Kashmiri Stec (Groningen)
Saturday, May 19th
Buchanan B215
Co-speech gestures often represent some aspect of the accompanying speech (Kendon 2004; McNeill 1996). For example, they may direct attention to details, such as the spatial relations between entities or the trajectory a character takes (McNeill 1996). They may also embody those characters, such that the speaker gestures from the perspective of the character who speaks or is described (McNeill 1996). This is called role shift, a turning of the body and eyes away from the addressee while character-viewpointed gesturing takes place. As a viewpoint marker, it physically shows that the speaker enters another conceptual space. It often accompanies quotes, but may appear even in cases where the viewpoint shift is not explicitly marked in language.
Because role shift is a viewpoint marker, it plays a prominent role in storytelling, and may help speakers and their addresses not only keep track of the physical locations of characters, but also mark the change from one character’s conceptual space to the next. Signers are supposed to be quite good at this (e.g. McCleary and Viotti 2010). Previously, studies such as Fadjo et al. (2009) have established that role shift is a regular strategy used in gesture, but their work considers the situations under which it is used and how it is performed – the question of consistency is not addressed.
Here, I would like to do that. Using a set of videos in which 20 speakers recount personal narratives, I ask the questions: Are they consistent about using role shift? Are they consistent in assigning their characters to particular points in space? Do they regularly use certain body parts to display the role shift? Are there other cues in gesture that signal a viewpoint shift is taking place?
Results indicate that although speakers are consistent about using role shift to mark the change from one character to the next, they are not consistent about the locations to which characters are assigned: some speakers are consistent across their narrative, some only at a local level, but the vast majority do so only from one turn to the next, so that even within a quoted segment, characters “move around” the physical space surrounding the speaker. The head, especially eye gaze, appears to be the most often used body part to display role shift, while speakers may choose between vertical and horizontal character distributions.
This shows that although gesturers are less structured in their long-term use of space than signers, their short-term use matters. Consistently marking a role shift gives an additional, physical cue that a new conceptual space is being activated and so may help keep track of different mental spaces ,even if it may not help in identifying physical ones.
References
Fadjo, Cameron L. et al. 2009. “Surrogate embodiment, mathematics instruction and computer programming”. Presented at Ed-Media: World conference on education multimedia, hypermedia and telecommunications, Honolulu, Hawaii.
Kendon, Adam K. 2004. Gesture: Visible action as utterance. Cambridge University Press.
McCleary, Leland and Evani Viotti. 2010. “Sign gesture symbiosis in Brazilian sign language narrative”. In Fey Parrill, Vera Tobin and Mark Turner (Eds.), Mind Form and Body. University of Chicago Press.
McNeill, David. 1996.Hand and mind: What gestures reveal about thought. University of Chicago Press.
Amanda Rapone (ODU)
Saturday, May 19th
Buchanan A hallway on the 2nd floor
Throughout the years, riddles have been an object of interest for both linguists and anthropologists. This unique speech genre is independent of the surrounding discourse in which it is presented, and follows specific rules which both riddler (i.e. the person presenting the riddle) and the riddlee (i.e. the person attempting to solve the riddle) can expect. Though there are many types of riddles, the type discussed in this paper is referred to as a ‘true riddle’ (Dienhart 1998) or a metaphorical riddle (Pepicello and Green 1984). The purpose of this paper is to analyze the process of solving a metaphorical riddle using the model presented by Turner and Fauconnier (1995) in their theory of conceptual blends.
This model of conceptual blends contains three constituent parts. First, there are at least two input spaces which contain separate frames. Aspects of these two frames will combine to contribute to the blend. The blended space is the result from the combination of these inputs. The final space, the generic space, extracts common underlying and abstract concepts shared by elements that exist within the input spaces.
This paper demonstrates that the clue given by the riddler can be determined to be the blended space. Because of the violation of certain maxims of Grice’s (1975) cooperative principle, one of the input spaces is not made explicit in the clue. The riddlee can use concepts in the generic space, extracted from the given input(s) to fill in the components of the unknown input space and thus solve the riddle by applying potential frames until a ‘best fit’ is found.
