Primjene konceptualne integracije: Naslovi i njihove implikature

One of the claims of cognitive linguistics is that it is able to remove the semantic-pragmatic divide (cf. Evans & Green 2006), and yet the research conducted by in this field is at times criticized for focusing on word/phrase meaning (semantics) rather than their intended illocutionary force (pragmatics) (cf. Glebkin 2013; Pérez Hernández 2002; Ritchie 2004). A case in point is the criticism of conceptual blending for its apparent failure to acknowledge that the multiplicity of implied meanings emerging from the blend differ depending on variables such as discourse context, speaker/hearer culture, frames, intonation, and gesture. As a result, a growing collection of research has included additions to and modifications of the original Fauconnier and Turner diagram (cf. Coulson 2001; Ruiz de Mendoza & Peña Cervel 2002; Omazić 2005; Stadlemann 2012). This study analyses several of the proposed modifications of the conceptual blending model and applies them to the interpretation of headlines. Headlines provide an ideal source for analysis of implicature as the article itself provides context and commentary. This paper will discuss the effectiveness of allowing for frames, grounding, or additional input spaces in explaining the headline’s pragmatic effect. It is hoped that this paper will contribute to the development of cognitive pragmatics as a field of study in its own right.Jedna od tvrdnji kognitivne lingvistike je da je moguće ukloniti granicu između semantike i pragmatike (usp. Evans & Green 2006). Usprkos tomu, istraživanja u tome polju na udaru su kritike zbog fokusa na značenje riječi/ fraze (semantika), a ne njihovu ilokucijsku snagu (pragmatika) (usp. Glebkin 2013; Pérez Hernández 2002; Ritchie 2004). Prikladan primjer su kritike konceptualne integracije koja navodno propušta uzeti u obzir da mnogobrojna značenja koja proizlaze iz integracijskoga prostora ovise o varijablama kao što su kontekst u kojem se diskurs odvija, kultura govornika/ slušatelja, okviri, intonacija i geste. što je porastom broja radova u tome polju rezultiralo dodatcima i prilagodbama Fauconnierova i Turnerova izvornoga dijagrama (usp. Coulson 2001; Ruiz de Mendoza & Peña Cervel 2002; Omazić 2005; Stadlemann 2012). U ovome se radu analizira nekoliko predloženih modifikacija modela konceptualne integracije i primjenjuje ih se na tumačenje novinskih naslova. Naslovi se nameću kao idealan izvor za analizu implikatura budući da sami članak pruža kontekst i komentar. U radu se raspravlja o učinkovitosti uzimanja u obzir okvira, usidrenja ili dodatnih ulaznih prostora pri objašnjavanju pragmatičkoga učinka naslova. Nadamo se da će se ovim radom pridonijeti razvoju kognitivne pragmatike kao zasebnog polja istraživanja

The role of alternatives in language

In this review we provide a discussion of the concept of alternatives and its role in linguistic and psycholinguistic theorizing in the context of the contributions that have appeared in the Frontiers Research Topic The Role of Alternatives in Language. We are discussing the linguistic phenomena for which alternatives have been argued to play a paramount role: negation, counterfactual sentences, scalar implicatures and exhaustivity, focus, contrastive topics, and sentences with bare plurals and with definite plurals. We review in how far alternatives are relevant for these phenomena and how this relevance has been captured by theoretical linguistic accounts. Regarding processing, we discuss the mental activation of alternatives: its mandatory vs. optional nature, its time course. We also address the methodological issue of how experimental studies operationalize alternatives. Finally, we explore the phenomenon of individual variation, which increasingly attracts attention in linguistics. In sum, this review gives an inclusive and broad discussion of alternatives by bringing together different research strands whose findings and theoretical proposals can advance our knowledge of alternatives in inspiring cross-fertilization.Peer Reviewe

Acquisition of quantifier raising of a universal across an existential: Evidence from German

