualities, this approach also has the advantage of making them more easily quantifiable. I present a test case of monumental installations from the Iron Age Levant (the ceremonial plaza of Karkamiš) to develop this approach and demonstrate its explanatory power. I contend that the theory and methods introduced here can make future accounts of monuments more precise while also opening up new avenues of research into monuments as a technology of motivated social cognition that is enacted on a community-scale.

『순자』의 도덕성 창발(emergence)에 관한 인지적 해명 - 공예 은유와 개념혼성 이론을 중심으로 -

순자는 인간 본성을 악한 것으로 규정하는데, 그 악이란 이기적인 본성으로 타인을 향한 선한 경향성의 결여를 의미한다. 인간에게는 선천적으로 도덕성이 내재하지 않지만, 경험 세계에서의 후천적인 경험과 노력으로 도덕성을 획득할 수 있다는 것이 인간 본성과 도덕성에 관한 순자의 철학이다. 그렇다면 순자의 도덕성 기원은 어디이며, 그 획득 과정은 무엇일까? 이 글은 순자의 도덕성 기원을 개념혼성 이론과 개념적 혼성 연결망으로 분석하여, 인간의 창조하는 능력이 도덕성을 창발 하였음을 밝히는 것이다. 그동안 순자의 도덕성 기원을 해명하기 힘들었던 것은 원인-결과의 인과 관계에만 기초했기 때문이다. 즉 내재적으로 도덕성을 갖고 있어야만, 도덕성을 실천할 수 있다는 것이다. 하지만 인간의 모든 사유와 창조물이 이 관계에 기초하는 것은 아니다. 인간의 개념혼성 능력은 기존에 있던 것에 새로운 구조를 부여하여, 기존에 없던 새로운 것을 창조 하는 능력이다. 순자는 예(禮)와 의(義), 학습, 문화적·사회적 규범 등을 혼성하여 내재적으로 없던 도덕성을 만들 수 있다고 했다. 즉 기존에 있던 개념들을 활용하여 도덕성을 창조할 수 있다는 것이 순자의 인지적 사유 체계인 것이다. 인지과학의 개념혼성 이론을 사용하여 도덕성의 기원을 밝힌 이 연구는 자연주의 철학연구 방법을 따른 것으로, 철학과 인지과학을 융합함으로써 철학적 난제를 해결하려는 시도이다.

The Evolution Mechanism of the Chinese Emerging Degree Adverb ‘Chao(超)’s Meaning in Perspective of Cognitive Linguistics

As languages evolve over time, there are many changes appeared with the Chinese degree adverbs, such as the emerging degree adverb ‘chao(超)’ and the phrase structures like ‘超好’, ‘超愛’, ‘超好吃’ which are commonly used in our daily communication. This article studied the evolution mechanism of the Chinese emerging degree adverb ‘chao(超)’s meaning in perspective of cognitive linguistics including as follows. First, we studied on the prototype meaning of ‘chao(超)’ which is a verb and the existing meaning of ‘chao(超)’ which is used as a degree adverb. Second, we compared the image schema of the verb ‘chao(超)’ with the image schema of the degree adverb ‘chao(超)’ and the ‘chao(超)’ which is used as a element of a word, and tried to find similarities and differences between them. And on this base, we analysed the evolution mechanism of the degree adverb ‘chao(超)’s meaning that is metaphor and restored the metaphor mapping model of it. Third, we chose ‘超好’ and ‘超愛’ as examples on the basis of corpus-based study and made comparisons and discussions about the conceptual blending spaces of them by using the conceptual blending theory. Lastly, we found the general rule of the evolution of the emerging degree adverb ‘chao(超)’s meaning that has reference significance to the research on the evolution of the other emerging degree adverbs’ meaning.

Evaluating Human-Computer Co-creative Processes in Music: A Case Study on the CHAMELEON Melodic Harmonizer.

