Cognitive Linguistics explains conversion as a metonymic mechanism that enables morphological recategorization in event schemata (Dirven, 1999). The most productive type of conversion in English takes place from noun to verb and is the result of a conceptual transfer within an action, location or essive schema. Denominal verbs with human body parts are often cited as examples of this phenomenon (Clark & Clark, 1979; Gibbs, 1999; Radden & K & ouml;vecses, 1999; Baeskow, 2021), and are assumed to happen mainly within the action schema, frequently guided by the instrumental function associated with that particular body part, which serves as a prototypical carrier of salience, or focus. This corpus-assisted analysis explores the frequency of metonymic foci of body-part denominal verbs, aiming to prove that, while the instrument focus is decisive in noun-verb body-part conversion, there are other semantic factors that play a highly prominent role in directing the focus of metonymic transfer.
Abstract This corpus study investigates the principle of end-weight, i.e., the role of constituent weight in determining postverbal NP and PP order, in Slovak. Drawing on a 266-token sample from the Slovak National Corpus, I examine whether Slovak, reflecting findings from research on English, exhibits a preference for placing lighter constituents before heavier ones and whether Heavy NP Shift (HNPS) occurs when NPs outweigh PPs. Corroborating experimental studies, the findings reveal that Slovak prefers light-before-heavy ordering, underscoring the cross-linguistic applicability of the principle of end-weight. HNPS is observed in the Slovak data as well. Furthermore, the results suggest that while weight is a robust predictor for postverbal NP and PP ordering, the influence of verb transitivity and individual verbs is less clear. As the first corpus-based investigation of weight effects in Slovak, the study demonstrates that weight effects are a general cognitive constraint that also applies to Slovak.
Abstract This study investigates the metaphorical polysemy and cognitive mechanism of tactile terms through a comprehensive analysis of the Chinese lexeme yìng ( 硬 , ‘hard’), an area that remains less explored than visual terms among sensory vocabulary. Using a corpus-based behavioral profile methodology, 1,300 occurrences of yìng from the CCL Corpus were annotated across 41 contextual features, encompassing 118 variable levels. Hierarchical agglomerative clustering, random forest classification, and correlation analyses were employed to organize the 13 identified metaphorical senses into three coherent categories, each characterized by approximately ten salient features and their patterned co-occurrences. The findings provide an empirically grounded account of how tactile metaphors differ from visual ones in cognitive schemas (interaction-centrality vs attributes-centrality), illustrating how embodiment shape metaphorical extensions in modern Chinese.
This study investigates the metaphorical polysemy and cognitive mechanism of tactile terms through a comprehensive analysis of the Chinese lexeme ying ( 'hard'), an area that remains less explored than visual terms among sensory vocabulary. Using a corpus-based behavioral profile methodology, 1,300 occurrences of ying from the CCL Corpus were annotated across 41 contextual features, encompassing 118 variable levels. Hierarchical agglomerative clustering, random forest classification, and correlation analyses were employed to organize the 13 identified metaphorical senses into three coherent categories, each characterized by approximately ten salient features and their patterned co-occurrences. The findings provide an empirically grounded account of how tactile metaphors differ from visual ones in cognitive schemas (interaction-centrality vs attributes-centrality), illustrating how embodiment shape metaphorical extensions in modern Chinese.
This corpus study investigates the principle of end-weight, i.e., the role of constituent weight in determining postverbal NP and PP order, in Slovak. Drawing on a 266-token sample from the Slovak National Corpus, I examine whether Slovak, reflecting findings from research on English, exhibits a preference for placing lighter constituents before heavier ones and whether Heavy NP Shift (HNPS) occurs when NPs outweigh PPs. Corroborating experimental studies, the findings reveal that Slovak prefers light-before-heavy ordering, underscoring the cross-linguistic applicability of the principle of end-weight. HNPS is observed in the Slovak data as well. Furthermore, the results suggest that while weight is a robust predictor for postverbal NP and PP ordering, the influence of verb transitivity and individual verbs is less clear. As the first corpus-based investigation of weight effects in Slovak, the study demonstrates that weight effects are a general cognitive constraint that also applies to Slovak.