(See the attached PDF for references)
Irene Mittelberg (Aachen)
Saturday, May 19th
Buchanan A201
Based on a comparative semiotic analysis of static abstract works of art and dynamic gestural images, this paper explores the role of embodied conceptual structures as driving forces in the constitution and interpretation of visual signs. One of the underlying assumptions is that despite their metonymic “spareness”, abstract depictions in paintings and “descriptive gestures, those forerunners of line drawing” (Arnheim 1969: 117; cf. Müller 1998) enable interpreters to relate to the actions represented or performed in front of them based on internalized patterns of cognitive, physical and cultural experiences (cf. Bredekamp 2010; Krois et al. 2007).
It will be argued that the “structure of the world“ (Merleau-Ponty 1962: 216) as exhibited in selected paintings by Paul Klee and coverbal gestures may be said to be motivated, to a certain degree, by image and force schemata (Johnson 1987; Lakoff & Johnson 1999; Oakley 2007; Sweetser 1998; Talmy 1983). As gesture research has shown, communicative body motion and posture may reflect schemata such as PATH, OBJECT, CONTAINER, CENTER-PERIPHERY, BALANCE, COMPULSION, etc. (Cienki 2005; Mittelberg 2010; Williams 2008). These dynamic patterns seem to guide not only processes of experiencing and interpreting the world, but also gestural instances of “exbodiment” (Mittelberg 2008: 149) of inner images and inclinations.
Building on these insights, the results of image schema analyses of artworks by Paul Klee will be presented. In the selected images, two of which are shown in figures 1 and 2 below, human figures take center stage, trying to stay balanced in one way or another, while being exposed to different kinds of physical forces. Furthermore, attention will be drawn to mechanisms of pictorial composition and to the ways in which image-schematic structures may be said to underlie such static images. In the artworks analyzed for the purpose of this study, the schemata BALANCE, COMPULSION, PATH, CENTER/PERIPHERY, LEFT/RIGHT, UP/DOWN, etc. were the most prominent.
Finally, a comparison will be made with video and motion data recordings of three native speakers of American English describing their encounter with the same artworks inside a motion capture lab. The speakers, building the center of their personal gesture space, use there full bodies – through shifting weight from side to side, inclinations of the torso, as well as head, arm and hand movements – to describe their perceptual experience of formal and semantic qualities of the artworks presented on a large screen in front of them. Analyses of the video and motion capture data brought to light underlying image schemas and metaphorical projections. An example of a freeze of the trajectories constituted by a speaker’s hand motions is shown in fig. 3.
This paper aims to offer glimpses at “felt qualities” of experience and meaning (Johnson 2005: 31), hoping to shed light on some physical dimensions of people’s subjective understanding of artworks, which may be seen as “exemplary cases of embodied, immanent meaning” (Johnson 2007: 234; cf. also Brandt 2006; Sullivan 2009; Turner 2006).
(See the attached PDF for figures and references)
William H. McKellin (UBC)
Saturday, May 19th
Buchanan A201
In this paper I will examine the ability of Blending Theory to represent the emergent mappings of the cognitive allegories (Harris and Tolmie 2011) used by the Managalase of Papua New Guinea to negotiate, create, and manipulate social and political relationships. Blending theory commonly focusses on the product, rather than the process of conceptual integration (Gibbs Jr 2000, Hougaard 2005). This examination of Managalase allegories will explore the dynamic interactions of speakers and their audiences that produce conceptual, oral, and social blends. It will also consider the roles that cultural concepts of genre and conventional motifs play in shaping the blending process.
Managalase political allegories, ha’a, are a genre of oral performance employed by politically experienced men and women with extensive knowledge of oral traditions. They are an example of a ubiquitous process (Gibbs 2011) in which cultural metaphors or motifs are employed in extended discourse. Managalase ha’a draw upon conventional motifs that are associated with different frames of social and political activity (i.e. arranging a marriage, creating political alliances though feasting, and making subtle accusations about others). Performances of Managalase allegories may range from brief statements, to more elaborate narratives with complex, multiple motifs and thematic constructions. They may be private interchanges between two parties, or public orations with large, responsive audiences. Even in the public arena of the village, the indirectness of theses metaphorical negotiations shields the participants from explicit attributions of intent and public interpretations of political commitment. Successful negotiators acknowledge the allegorical discourse by engaging in the interaction, but failed political negotiations lead both parties to publically deny the metaphorical nature of the narrative.