CHAMELEON is a computational melodic harmonization assistant. It can harmonize a given melody according to a number of independent harmonic idioms or blends between idioms based on principles of conceptual blending theory. Thus, the system is capable of offering a wealth of possible solutions and viewpoints for melodic harmonization. This study investigates how human creativity may be influenced by the use of CHAMELEON in a melodic harmonization task. Professional and novice music composers participated in an experiment where they were asked to harmonize two similar melodies under two different conditions: one with and one without computational support. A control group harmonized both melodies without computational assistance. The influence of the system was examined both behaviorally, by comparing metrics of user-experience, and in terms of the properties of the artifacts (i.e., pitch class distribution and number of chord types characterizing each harmonization) that were created between the two experimental conditions. Results suggest that appreciation of the system was expertise-dependent (i.e., novices appreciated the computational support more than professionals). At the same time, users seemed to adopt more explorative strategies as a result of interaction with CHAMELEON based on the fact that the harmonizations created this way were more complex, diverse, and unexpected in comparison to the ones of the control group.

Cognitive metaphor theories in translation studies: Toward a dual-model parametric approach

Abstract Cognitive metaphor theory provides a systematic framework to better understand the working mechanism of metaphor. Its recent development further allows translation researchers to have a clearer insight into the movement of metaphor across languages and culture. Building on an empirical study, this paper examines the complementary relationship between two prominent cognitive metaphor theories – Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT) and Conceptual Blending Theory (CBT), and discusses the practical contribution that this relationship could make to the existing research on metaphor translation. To construct a comparable basis for CMT and CBT, two parameters are adopted for data analysis, which is proven useful to serve the purpose. The two chosen parameters are: projection and provenance, denoting the content and the type of metaphor respectively. Metaphorical expressions analyzed in this paper are sourced from cosmology-themed articles published in Scientific American in 2017 and their Simplified Chinese translations published in Huanqiukexue. Findings show that delineated by the two parameters, CMT and CBT indeed share a complementary relationship owing to their different focuses and organizing mechanisms. Furthermore, the collaboration between CMT and CBT offers a well-rounded analytical framework for translation studies. In turn, the correlation between metaphor parameters and translation solutions provides detailed clues for studying metaphor across culture. Finally, the reflection of this dual-model parametric approach regarding its pros and cons is also shown to shed light on future research.

Rhetorical Devices as Multimodal Conceptual Blends in Brene Brown’s 99U Conference Talk (2013)

The present study examines the rhetorical devices used by Brené Brown in a 99U conference Talk (2013) in order to engage and persuade the audience that vulnerability is the seed of creativity and therefore, should be embraced as a stepping-stone to success. The study mainly explores the role conceptual blending theory plays in the exploitation of multimodal rhetorical devices, which include an inspirational quote, analogies and metaphors (both verbal and visual) and how they form a ‘mega-blend’ and a complex network of conceptual integration. The study also applies the conceptual blending model and the discursive process of framing in the analysis as crucial for the meaning construal of these multimodal rhetorical blends. The blending-framing analysis showed that these diverse rhetorical devices often require a complex multi-frame analysis and a larger mental space network of mappings to derive the intended message and achieve the intended rhetorical effect on the audience. The analysis also showed that the blending-framing model provided a unified theoretical framework that could examine the discursive function and multimodal representations of diverse rhetorical devices in edutainment events.

A Dispositive and Cognitive Semiotic Analysis of Arabic Humorous Texts on Facebook

This study conducts a dispositive analysis along with a cognitive semiotic analysis of a corpus of Arabic humorous texts on Facebook that tackle a variety of social, educational, economic, and political issues in Egypt or abroad. The selected data is analyzed using Jager’s (2001) dispositive model, Fauconnier and Turner’s (2002) conceptual blending theory, and the incongruity theory of humor. Some major notions such as speech acts, and instances of visual metaphor are also utilized. The findings reveal that dispositive analysis has the advantage of heterogeneity over discourse analysis as it embraces not just language, but also actions and objects. Besides, the interplay between the dispositive triangle’s heterogeneous elements is essential to enable the reader to fully understand the text. Moreover, the blending between the caption and the image in the humorous text gives birth to a new meaning, and blending is the basic mental and cognitive operation that readers use to completely apprehend the text. Furthermore, incongruity is an essential factor in arousing humor in these humorous texts.