It is still inconclusive whether lexicosemantics is prone to ageing. We examined age-related modulation in Chinese word recognition by crossing three age groups (young adults, middle-aged adults, elderly adults) with three verb types (high-exertion action verbs, low-exertion action verbs, natural-change action verbs) in a semantic categorization task. Mixed-effects models on accuracy (GLMM) and response times (LMM) controlled for lexical covariates. We found clear age-related declines in action verb processing. Critically, the predicted graded pattern did not hold uniformly across ages: in young adults, high-exertion and low-exertion action verbs did not differ and both were faster than natural-change action verbs; with increasing age, the profile reconfigured, yielding the largest slowing for low-exertion verbs, smaller slowing for high-exertion verbs, and the smallest slowing for natural-change verbs. These findings indicate age-related changes in sensorimotor simulation and highlight task demands and embodiment strength as key modulators of ageing trajectories in Chinese word recognition.
This study presents a multifactorial aspectual analysis of the Mandarin completive markers w & aacute;n and hao. Using multiple correspondence analysis, conditional inference trees, and conditional random forests, we examine the distribution, prototypical features, and conditional importance of the constructions V w & aacute;n and V hao across thirteen semantic and syntactic variables. The results indicate that eight variables, namely creativity, situation type, telicity, agentivity, concreteness, boundedness, animacy, and definiteness, play the most significant roles in distinguishing between these two constructions. In contrast, five variables, including semantic orientation, dynamicity, the aspectual marker le, plurality, and durativity, demonstrate comparatively weaker influence. We argue that specialization and generalization are the cognitive mechanisms underlying variation between the two constructions. The study proposes the Completive Aspect Hypothesis, refining Bybee's classification of the completive aspect, and offers empirical support for Chinese completive-aspect typology and second language pedagogy.
In dialogue, individuals can effortlessly understand each other's metaphors and continue the metaphoric topics, yet this underlying cognition remains unclear. Drawing on interactive alignment theory and conceptual metaphor theory, this study defines cross-speaker repetition or association of metaphors in dialogue as "metaphoric alignment". We established a corpus and analysis paradigm for investigating the patterns, characteristics, and cognitive mechanisms of metaphoric alignment in Chinese face-to-face dialogue, taking both focal and global perspectives. Results show four main types and seven sub-types of focal metaphoric alignment, with consistency most frequent. Global metaphoric alignment includes synchronous, divergent, convergent, and mixed patterns, with synchronous pattern dominant. For the cognitive mechanisms, focal metaphoric alignment involves four ways of construal, whereas global metaphoric alignment is semantically driven and unfolds through three patterns of development. Such processes demonstrate a dynamic development from metaphor emergence to entrenchment. In the end, a Cognitive Model of Metaphoric Alignment is proposed.
While abundant studies have examined cognitive efforts required for metaphor comprehension, what happens during metaphor production remains underexplored. Based on 19 triadic conversations produced by 57 participants, this paper examines conversational behaviours associated with the use of metaphors and deliberate metaphors in particular. The data includes 2,631 conversational turns, of which 690 contained metaphors and 45 had deliberate metaphors. Four conversational behaviours were examined: turn duration, within-turn pause duration, between-turn gap duration, and co-speech gestures. Compared with turns without metaphors, those with metaphors lasted significantly longer and were more likely to co-occur with gestures, whereas differences in within-turn pause and between-turn gaps were not significant. The results suggest that metaphor production involves more cognitive efforts or a stronger awareness of the ongoing communication; however, metaphor processing by the listener does not necessarily take more time. The effect of metaphor deliberateness was not significant in any of the conversational behaviours.
This research, based on Dynamic Categorization Theory, investigates the diachronic semantic evolution of the Chinese verb (sic) ji & emacr;, emphasizing the influence of metaphor and metonymy in expanding categories and restructuring semantics. The study identifies three key stages: (1) initial conservative changes within the same category, originating from embodied hand-action semantics through metonymy; (2) conservative transitions across neighboring or similar categories, facilitated by the contact-connection schema that allows metaphorical expansion from physical touch to conceptual domains like relationships and information exchange; (3) decategorization, where certain constructions transition from verbs to nouns or grammatical elements, diminishing typical action-related characteristics. The evolution of (sic) ji & emacr; progresses from concrete actions to abstract relational and structural-functional meanings, illustrating the interplay between metaphor and metonymy in the process of grammaticalization. This case serves as a noteworthy example of semantic transformation in verbs and constructionalization.
In this paper we explore conceptual overlap in two signed languages. Our data comes from natural discourse in Brazilian Sign Language (Libras) and Argentine Sign Language (LSA). Our analysis relies on theoretical constructs derived from cognitive grammar, which posits just three core elements: semantic structures, phonological structures, and symbolic structures which are associations of the first two. Signed languages use symbolic structures we call Places to conceptualize space in signed discourse. We show that one way signed languages express conceptual overlap is with phonological overlap: placing signs at the same spatial location. Our data demonstrates how Places establish nominal referents and discourse topics, create associations among referents, and structure the flow of information. We also offer an account of agreement as a type of conceptual overlap expressed by phonological overlap. A currently popular account of agreement in signed languages argues that these expressions consist of "fusions" of language and gesture. Our account relies solely on linguistic elements and is compatible with that of agreement as multiple symbolization.