Consequently, the dynamics of these performances require the speaker and his or her audience to simultaneously negotiate the acknowledgement of the genre of the performance as an allegory, develop a mutually comprehensible interpretation of the interchange, and commit themselves to a new political relationship.
Allegorical interchanges between narrator and audience exhibit the typical components of conceptual integration and blending (Coulson and Oakley 2000, Fauconnier and Turner 1998, Fauconnier and Turner 2002, Oakley 2009). Successful allegorical performances are characterized by the audience member’s identification of the allegorical potential of the speech, and their recognition of the potential motifs’ conventional input, generic, and blend spaces. During the negotiations, these motifs, in the hands of accomplished speakers, can be woven into more elaborate narratives and dialogues with multiple potential mappings and corresponding new blends with additional social implications. The clever narrator requires the members of his or her audience to test and re-evaluate several possible mappings of different frames as the negotiation unfolds. Members of the audience use their familiarity with the speaker’s social relations and his or her previous use of allegorical motifs to explore the potential selective projections that may compose new social relationships. If they find the possible mappings acceptable, the audience may respond with statements that complete and elaborate upon the selected projections of the allegorical discourse, thus creating the basis for new social relationships.
This analysis of Managalase political allegories provides an opportunity to explore the interplay of the cognitive, linguistic, cultural, and social dynamics that contribute to conceptual integration and blending in complex social and political interactions.
References
Coulson, S., and T. Oakley. 2000. Blending Basics (Linguistic Aspects of Conceptual Blending Theory and Conceptual Integration). Cognitive Linguistics 11:175-196.
Fauconnier, G., and M. Turner. 1998. Conceptual Integration Networks. Cognitive Science 22:133-187.
—. 2002. The Way We Think : Conceptual Blending and the Mind’s Hidden Complexities. New York: Basic Books.
Gibbs Jr, R. W. 2000. Making Good Psychology out of Blending Theory. Cognitive Linguistics 11:347.
Gibbs, R. W. 2011. The Allegorical Impulse. Metaphor and Symbol 26:121-130.
Harris, R. A., and S. Tolmie. 2011. Cognitive Allegory: An Introduction. Metaphor and Symbol 26:109-120.
Hougaard, A. 2005. Conceptual Disintegration and Blending in Interactional Sequences: A Discussion of New Phenomena, Processes Vs. Products, and Methodology. Journal of Pragmatics 37:1653-1685.
Oakley, T. 2009. Conceptual Blending, Narrative Discourse, and Rhetoric.
Steven Maye (UBC)
Friday, May 18th
Buchanan B213
Drawing on Fillmore’s frame semantics (1982), Coulson introduced the notion of “frameshifting,” where the reader or listener of a discourse happens upon something that fails to make sense and will thus “search working memory for something that can be reinterpreted,” eventually settling on a new frame that resolves this semantic crux (2001: 56‒57). The notion of frame-shifting allows us to discuss the effects of a variety of literary genres that require dynamic interpretation, including certain jokes and textual ambiguities. However, literary works also enjoy a certain independence from the contextual limitations of colloquial discourse; while many genres (and the joke is one example) set up a frame – often by means of narrative – in order to guide a reader’s response, others evoke the process of framing without cueing a dominant frame. This is particularly evident in the case of contemporary poetry, which often allows for a measure of creativity on the part of the reader. Indeed, in this case, we might construe the act of poetic composition as the creation of ambiguity through an incomplete process of frame-shifting, where certain frame-invoking cues that are inherent in the subject matter are troubled or suppressed while others are brought into play.
My paper will illustrate this idea using works by the poet and classicist Anne Carson — especially her “Ode to the Sublime by Monica Vitti.” This work takes as its starting point Michelangelo Antonioni’s film Red Desert, and thus constitutes itself as a shift across media, from film to print. But her poem also involves a shift between genres: a narrative film is transformed into a non-narrative (lyric) poem. By paraphrasing particular scenes and reducing their dependence on narrative, Carson effectively removes certain frames that allow for their interpretation as the film is viewed. For example, in one scene Vitti, her husband, and a group of acquaintances lounge in a fog-shrouded cabin by a pier, and one of the members produces a quail egg, offering it to the others as a kind of aphrodisiac. In Carson’s poem, the narrative context drops out – including the precise setting and the social nature of the occasion – and the scene is rendered as a single declarative sentence: “Quail eggs eaten from the hand in fog make everything aphrodisiac” (2005: 65). Carson’s “adaptation” of the film thus involves a process of unframing, which opens additional interpretative possibilities. Moreover, her work plays upon the ambiguity within the remaining frames by making repeated use of the pronoun ‘everything,’ which draws attention to the limitations of these verbal descriptions; and the referent of this pronoun must be (re)negotiated in every sentence in which it appears. (What, for instance, might be the “everything” that is made aphrodisiac?) Finally, by engaging the process of framing quite directly, Carson’s poem comes to function as an example of what Richardson has termed the “neural sublime” in that it “yields up a disturbing but compulsive glimpse into the ordinarily secret workings of the brain” (Richardson 2010: 25).