ТЕОРИЯ КОНЦЕПТУАЛЬНОГО БЛЕНДИНГА КАК СРЕДСТВО ИНТЕРПРЕТАЦИИ БРИТАНСКОГО НАЦИОНАЛЬНОГО ЮМОРА

The article considers British humorous text interpretation in terms of the cognitive linguistic paradigm, in particular, conceptual blending theory. British national humor is analyzed as a preserver and exponent of the historical heritage, national culture, and national collective memory. The paper aims to demonstrate the potential of conceptual blending theory for analyzing the British sense of humor. The object is British humor. The subject is English texts with a humorous implication analyzed using an interpretative analysis based on conceptual integration theory. The novelty consists of considering this theory as an interpretative tool for researching into the collective memory of the British. It is evaluated through the prism of polymodal conceptualization along with national culture, which is inextricably linked with the English sense of humor. The paper shows that the blending theory can be successfully applied to understanding humor, since it is based on describing how cognitive thinking models and operations are organized, structured, and used. The results show that British humor focuses not only on the British national traits, lifestyle, and worldview, but also on the collective rethinking of the national historical past, in particular, the hardships that befell the British at World War II.

Chinese Elements in The Joy Luck Club and Conceptual Blending

The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan, the Chinese American female writer, is rich in Chinese elements, such as Mahjong, the Five Elements and Yin-yang. This article addresses Chinese elements in The Joy Luck Club from the perspective of a cognitive model known as Conceptual Blending Theory. Developed by Fauconnier and others, the theory combines individual chunks of meaning together to produce new meanings. It serves as an effective tool to manifest the complex unity of the text’s meaning in the conceptual blend networks. Additionally, built upon a cognitive linguistic approach, the paper suggests the complementarity of the cognitive linguistic and literary approaches. The conceptual blended networks prompted by dialogues among protagonists and narrative setting throughout the text can better demonstrate the metaphorical meanings through cross-space mapping with its uses and functions in order to explore the writer’s writing intention. It is hoped that this paper will contribute to the development of cognitive linguistics.

The Evolution Mechanism of the Chinese Emerging Degree Adverb ‘Bao(爆)’s Meaning in Perspective of Cognitive Linguistics

As languages evolve over time, there are many changes appeared with the Chinese degree adverbs, such as the emerging degree adverb ‘bao(爆)’ and the phrase structures like ‘爆好吃’, ‘爆可愛’ and so on. It will be meaningful to give attention and study the emerging adverb ‘bao(爆)’ since its structures are commonly used in our daily communication. This article studied the evolution mechanism of the Chinese emerging degree adverb ‘bao(爆)’s meaning in perspective of cognitive linguistics including as follows. First, we studied on the prototype meaning of ‘bao(爆)’ which is a verb and the existing meaning of ‘bao(爆)’ which is used as a degree adverb. Second, we compared the image schema of the verb ‘bao(爆)’ with the image schema of the degree adverb ‘bao(爆)’ and tried to find similarities and differences between them. And on this base, we analysed the evolution mechanism of the degree adverb ‘bao(爆)’s meaning which is metaphor and restored the metaphor mapping model of it. Third, we chose ‘爆好’, ‘爆強’, ‘爆多’ and ‘爆想’, ‘爆愛’, ‘爆喜歡’ as examples on the basis of corpus-based study and made comparisons and discussions about the conceptual blending spaces of them by using the conceptual blending theory. Lastly, we found the general rule of the evolution of the emerging degree adverb ‘bao(爆)’s meaning that has reference significance to the research on the evolution of the other emerging degree adverbs’ meaning.

Blending Viewpoint of Teaching “Teaching as Mountaineering”: A Cognitive Stylistic Approach

This paper aims at a cognitive stylistic approach to teaching “Teaching as Mountaineering”, an essay by Nancy K, Hill. Analogies are interpreted by conceptual blending theory, a cognitive stylistic approach. This theory is to work out the process of how meanings are constructed. In this manner, this tentative attempt at non-literary works will extend to more explorations of non-literary works through cognitive stylistic approach.