Abstract Although all sensory modalities are grounded in embodied experience, English shows a strong tendency towards visual lexicalisation, with visual vocabulary extending beyond literal perception through recurrent contrasts such as dark/light and clear/obscured . These patterns are typically analysed in terms of conceptual metaphors such as KNOWLEDGE IS LIGHT and IGNORANCE IS DARKNESS. This study instead examines the image-schematic organisation of the visual expressions associated with such conceptual metaphors. Drawing on the Extended Conceptual Metaphor Theory (ECMT), the study analyses visual expressions across different contextual uses, identifying two co-occurring scalar dimensions of their metaphorical construal: accessibility and perceptual specification. The analysis shows that these dimensions are organised by the complementary image-schematic structures SOURCE-PATH-GOAL and CAUSES ARE FORCES. Together, these structures organise recurrent patterns of contextual metaphorical meaning across sensory, affective, epistemic, and cognitive domains, including cases where visual experience is construed through non-visual sensory vocabulary.
Abstract This article focuses on emotion expressions which are based on a body part term in the Srenge language of Papua New Guinea. These expressions make use of either the word apee ‘stomach’ or the word wanə ‘heart, chest’: for the most part, the first of these denotes other-oriented emotions such as anger and the second of these self-oriented emotions such as happiness, although the correlation is far from perfect. In the last part of the article, I show the difficulties in finding a correlate in Srenge of the semantic prime feel as proposed in the Natural Semantic Metalanguage. I conclude by suggesting that these findings be supplemented with ethnographic data on the cultural correlates of these emotion expressions in Srenge society.
Abstract This paper reassesses experiential correlation, a foundational construct in Conceptual Metaphor Theory, by addressing two persistent asymmetries: the marginalization of resemblance in metaphor research and the neglect of correlation as a motivator for metonymy. We argue for a dual thesis: (a) experiential correlation alone may be insufficient to license conceptual metaphor, requiring high-level resemblance, understood as an abstract evaluative similarity between source and target experiences, to achieve cognitive coherence; and (b) experiential correlation provides essential grounding for a broad range of conceptual metonymies, particularly situational and causal patterns such as EFFECT FOR CAUSE and CAUSE FOR EFFECT. Analyzing domains including verticality, temperature, size, weight, motion, and brightness, we show that high-level resemblance is a necessary licensing factor for correlation-based metaphors. We further indicate that causal metonymies operate systematically in hypallage, synesthesia, lexical-constructional integration, and metaphorical amalgams. These findings support a unified embodied account of metaphor and metonymy within Cognitive Linguistics.
Abstract This study examines lexical blends as morphologically complex constructions whose discursive positioning reveals principles at the morphology-pragmatics interface. Integrating constructionist approaches and work on information structure, the analysis suggests that blends may exhibit systematic patterns in two constructional schemas: focus-heavy configurations, where blends occupy focal positions that heighten salience and evaluative force, and pseudo-topicalization constructions, where an apparent topic frames a focal punchline. A core claim is that evaluative-attitudinal meaning becomes integrated into morphological form, constraining interpretation and strengthening discourse commitment. Using Reddit data, the study compares blends with non-blended alternatives: while these convey comparable propositional content, blends enhance focal salience, axiological commitment, and communicative impact. A qualitative, example-driven analysis suggests that morphological condensation into a single lexical unit, with semantic and evaluative content, functions as a discourse-organizing principle that enhances authority, facilitates social recognition, and generates portable stance markers. The study reconceptualizes word-formation and discourse organization as mutually constitutive processes.
Abstract The structure of coextension path fictive motion clauses in Estonian is examined through the combinations of four path nouns (traversable vs. non-traversable) and three motion verbs (2081 clauses in total). The corpus study reveals that although the Goal-over-Source asymmetry also holds in fictive motion sentences, Trajectory turned out to be the most frequently expressed spatial relation. Traversable and non-traversable subject nouns did not result in significantly different semantic structures in fictive motion clauses, though every individual verb-noun combination tended to have its own characteristic clausal behaviour. Finally, when manner was expressed, it mainly related to the shape of the path, though other dimensions of manner (e.g., speed, emotion, condition) were also featured. The results indicate the importance of a fine-grained analysis of fictive motion and provide evidence for a type-internal variability and diversity sensitive to verb as well as subject noun semantics.
Abstract This paper explores the concept of locality, first as a physical law dictating direct influence only between proximate entities in space and time, and second, as a conception about reality as it is constrained by locality. Drawing on principles of cognitive grammar, the paper proposes that locality is an experientially grounded, primordial conceptual archetype fundamental to language structure. An analysis of Argentine Sign Language (LSA) illustrates how Places—symbolic structures that map semantic content onto physical spatial locations—iconically leverage this conceptual archetype. The strategic spatial placement of signs creates phonological and conceptual contiguity, thereby instantiating Behagel’s law, which states that mentally related elements are placed syntactically close. The paper concludes that locality functions as a powerful conceptual archetype in human communication, enabling the construction of meaningful linguistic expressions through various forms of expressive closeness, including temporal contiguity for both signed and spoken languages and spatial overlap in signed languages.