References
Antonioni, Michelangelo. 1964. Red Desert. Criterion.
Carson, Anne. 2005. Decreation: Poetry, Essays, Opera. New York: Knopf.
Coulson, Seana. 2001. Semantic Leaps: Frame-Shifting and Conceptual Blending in Meaning Construction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Fillmore, Charles J. 1982. Frame Semantics. Linguistics in the Mourning Calm, Linguistic Society of Korea (ed.). Soeul: Hanshin, 111–137.
Richardson, Alan. 2010. The Neural Sublime: Cognitive Theories and Romantic Texts. Baltimore
MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.
Katsunobu Izutsu (Hokkaido) and Takeshi Koguma (Miyazaki)
Friday, May 18th
Buchanan B215
The present paper attempts a conceptual analysis of Japanese, Korean, and Ainu benefactive and adversative constructions, demonstrating that their differences are identifiable as different stages in the grammatical development in which the speaker-oriented notion of (un)favorableness is extended to second- and third-person entities. It is well known that some Japanese, Korean, and Ainu verbs with the sense ‘give’ are used to form certain benefactive constructions as illustrated in (1). Although their constructional meanings hardly manifest themselves in the English translations, the speaker obviously assumes a recipient (someone who is listened to) to receive a benefit or favorable effect from an agent (another one who listens) in sentences like (1a-c).
Japanese has another comparable construction with the verb morau ‘get/receive’ as exemplified in (2a), which differs in that the subject refers to the recipient, not the agent. The so-called adversative passive instantiated in (2b) amounts to a negative counterpart of the construction, in which the recipient receives an unfavorable rather than favorable effect.
Korean and Ainu seemingly lack equivalents to the Japanese -te morau construction and adversative passive (Hwang et al. 1988), where the recipient is coded in the subject. On the other hand, the so-called possessor raising construction, illustrated in (3a), could be viewed as a Korean counterpart of the -te morau construction and adversative passive, in which the “raised” object, not the subject, refers to the recipient of the relevant favorable or unfavorable effect. Although notions like “inalienability,” “affectedness,” and “entailment” somehow condition the acceptable uses (Kim 1999; Cho 2003; Bak 2004), an unfavorable effect (as in (3a-b)) or favorable effect (as in (3c)) on the first object entity (the recipient) seems to best characterize the constructional meaning.
Ainu has developed special pronominal prefixes (enci=, unci=) in some dialects, which are confined to the benefactive or adversative passive with a first person patient. Prefixed to verbs like omap ‘love,’ otuwasi ‘praise,’ ere ‘feed,’ kore ‘give,’ and eiwanke ‘employ,’ enci= (singular) and unci= (plural) depict the speaker(s) as having a favorable effect of the events encoded in the verbs. Likewise, they describe the speaker(s) as having an unfavorable effect of the encoded events when attached to verbs like emina ‘laugh at,’ omante ‘pack off,’ eukoitak ‘speak (ill) of,’ mososo ‘(disturb and) awake,’ rayke ‘kill,’ and kikkik ‘hit.’
Japanese and Korean have full-fledged benefactive and adversative constructions where any person (1-3) can be the agent and recipient; nevertheless, they differ in that the relevant recipient is typically encoded by the subject in Japanese but by the object in Korean. In contrast, the Ainu counterparts, the V wa kore construction ‘(do) me/us’ and enci/unci passive ‘I/We get (done),’ have very limited applicability in terms of person; the recipient must be the first person.
