Vyvyan Evans

Lexical concepts, cognitive models and meaning-construction

Abstract In this paper I address the role of words in meaning-construction. My starting point is the observation that the ‘meanings’ associated with words are protean in nature. That is, the semantic values associated with words are flexible, open-ended and highly dependent on the utterance context in which they are embedded. In attempting to provide an account of meaning-construction that coheres with this observation I develop a cognitively-realistic theory of lexical representation and a programmatic theory of lexical concept integration. My fundamental claim is that there is a basic distinction between lexical concepts, and meaning. While lexical concepts constitute the semantic units conventionally associated with linguistic forms, and form an integral part of a language users individual mental grammar, meaning is a property of situated usage-events, rather than words. That is, meaning is not a function of language per se, but arises from language use. I present an account of lexical concepts and the conceptual knowledge structures, cognitive models, with respect to which they are relativised. I also situate this theory within a usage-based account. I then develop a theory of lexical concept integration which serves to provide an account of how lexical concepts are combined in service of situated meaning-construction. As the constructs lexical concept and cognitive model are central to the theory of lexical representation and meaning-construction I present, I refer to the approach developed here as the Theory of Lexical Concepts and Cognitive Models, or LCCM Theory.

The meaning of time: polysemy, the lexicon and conceptual structure

In this paper I argue that the lexeme time constitutes a lexical category of distinct senses instantiated in semantic memory. The array of distinct senses constitutes a motivated semantic network organised with respect to a central sense termed the S ANCTIONING S ENSE . The senses associated with time are derived by virtue of the interaction between the Sanctioning Sense, conceptual processing and structuring, and context. Hence, semantic representations, cognitive mechanisms, and situated language use are appealed to in accounting for the polysemy associated with time . The model adduced is termed PRINCIPLED POLYSEMY . The conclusion which emerges, in keeping with recent studies in lexical semantics, most notably Lakoff (1987), Pustejovsky (1995), Tyler & Evans (2003) and Evans (2004), is that the lexicon is not an arbitrary repository of unrelated lexemes; rather, the lexicon exhibits a significant degree of systematicity, and productivity. In order to adduce what constitutes a distinct sense, I introduce three criteria: (1) a meaning criterion, (2) a concept elaboration criterion and (3) a grammatical criterion. A further claim is that the lexicon exhibits significant redundancy. This position is at odds with SINGLE - MEANING APPROACHES to polysemy, which posit highly underspecified lexical META - ENTRIES , such as the generative approach of Pustejovsky (1995) or the monosemy position of Ruhl (1989). That is, I propose that lexical items constitute highly granular categories of senses, which are encoded in semantic memory (=the lexicon). This necessitates a set of criteria for determining what counts as a distinct sense without deriving a proliferation of unwarranted senses, a criticism which has been levelled at some studies of word-meaning in cognitive linguistics (e.g. Lakoff 1987).

Applying cognitive linguistics to pedagogical grammar: the english prepositions of verticality

In this paper, we illustrate the merit of applying insights from Cognitive Linguistics to pedagogical grammar. We do so by examining English prepositions, long assumed to be one of the most difficult areas of acquisition for second language learners. The approach to the semantics of English prepositions we present is that developed in Evans and Tyler (2004a, b, In prep.) and Tyler and Evans (2001a, 2003). This account offers the following insights: 1) the concepts encoded by prepositions are image-schematic in nature and thus have an embodied basis. In other words, prepositions are not appropriately modelled as constituting linguistic propositions or semantic feature bundles (the received view in formal linguistics); 2) an English preposition encodes an abstract mental idealization of a spatial relation, derived from more specific spatial scenes. This forms the primary meaning component of a semantic network; 3) the idealized spatial relation also encodes a functional element, which derives from the way spatial relations are salient and relevant for human function and interaction with the physical environment; and 4) the additional senses in the semantic network have been extended in systematic, constrained ways. We discuss two key principles of extension: ways of viewing a spatial scene and experiential correlation. We demonstrate the usefulness of a Cognitive Linguistics approach by examining a few aspects of the lexicalization patterns exhibited by in and the four English prepositions of verticality, over, above, under and below. These prepositions provide good evidence that prepositional meanings are extended from the spatial to abstract domains in ways that are regular and constrained. We conclude that a Cognitive Linguistics approach to prepositions provides a more accurate, systematic account that, in turn, offers the basis for a more coherent, learnable presentation of this hitherto seemingly arbitrary aspect of English grammar.

Temporal frames of reference

Abstract Based on linguistic and behavioural evidence, representations for time appear to be structured in terms of space (e.g., Casasanto and Boroditsky 2008; Lakoff and Johnson 1980, 1999). This finding has led to a recent move to apply the theoretical construct of frames of reference (FoRs) from the domain of space to time, leading to sophisticated taxonomies for temporal frames of reference (e.g., Bender et al. 2010; Tenbrink 2011; Zinken 2010). The present paper argues that while space is important for modelling temporal reference, this is not the whole story. I argue that the experience types that in part underlie temporal representations are inherently temporal, rather than spatial in nature. They consist of a range of experience types, the hallmark of FoRs in the domain of time being transience (Galton 2011), a construct worked out in some detail. The present paper proposes three distinct types of temporal frames of reference (t-FoRs), anchored to three distinct types of transience. These proposals are argued to complement and enhance existing proposals for t-FoRs, rather than replacing them.

Low carbon diet: reducing the complexities of climate change to human scale.

Abstract For many years, cognitive linguists, such as Gilles Fauconnier and Mark Turner, have studied meaning construction through language based on intricate mental mapping operations. Their research suggests that conceptual metaphor and conceptual blending permit human beings to reduce very complex issues to human scale. Climate change is such a complex issue. We ask: How is it linguistically reduced to human scale and, in the process, made amenable to thinking and acting? To address these questions, we have analysed the emergence of lexical compounds around a recent key word in debates about climate change in the English speaking world, namely ‘carbon’. One such compound and metaphor/blend is ‘low carbon diet’. In this article we study how the use of the compound ‘low carbon diet’ in an advertising campaign, a book, and by a catering company in the United States permitted US newspapers to reduce climate change to human scale. We have combined and compared metaphor and blending analysis with media and discourse analysis to shed light on the linguistic framing of a real-world problem, that is, we engaged in applied blending analysis.

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.

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Cooperative intelligence and recipient design as drivers for language biases in homesign systems

In discussing the resilient properties of language, evidenced in homesign communication systems, Goldin-Meadow observes that children, faced with genuine poverty of the stimulus, appear to be bringing their own biases to language construction/acquisition. How, then, do we account for such biases? One possibility is that the cooperative intelligence that makes language possible provides a basis for recipient design which brings such biases with it. These may arise from an embodied basis of communication, thereby providing the design space for a communication system fit for purpose.

From zeroes to heroes

Evans reviews Numbers and the Making of Us: Counting and the course of human cultures by Caleb Everett.

The Semantics of English Prepositions: Index

Preface Acknowledgements 1. The nature of meaning 2. Embodied meaning and spatial experience 3. Towards a model of principled polysemy: spatial scenes and conceptualization 4. The semantic network for over 5. The vertical axis 6. Spatial particles of orientation 7. Bounded landmarks 8. Conclusion References Index.