Our paper reports an act out task with German 5- and 6-year olds and adults involving doubly-quantified sentences with a universal object and an existential subject. We found that 5- and 6-year olds allow inverse scope in such sentences, while adults do not. Our findings contribute to a growing body of research (e.g. Gualmini et al. 2008; Musolino 2009, etc.) showing that children are more flexible in their scopal considerations than initially proposed by the Isomorphism proposal (Lidz & Musolino 2002; Musolino & Lidz 2006). This result provides support for a theory of German, a “no quantifier raising”-language, in terms of soft violable constraints, or global economy terms (Bobaljik & Wurmbrand 2012), rather than in terms of hard inviolable constraints or rules (Frey 1993). Finally, the results are compatible with Reinhart’s (2004) hypothesis that children do not perform global interface economy considerations due to the increased processing associated with it

Representing Context: Presupposition Triggers and Focus-sensitivity

This dissertation investigates the role of Focus-sensitivity for a typology of presupposition triggers. The central hypothesis is that Focus-sensitive triggers require a linguistic antecedent in the discourse model, whereas presuppositions of triggers lacking Focus-sensitivity are satisfied as entailments of the Common Ground. This hypothesis is supported by experimental evidence from two borne out predictions. First, Focus-sensitive triggers are sensitive to the salience of the antecedent satisfying their presupposition, as operationalized via the Question Under Discussion, and lead to interference-type effects, while triggers lacking Focus-sensitivity are indifferent to the QUD-structure. Second, Focus-sensitive triggers are harder to globally accommodate than triggers lacking Focus-sensitivity. The picture that emerges from these results is that the same kind of meaning - presuppositions - is grounded in distinct underlying representations of context in relation to an independent property of the trigger - Focus-sensitivity - which directly affects the way a trigger is processed

Semantics and Cognition: an interview with Gilles Fauconnier

Gilles Fauconnier is a linguist and cognitive scientist internationally known for his work on the theory of Mental Spaces and on the theory of Conceptual Integration or “Blending”, in partnership with Mark Turner. His contribution to Cognitive Semantics in particular and Semantic Theory in general is invaluable. The theory of mental spaces allows refined treatment to a series of semantic phenomena that have always challenged semanticists such as referential opacity, conditionality, counterfactuality, presuppositional projection, among others. The theory of conceptual blending also enables the advanced treatment of the complex cognitive construction of the linguistic meaning underspecified in grammatical constructions, which offer clues or means of activating the cognitive process of blending, as the XYZ grammatical construction prototypically illustrates. Another central topic concerns the relationship between the semantic-cognitive processes of blending, metaphor and metonymy, their typological limits and their intersections. Consequently, the high explanatory power of blending invites us to reflect on its centrality in cognition and grammar for the construction of linguistic meaning, as well as on its economy, which includes its restrictions

Proceedings of the 2010 Annual Conference of the Gesellschaft für Semantik

Sinn & Bedeutung - the annual conference of the Gesellschaft für Semantik - aims to bring together both established researchers and new blood working on current issues in natural language semantics, pragmatics, the syntax-semantics interface, the philosophy of language or carrying out psycholinguistic studies related to meaning. Every year, the conference moves to a different location in Europe. The 2010 conference - Sinn & Bedeutung 15 - took place on September 9 - 11 at Saarland University, Saarbrücken, organized by the Department for German Studies

Basic notions of information structure

This article takes stock of the basic notions of Information Structure (IS). It first provides a general characterization of IS — following Chafe (1976) — within a communicative model of Common Ground(CG), which distinguishes between CG content and CG management. IS is concerned with those features of language that concern the local CG. Second, this paper defines and discusses the notions of Focus (as indicating alternatives) and its various uses, Givenness (as indicating that a denotation is already present in the CG), and Topic (as specifying what a statement is about). It also proposes a new notion, Delimitation, which comprises contrastive topics and frame setters, and indicates that the current conversational move does not entirely satisfy the local communicative needs. It also points out that rhetorical structuring partly belongs to IS.Peer Reviewe

Redundancy and Embedded Exhaustification

I show how a formalization of Grice's Brevity intuition, which I call Efficiency (Meyer 2013, 2014), correctly distinguishes between acceptable and unacceptable disjunctions that all seem to be redundant at first (e.g. Gajewski & Sharvit 2012; Mayr & Romoli 2013). The upshot is that the presence of embedded implicatures is one way of making a structure efficient in the formal sense developed here. I show that a particular prediction of Efficiency – the existence of embedded implicatures resulting in overall weakening of meaning – is not incorrect, and sheds new light on the role of rise-fall-rise intonation in these cases (Fox & Spector 2013; Büring 1997).