The present paper argues that the morphosyntactic and semantic-functional differences among those constructions reflect the degree of “de-subjectification” (Nakamura 2009) that each language has achieved (cf. “subjectivity” Langacker 1991). It further points out that the constructional differences could correlate with Talmy’s (1985) typological distinction between “verb-framed and satellite-framed languages.”
(See the attached PDF for data)
References
Bak, J. 2004. Optional Case Marking of the Possessor in Korean: a Study of Double Accusative Marking of Possessor/Possessee in Korean Based on Corpus Study and Optimality Computation. MA thesis. University of Manitoba.
Cho, S. 2003. A Conditioning Factor in Possessor Agreement Constructions. Japanese/Korean Linguistics 11.
Hwang, C., S. Li, S. Chang, and K. Li (Seoul Daehaggyo Eohag Yeonguso). 1988. Han-Ireo daejo bunseog. Myeongji Chulpansa.
Kim, Y. 1989. Inalienable Possession as a Semantic Relationship Underlying Predication: the Case of Multiple-Accusative Constructions. Harvard Studies in Korean Linguistics III. Harvard University.
Langacker, R. W. 1991. Foundations of Cognitive Grammar, vol. II: Descriptive Application. Stanford University Press.
Nakamura, Y. Ninchi Moodo no Shatei. ‘Uchi’ to ‘Soto’ no Gengogaku. Kaitakusha.
Talmy, L. 1985. Lexicalization Patterns: Semantic Structure in Lexical Forms. Language Typology and Syntactic Description, vol. 3: Grammatical Categories and the Lexicon. Cambridge University Press.
Mitsuko Narita Izutsu (Fuji Women’s) & Katsunobu Izutsu (Hokkaido)
Saturday, May 19th
Buchanan A hallway on the 2nd floor
Observing the “final but” phenomena, Mulder and Thompson (2006, 2008) postulate a grammaticization continuum from “initial but” to “final but” with no “leap” (2008: 196). According to their account, “final but” is divided into three stages “final 1 (final hanging) but,” “indeterminate,” and “final 2 (final particle) but,” analyzed respectively as having structures like [X but], [X/Y but], and [Y but] on the basis of the unmarked structure [X but, Y]. However, recognizing the presence of two heterogeneous structures ([X but] and [Y but]) in “final but,” we have argued that the two structures are analyzed as deriving from different syntactic processes: TRUNCATION and BACKSHIFT (Izutsu and Izutsu 2010). [X but] is analyzable as resulting from cutting [Y] off the underlying compound sentence structure, while [Y but] involves backshifting of but (i.e., using the conjunction after Y).
Truncation and backshift are similarly observed with conjunctions in Common Colloquial Japanese and some of its dialects. The present paper demonstrates that the two processes operate on both Japanese subordinate and coordinate conjunctions and motivate their developments into sentence final particles (SFPs). Truncation is responsible for the development of subordinate conjunctions into SFPs, and backshift is for that of coordinate conjunctions into SFPs. Japanese complex sentences have the unmarked structure [X-SUBORD, Y]. This structure often allows the main clause [Y] to be cut off, yielding the structure [X-SUBORD.], which is often called “suspended clauses” (Ohori 1996). Subordinate conjunctions occurring in this structure have a sense of hanging implication (e.g., Wakaru–kedo…. “Although I know what you mean….”). However, some of them have obtained new emphatic and emotive meanings and are now conventionalized as SFPs, as shown in B(i) below. On the other hand, Japanese coordinate sentences have the unmarked structure [X. COORD Y]. The coordinate conjunctions (COORDs) are sometimes backshifted to the position after the second conjunct [Y] like “final 2 (final particle) but,” as given in B(ii). Some of them have acquired emphatic and emotive meanings, which are hardly expressed in the sentence-initial position. This development is further conventionalized in some dialects of Japanese, where some coordinate conjunctions more or less approximate the status of SFPs.
A: Kono hon kat-ta hoogaii-yo!
this book buy-PAST had:better-FP
‘You should buy this book.’
B: (i) Hakkiri it-te, takai-n-da–kedo!
frankly say-CP expensive-FN-COP-though
‘Quite frankly it’s expensive!’
(ii) Dakara takai-n-dat-tebaa, demoo!
so expensive-FN-COP-FP but
‘I’m telling you it is expensive!’
In other words, whether they are subordinate or coordinate conjunctions and whichever process they undergo, Japanese sentence-final conjunctions are inclined towards sentence-final particles with new emphatic and emotive meanings.