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) uses metaphor extensively in its exercises with clients (Hayes et al., 2012). This paper analyzes a corpus of ACT defusion exercises to identify the patterns of construal they typically evoke. Findings show frequent use of the Divided-Person metaphor (Lakoff, 1996), with the two aspects of the mind (the Self and Subject) operating within an actual or potential force dynamic (FD) configuration (Talmy, 2000). Two main types of configurations emerge. Deliteralization exercises show shifts in the balance of strength between the Subject and Self. Observation exercises draw a contrast between a steady-state FD configuration involving a coerced Agonist and a secondary steady-state FD pattern in which a potentially coercing force was no longer impinging on the Agonist. The results demonstrate how FD and the Divided-Person metaphor systematically combine to construe mental phenomenology and dispositions. The analysis thus sheds light on the conceptual structures underlying therapeutic discourse in ACT.
The present study investigates the influence of Mexican Spanish similative (e.g., he swims like a fish) and pretence constructions (e.g., he swims as if he were a fish) on those found in four Mesoamerican languages: Huasteca Nahuatl, Papantla Totonac, San Gabriel Huastec, and Uxpanapa Chinantec. Using predictive modeling, we demonstrate that these indigenous languages have not only borrowed the markers komo 'like' and komo si 'as if' from Mexican Spanish, but have also adopted the lexical preferences (e.g., verb lemmas) associated with these constructions. However, we also identify a number of syntactic differences in how locative and non-locative NPs are treated within similative and pretence constructions in these languages. These findings suggest that, in language contact scenarios, constructions are rarely replicated intact from one language to another. Furthermore, our analysis reveals that while the similative and pretence markers themselves are outcomes of matter replication, the verb lemmas in these constructions result from pattern replication.
The study provides a critical overview of metaphor identification methodologies and suggests further improvements to one of the most common procedures known as MIPVU. It presents the theoretical background to two major tasks of metaphor identification: the segmentation of text into linguistic units and determining their metaphoricity. The latter includes the demarcation of senses and the specification of source and target domain meanings. Difficulties involved in annotation include the establishment of boundaries to delimit metaphorical meaning-carrying elements, metaphoricity associated with word sequences rather than individual lexis, the treatment of compounds, particles and nominal inflections, as well as conflating or overlapping sense descriptions in the dictionary. Many of these issues are illustrated with a detailed analysis of Hungarian examples. A flexible but principled application of the procedure is recommended depending on the specific research agenda. The study advocates the utilization of the notion of decomposability in determining the metaphorical status of idiom-internal words and suggests a modification in MIPVU's treatment of compounds. Decisions taken early in the process of metaphor analysis have repercussions in later stages when source domains and mappings are identified or quantitative analysis is conducted.
The absolute frame of reference determines a fixed encoding order for cardinal direction compounds formed by pairing east, west, north, and south. However, the encoding order for diagonal direction compounds - based on an internal frame of reference - varies due to the competitive dynamics between structural pattern differentiation in horizontal and vertical directions. The dominant contender assumes the preceding position if its differentiation or stability is significantly greater than that of its competitor. This tug-of-war is influenced by language- specific cognitive styles: the figure-preference cognitive style in English, rooted in egocentric philosophy, and the ground-preference cognitive style in Chinese, based on object-centered philosophy. This distinction typically results in a reversed encoding order between Chinese diagonal directions and their English counterparts, with a minor proportion showing similar encoding orders.
This paper offers a semantic account of mood choice in non-subordinate subjunctive clauses, excluding those where the subjunctive is licensed by overt markers (e.g., Quizás ‘Perhaps’, Ojalá ‘I hope’/‘If only’). The analysis is based on the model proposed in García Yanes ( 2022 ; 2025b ), which has emerged as a compelling alternative to epistemic, truth-conditional, and pragmatic accounts of mood. From this perspective, the use of the subjunctive in these clauses is understood as a result of their profiling of a goal process within a force dynamics pattern, described from the antagonist’s perspective, as required by the model. Their different interpretations — as directives, optatives, or emotional-evaluatives — are, in turn, explained by their association with different types of force-dynamic patterns — sociophysical, volitive-epistemic, and emotional-attitudinal, respectively — a distinction that also underlies the categorization of nominal clauses proposed in my earlier work.
