Dusan Stamenkovic

Time, Space, and Motion in Braid A Cognitive Semantic Approach to a Video Game

This article (1) analyzes the computer game Braid with regard to the TIME IS SPACE/MOTION metaphor and the multimodal approach, (2) links the possibilities of such a study to the existing studies of temporality in video games, and (3) explores the link between the game’s narrative and its gameplay mechanics based on the TIME IS SPACE/MOTION metaphor. The theoretical section briefly overviews conceptual metaphor theory, the TIME IS SPACE/MOTION metaphor, multimodality, CMT in video games, time in video games, and several studies related to the game. The main section investigates Braid so as to evaluate the ways in which the TIME IS SPACE/MOTION metaphor operates within each of the game worlds and how this affects the narrative and the gameplay. The complex, unconventional relations existing among time, space, motion, and causality result in a unique coupling between the narrative and the use of the TIME IS SPACE/MOTION metaphor.

Prototype Theory and Translation Equivalent Selection: The Case of Motion Verbs

The paper aims to investigate whether prototypicality effects (e.g., Rosch 1973a, b; Lakoff 1987) correlate with selecting Serbian translation equivalents of English motion verbs in cases in which we have no context determined (one-word translation). By applying three empirical stages, we have generated a potential prototypicality list for English motion verbs. We have then tested 60 translators in another procedure, so as to check whether there were statistically valid links between a verb’s typicality and the choice of a translation equivalent. The results indicate that a higher degree of prototypicality positively correlates with a more consistent choice of a translation equivalent. At the same time, there is a negative correlation between the determined prototypicality and the diversity of translation equivalents offered for the verb in question. These results may reveal certain psychological aspects of translation, while simultaneously corroborating the tenets of prototype theory.

Facial expressions in comics: an empirical consideration of McCloud’s proposal:

In Making Comics: Storytelling Secrets of Comics, Manga and Graphic Novels (2006), Scott McCloud proposes that the use of specific drawing techniques will enable viewers to reliably deduce different degrees of intensity of the six basic emotions from facial expressions in comics. Furthermore, he suggests that an accomplished comics artist can combine the components of facial expressions conveying the basic emotions to produce complex expressions, many of which are supposedly distinct and recognizable enough to be named. This article presents an empirical investigation and assessment of the validity of these claims, based on the results obtained from three questionnaires. Each of the questionnaires deals with one of the aspects of McCloud’s proposal: face expression intensity, labelling and compositionality. The data show that the tasks at hand were much more difficult than would have been expected on the basis of McCloud’s proposal, with the intensity matching task being the most successful of the three.

Ontological Metaphor in Verb and Abstract Noun Collocations in Serbian: A Sample Analysis

ABSTRACT The paper discusses ontological metaphors in a sample of verb and abstract noun collocations in Serbian, in order to explore lexical patterning as a realization of conceptual metaphor. We examine the ideas a) that we conceptualize abstract entities as persons, containers, concrete physical objects or substances for which our experiences with physical objects provide the basis (Lakoff and Johnson 1980), and b) that the collocations selected reflect the metaphorical mapping of a concrete domain onto an abstract one. The sample selected includes collocations, the content of which indicates that the process of mapping involves the domains of negative experience in the world of matter. More specifically, the domains of painful or injurious physical experience are mapped onto negative emotions and states of mind, which suggests that the experiential basis, on which the speakers rely in forming the collocations is negative.

Crosslanguage Research on Encoding Coextension Paths in English (L2) to Serbian (L1) Translation: An Empirical Study

ABSTRACT The article discusses fictive motion in coextension paths in Serbian and a possible reverse conceptual transfer in translating from English (L2) to Serbian (L1). In investigating the phenomenon, we have devised an English (L2) to Serbian (L1) translation questionnaire for Serbian learners of English to examine contrastively the conceptualization and encoding of coextension paths in English (L2) and Serbian (L1) and the processing of coextension paths in translating from L2 to L1. The presence of fictive motion in both languages implies its pervasiveness, but the frequency of individual verbs in Serbian points to the fact that certain motion verbs are rather restricted in their fictive motion usage, while English fictive motion expressions allow for a wider variety of verbs. This indicates that encoding coextension paths in Serbian is rather constrained in motion verbs usage, which should be an important distinction to follow in restraining reverse conceptual transfer.

Однос метафоре и контекста у когнитивној лингвистици

The main purpose of this paper is to investigate the relation between metaphor and context in cognitive linguistic literature, as well as to show the diversity of positions towards this complex relation. Firstly, it provides a summary of the development of conceptual metaphor theory (CMT), one of the main topics in cognitive semantics and cognitive linguistics in general. Secondly, using the method of comparison and exploring the corpus which comprises the relevant books and papers on this topic, the paper reviews the manner in which the views on the relation between metaphor and context emerged and evolved during the development of the theory. The papers and books found in the corpus include authors such as George Lakoff, Mark Turner, Mark Johnson, Raymond W. Gibbs, Zoltan Kovecses and Vyvyan Evans. Finally, the paper provides the accounts of two authors (Stern and Leezenberg) who oppose the mainstream views on the relation of metaphor and context. The conclusion that follows ought to help us get a clearer picture of the mentioned relation.