Interestingly, however, there is an exception in these developments into SFPs. The process of truncation is responsible for that of SUBORDINATE conjunctions into SFPs, but not for the development of COORDINATE conjunctions into SFPs. We argue that this is triggered by different kinds of “conceptual groupings” (Langacker 1997) involving the conjunctions: current-clause enrichment and subsequent-clause introduction.
References
Izutsu, N. M. and K. Izutsu. 2010. Hanging or Back-shifting?: the Rise of Final Particle But and their Comparables in Japanese. A paper presented at International Conference on Final Particles (University of Rouen).
Langacker, R. 1997. Constituency, dependency, and conceptual grouping. Cognitive Linguistics 8-1:1-32.
Mulder, J. and S. A. Thompson. 2006. The grammatici-zation of but as a final particle in English conversa-tion. A. Keith (ed.) Selected Papers from the 2005 Conference of the Australian Linguistic Society, 1-28.
Mulder, J., and S A. Thompson. 2008. The Grammaticization of but as a final particle in English Conversation. Laury, R. (ed.), Crosslinguistic Studies of Clause Combining: The Multifunctionality of Conjunction. John Benjamins, pp. 179-204.
Ohori, T. 1997. Framing effects in Japanese non-final clauses: toward an optimal grammar-pragmatics interface. BLS 23: 201-218.
Samantha N. Emerson, Şeyda Özçalışkan, Gwen Frishkoff (Georgia SU), & Iria G. Romay-Fernández (Santiago de Compostela)
Friday, May 18th
Buchanan A201
Languages use different typological strategies to express different aspects of motion events. For example, Spanish typically expresses path of motion in the verb, while English expresses path information outside the verb (e.g., particles, prepositions) and uses verbs to express manner of motion (Talmy, 1985). In addition, Spanish speakers tend to produce a higher number of expressions conveying path of motion and relatively few conveying manner of motion (Özçalışkan & Slobin, 1999; Slobin, 2004). Interestingly, gestures that accompany motion descriptions show a similar pattern of crosslinguistic variation (Kita & Özyürek, 2003). Together, these findings led us to predict that Spanish speakers would be less successful in learning new words that express manner of motion as compared with path of motion. In the present study, we asked whether Spanish speakers would likewise tend to learn and retain new motion words in a way that conforms with the lexicalization of motion in Spanish. In particular, we asked whether Spanish speakers would show different patterns of learning for different motion types (path vs. manner) and, if so, whether this sensitivity would be affected by the modality in which these words were presented (speech-only vs. speech+gesture).
To address these questions we analyzed data from 117 native Spanish speakers (in Santiago, Spain) using a novel word-learning paradigm. Each participant viewed repeated blocks of animations that depicted either different manners (e.g., rolling, twisting; manner group) or different paths (e.g., upward, downward; path group). After each animation, half of the participants in each group saw a training video in which a man stated a novel word for the motion just shown (e.g., ‘derlu’; speech-only condition); the other half saw the same man stating a novel word while producing an iconic gesture depicting the motion (e.g., ‘derlu’+move finger rapidly in circles; gesture+speech condition). Participant learning was assessed in a forced-choice task at the end of each block during training, and retention was assessed one week later (delayed posttest).
Our results showed a main effect of motion type (manner, path; F(1, 113)=62.03, p < .001, ηp 2=.354 ) across test blocks 1-to-4 (Fig.1). By contrast, there was no effect of modality (speech-only, gesture+speech; F(1, 113)=0.65, ns). Posttest analysis compared performance immediately after training (end of block 4) and one week later. This analysis revealed similar patterns: there was an effect of motion type (F(1, 89)=22.98, p < .001, ηp 2=.205), but not modality (F(1, 89)=0.24, ns). In particular, Spanish speakers were more likely to learn and retain verbal labels for motions that referred to path versus manner variations. Further, performance did not differ as a function of training modality (speech-only vs. gesture+speech conditions). Overall, these results suggest that Spanish speakers are better able to learn and to retain novel words that express path as opposed to manner information, consistent with lexicalization patterns in Spanish. We discuss possible implications for motion word learning in second language acquisition.