Abstract The entire conceptual content represented by a single word in any one of its polysemous senses—which is generally copious—is also highly structured. Such a “plenary” meaning can first be divided into a “core meaning” and an “associated meaning”. For a second division—the focus here—the associated meaning can be subdivided into eight “sectors”: the infrastructure, holism, augment, disposition, recruitment, attitude, register, and atmosphere sectors. For example, the infrastructure sector consists of the largely unexamined presuppositions underpinning the core meaning; the holism sector is the implicit whole of which the core meaning is only a part; and the augment sector consists of the concepts conventionally associated with but incidental to the core meaning. Structure here also includes the distribution of attention over the plenary meaning. A word’s core meaning is generally more salient that any sector within its associated meaning, but “sector foregrounding” can reverse this ratio.
Abstract This article explores the interplay between perception and conceptualization in human language, focusing on how linguistic constructions reveal underlying cognitive processes. It examines the debate between perceptual conceptualism and nonconceptualism, considering whether perceptual content is inherently conceptual or if judgments based on perception require active conceptualization. The study centers on English constructions using the verb see followed by direct objects and either bare or to -infinitives, arguing that the bare infinitive construction corresponds to direct sensory perception, while the to -infinitive signals inference or conceptual judgment based on perception. Through detailed analysis of the linguistic evidence, it demonstrates that even perceptual verb constructions commonly blend sensory and inferential content, highlighting how states and absences may be inferred from direct perception. Ultimately, the article contends that perception is inseparable from cognitive and conceptual processes, underscoring the active interpretive role language plays in perceptual phenomena.
Abstract This study revisits a Danish verb-particle construction – namely, the ihjel -construction – by expanding upon a previous monovariate analysis. Employing a multivariate method to provide a more detailed constructional description, the analysis draws on principles from construction grammar and usage-based language theory. Drawing on data from a corpus of Danish, the paper argues that constructions – defined as form-meaning pairings – emerge from discourse and are shaped by repeated contextual features, which may inform constructionhood. It is further argued that a multidimensional perspective is necessary for understanding grammatical knowledge. Through this approach, the study provides new insights into the ihjel -construction and suggests that the construction and possibly verb-particle constructions in general are complex and mustidimensional.
The article examines expressions where auditory experiences are encoded as located in space (e.g. a voice came floating in through the train's open door). Such sound descriptions are studied in four languages: English, Russian, French and Japanese in an ad-hoc corpus of contemporary fiction. The study shows that sounds are most frequently encoded as being located where SOUND EMITTER is (e.g. There was a cry outside). This conceptualization is argued to be a language equivalent of the DISTAL theory of spatial hearing. Two other theories, MEDIAL and PROXIMAL, also have their equivalents in language data but are significantly less prominent. The finding contributes both to the fields of sensory linguistics and philosophy of perception, where the debate between the proponents of DISTAL, MEDIAL and PROXIMAL theories is an ongoing one. The article demonstrates both similarities and language-specific tendencies in how English, French, Russian and Japanese encode sound spatiality.
This paper investigates the semantic deviation and constructionalization of the you + N construction in Chinese. While previous research has identified the noun's semantic deviation in the you + N construction, the mechanisms and historical development behind these changes remain unclear. Drawing on data from the BCC and CNC corpora, the study employs variability-based neighbor clustering, binary logistic regression, and conditional inference tree analysis to explore stages of constructionalization and the impact of four predictor variables: grammatical function, degree adverb modification, degree noun, and evaluative context. Findings reveal that these variables have different functions and influences at various stages, with the noun's semantic features playing the most significant role. The study concludes that semantic deviation arises from the interplay between the verb's argument structure and the noun's descriptive semantics, contributing new insights into how evaluative meaning becomes embedded in grammatical constructions over time.
Scalar reasoning is endemic to macroeconomic thought and argumentation. The present article examines the uses of even among economists operating according to incommensurate models of capitalist economies. These economist generate mental spaces built on pragmatic scales (Fauconnier 1975) that, following Israel (2011), are sensitive to two semantic properties: quantity (q-value) and informativeness (i-value). Consistent with Kay (1990), the informative semantics associated with even can be mapped on to a valence axis of good-bad, while quantity semantics can be mapped onto either easy-hard or more-less axes. Rhetorically, the purpose of these scalar mental spaces tends to highlight recalcitrance of an economist opponent, conceding a premise as preparation for positing an argumentum ad absurdum, and in the case of blending to explain the force dynamic (Talmy 2000) properties driving inflation. This essay highlights the range of mental space configurations used in conceptualizing how the economy works.
This study examines and compares the development of the words emocja in Polish and emotion in Danish. Quantitative data indicate that emocja has seen a significant rise in usage over the past three decades, surpassing the traditional term uczucie `feeling'. In contrast, emotion remains marginal in Danish, with f (R) lelse `feeling' continuing to dominate. Qualitative analysis suggests that the rise of emocja in Polish is closely linked to the country's post-communist opening to Western culture. Two key discourses consumerist and psychological have played a major role in increasing in increasing frequency, broadening scope, and enhancing its connotations. In the Danish context, however, the semantic profile of emotion is seen as conflicting with core elements of Danish culture, particularly its restrained emotional expression and emphasis on community. Consequently, a different set of linguistic categories is employed in contexts where Polish uses emocja.