(See the attached PDF for figures)
References
Özçalışkan, Ş. & Slobin, D. I. (1999). Learning ‘how to search for the frog’: Expression of manner of motion in English, Spanish and Turkish. In A. Greenhill, H. Littlefield & C. Tano (Eds.), Proceedings of the 23rd Boston University Conference on Language Development (pp. 541-552). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Press.
Kita, S. & Özyürek, A. (2003). What does crosslinguistic variation in semantic coordination of speech and gesture reveal? Evidence for an interface representation of spatial thinking and speaking. Journal of Memory and Language, 48(1), 16-32.
Slobin, D. I. (2004). Verbalized events: A dynamic approach to linguistic relativity and determinism. In S. Niemeier & Dirven (Eds.), Evidence for linguistic relativity (pp. 107-138).
Talmy, L. (1985). Lexicalization patterns: Semantic structure in lexical forms. In T. Shopen (Ed.), Language typology and lexical description: Vol. 3. Grammatical categories and the lexicon (pp. 57-149). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Marlene E. Burke (Louisiana) and Michele I. Feist (Lafayette)
Saturday, May 19th
Buchanan B215
Embodied views of language suggest that spatial concepts, formed from our direct physical experience with our environment, are reflected in more abstract uses of spatial language (Bergen et al., 2007; Glenberg & Kaschak, 2002; Lakoff, 1987; Zwaan, 1999). These accounts find support in experimental evidence that processing spatial language involves the activation of imagery corresponding to the axis of movement (Richardson et al., 2003; Zwaan et al., 2004). Although several mental simulation studies have explored specific relationships between motion and language, the majority have tended to focus on the activation of mental imagery following language comprehension tasks. Does embodied experience likewise influence lexical choices in production? The aim of the present study is to investigate whether direction of vertical movement (i.e., moving up/down) influences word choice describing horizontal movement (go up/down the street).
The focus of our examination is the use of the spatial terms up and down to describe motion with no vertical component. Although generally associated with vertical movement, the words up and down are frequently used to describe horizontal movement (e.g., He walked up the street), as when giving directions. In this study, we asked whether participants’ lexical choices when giving directions would be influenced by their bodily movements and perceptions immediately prior to giving directions.
150 individuals were randomly approached at five different locations on the University of Louisiana at Lafayette campus and asked to provide directions to a nearby pizzeria. The participants were sampled at five locations, with 30 volunteers at each: 1) sitting on benches facing a large flight of exterior stairs; 2) walking up the exterior staircase; 3) walking down the exterior staircase; 4) sitting at an outdoor café (not facing the stairs); and 5) walking along the sidewalk behind the building (with no stairs in sight). Each participant was approached individually and asked for directions to the pizzeria.
Based on the embodiment hypothesis, we predicted that enacting or perceiving physical movement would have an effect on word choice whereby upward motion would lead to more use of up and downward motion would lead to more use of down in participants’ directions. As predicted, use of up and down differed significantly amongst the sampled groups, X2(12, N = 150) = 50.26, p < .001 (Figure 1). Specifically, we observed a tendency to use both up and down amongst participants who were stopped while walking up the stairs (M = .57), and a tendency to just use down amongst participants who were stopped while walking down the stairs (M = .47); participants who did not have stairs in their fields of view (those walking behind the building and those seated at the café) tended to use neither up nor down in their directions (M = .53). These findings are consistent with an embodied view of language and provide ecologically valid support for the claim that non-literal uses of spatial terms may retain strong connections to embodied physical movement associated with the terms.
(See the PDF attached below for figures)
References
Bergen, B., Lindsay, S., Matlock, T., & Narayanan, S. (2007). Spatial and linguistic aspects of visual imagery in sentence comprehension. Cognitive Science, 31(5), 733-764.
Glenberg, A., & Kaschak (2002). Grounding language in action. Psychonomic bulletin review, 9(3), 558-565.
Lakoff, G. (1987). Women, fire, and dangerous things: What categories reveal about the mind. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
Richardson D., Spivey M., Barsalou L., McRae K. (2003). Spatial representations activated during real-time comprehension of verbs. Cognitive Science, 27, 767– 780.
Zwann R. (1999). Embodied cognition, perceptual symbols, and situation models. Discourse Processes, 28, 81–88.
Zwaan R., Madden C., Yaxley R., & Aveyard M., (2004). Moving words: dynamic representations in language comprehension. Cognitive Science, 28, 611–619.