This article explores the discrepancies between cognitive and sociocultural perspectives within Cognitive Linguistics, focusing on Dirk Geeraerts's presentation of the Sociosemiotic Commitment. It highlights the challenges in reconciling these two frameworks, particularly the discrepancies in their theoretical views of language and the concept of meaning. The article places particular emphasis on the cultural models of language standardization, providing a critical analysis of the rationalistic and romantic models, and introducing the disciplinary model that historically precedes both. The findings demonstrate that the concept of a standard language is irrelevant for indigenous languages and does not emerge with the advent of writing; rather, it arises in early modern states and is linked to specific normative ideological demands that govern the aesthetics of classicism at large. From the cognitive perspective, this concept can be replaced by the notion of the verbal channel within multimodal communication.
This paper examines the use of ideophones in motion event descriptions in Kupsapiiny (Southern Nilotic; Uganda; anti-verb-framed with path-affix satellites) and Sidaama (Highland East Cushitic; Ethiopia; verb-framed). Both languages lack verbs for expressive manners of motion, but Kupsapiiny has a much richer inventory of expressive ideophones that can be used to describe motion events than Sidaama. This contradicts Schaefer's (2001) hypotheses that ideophones are largely restricted to verb-framed languages and that they primarily depict expressive manners of motion, which are absent from these languages' lexical inventories. Although ideophones might seem irrelevant to Talmy's (2000) motion typology, a closer examination reveals that while both languages lack direct means of expressing detailed manners through verbs, adverbs, or ideophones, Kupsapiiny distinguishes various sounds using ideophones, only some of which are loosely associated with specific motions, whereas Sidaama often conceptualizes unusual manners as postures, with ideophones only occasionally used to describe posture changes.
Talmy (2000) describes force dynamics as a conceptual category that captures how entities interact with respect to applying force, resisting or overcoming force, blocking force, or removing blockage. In language, force dynamics manifests itself both in lexical elements and in grammatical structures. Widely discussed examples of the latter include causative constructions and modal auxiliaries. This paper argues that force-dynamic meanings are present in a number of syntactic constructions in English that have up to this point received little or no attention with regard to this conceptual category. On the basis of corpus data from the COCA (Davies 2008) and collostructional analysis (Stefanowitsch and Gries 2003), it is shown that force dynamics characterize the constructional meaning of English object-to-subject raising (Mair 1987, Langacker 1995), subject complement clauses with ing-forms (Hilpert 2010), and the split infinitive construction (Huddleston and Pullum 2002, Perales-Escudero 2010). Collostructional analyses indicate that the three construction types are systematically associated with networks of force-dynamic scenarios that are organized in a semantic map. In addition, the three constructions exhibit coercion effects in which they impose their meanings on lexical elements that are themselves not inherently force-dynamic. These findings are discussed in terms of their implications for current usage-based network models of language (Diessel 2019, 2023, Schmid 2020).
This study explores the cognitive mechanisms underlying spatial conceptualization in Vietnamese, focusing on the directional markers ra (`out') and vdo (`into') in contrast with their English equivalents. Using a cognitive linguistic framework and bilingual corpus analysis, the study reveals that, unlike English, which primarily employs goal-oriented prepositions, Vietnamese conceptualizes spatial relations through containment schemas and hierarchical reference frames. Vietnamese conceptualizes motion based on interior/exterior contrasts, narrow/wide spaces, and regional axes (e.g., vdo Nam `into the South,' ra Bdc `out to the North'), while English focuses on endpoints with prepositions like into or to. The findings highlight key differences in spatial cognition, particularly in directional conceptualization and sociocultural influences. This study contributes to cognitive linguistics, cross-linguistic spatial representation, and translation studies, offering insights into how language-specific structures shape conceptualization and influence meaning construction across different linguistic systems.
This paper examines the co-occurrence tendency of motion ideophones with different kinds of motion verbs (Ibarretxe-Antunano, 2005; Toratani, 2012) as manifested in Japanese. A total of 2429 co-occurrences of motion verbs and ideophones extracted from the 100-million-word corpus of written Japanese (BCCWJ) were analyzed. A comparison of the results with the overall frequencies of different verbs in the same corpus reveals that motion ideophones tend to collocate better with manner verbs, occurring with a disproportionally large number of manner verbs in spite of their relative infrequency in this language. An item-by-item analysis further shows that individual ideophones tend to occur with manner or path verbs that contain meanings related to ideophones, analyzed in the revised framework of semantic grids of ideophones (c pound Ibarretxe-Antunano, 2019). Strikingly, motion ideophones tend not to co-occur with simple deictic verbs, and this finding is discussed in relation to the pragmatics of informativeness.
