July 31-Aug 2, 2009 • The University of California, Berkeley
Summaries and Abstracts
Plenary Speakers
Frames and Constructions: Putting Them Together
In this talk I will show how the basic FN lexical database recognizes a variety of linguistic features of lexical units, and how information about grammatical constructions can be provided in ways that use very similar conceptual and annotational tools. A major goal is to show how the integration of constructional and lexical information can give a more complete picture of sentence meanings in English. Most constructions have meanings of their own, so putting them together amounts to articulating the elements of lexical meanings with those of the constructional meanings.
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Gradualness of Linguistic Change: Can Construction Grammar Meet the Challenge?
If a Canoe Can be Carved from Every Log Why Can't a Log be Carved into Every Canoe?
Neural Grammar: Why the Brain Matters for Construction Grammar
Making the Case for Construction Grammar: Foundations, Functionality, Facts, and Fighting Back
Frame Semantics for Language Technology
Typology and Usage: Beyond Verb-framed and Satellite-framed
Selected Talks
A Construction-Theoretic Approach to Possessive Relatives
There is an unusual type of prenominal non-subject relative construction, typified by Tundra Nenets, which challenges standard notions of locality in the expression of subject pronominal arguments associated with the verbal head of the relative modifier. These relatives are morphosyntactically identical to nominal possessive constructions in the languages, and hence are referred to as possessive relatives. We provide a construction-theoretic analysis in which several independent constructions (modification, possessives, and non-finite constructions) are shown to motivate the form and interpretation of possessive relatives. We contrast this construction-theoretic approach to a tree-theoretic one.
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The Emergence of Dative Sickness in 19th Century Icelandic
'Dative Sickness' in Icelandic (the change from accusative to dative subjects) has been explained in the generative literature as a change from idiosyncratic to thematic case marking. I show in my investigation that the two constructions occupy the same semantic field, which undermines the generative explanation, suggesting instead an analysis based on type frequency. A further comparison of the use of the dative subject construction in Old and Modern Icelandic reveals that one of its subconstructions has gained salience from Old to Modern Icelandic, which in turn explains the late onset of Dative Sickness in the history of Icelandic.
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Revisiting Word Classes: The Case of Hebrew Adverbs
The paper pays tribute to Fillmore’s insights into lexical structure, the nature of grammatical constructions, and the inseparability of lexicon and grammar. Typological and psycholinguistic criticisms of the open-class/closed-class distinction as too dichotomous combined with corpus-based research of our own lead us to propose that linguistic elements be ranged along a cline rather than divided between “lexical” versus “grammatical” areas. Hebrew adverbs are analyzed for structure and function as a disparate group of intermediate constructions that are neither semantically autonomous open-class nor grammatically structure-dependent closed-class. Rather, like other “between-class” elements, they depend essentially on discourse-embedded considerations for their interpretation.
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Active Zones Revisited and Revised
The distinction between active zones and metonymy has been considerably blurred in cognitive literature. In particular, Langacker (2000) defined the concept of active zone so broadly that it became descriptively useless. I suggest that active zones should be restricted to Whole for Part transfers whereby Part is vague, i.e., in prototypical cases, it is not conceptualized and lexicalized. Also the grammatical phenomena, e.g. raising and reduced raising sentences like This book is difficult, are better accounted for in terms of grammatical constructions and formal metonymy whereby part of a construction is used to access the whole construction.
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Illusions of Simplicity: Frames, Constructions, and Simulation in Concrete Poetry
In this paper, I will extend the discussion of cognitive mechanisms which integrate visual and language forms to explain concrete poems in which linguistic forms themselves are treated as a source of visually prompted meaning. Among others, I will argue that this poetic form relies on a particularly compact interaction of conceptual simulation, frame evocation, and blending. Specifically, these poems appeal to the reader/viewer by employing language forms themselves as prompts for visual evocation of frames, without necessarily communicating any propositional content. I will propose a framework for interconnecting this poetic mode with broader linguistic and literary interests.
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From Frame to Multiframes: The Case of break in English and its Near Synonyms
This paper presents a frame-based comparison of English break with near-synonyms and with French translation equivalents such as rompre, casser and briser. Corpus data show semantic and syntactic clusters, with family resemblances between shared referents, but with category extensions being motivated rather than predictable. Typologically, English makes more use of verb-particle constructions such as break up/down/through/in/out, for meanings which French would cover with lexical verbs; but each of these V-particle constructions has its own cluster of semantic and syntactic characteristics.
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Size Noun Expressions as Non-Canonical Quantifiers: A Diachronic Constructional Approach
In this paper I consider whether the expressions a lot(s)/load(s)/bunch of in their quantifying uses can be considered as proper quantifiers from the radically functional grammatical perspective set out in Langacker (1991), in which the organization of the NP is primarily determined by the functions of type specification, instantiation, quantification and grounding. The general point of the paper is that adding an explicitly corpus-based functional perspective to Langacker’s (Forthcoming a, b) structurally-oriented account of grammaticalizing quantifying expressions helps reconstructing the constructional grammaticalization path from source to target and assessing the stages and extent of decategorialization more accurately.
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Towards a Dialogic Construction Grammar: A Corpus-based Approach to Interactional Grounding Strategies and Ad Hoc Routines
Although construction grammar stresses the conventional association between grammatical form and pragmatic meaning, it has only recently started to inquire into the specific constructional repertoire of spoken language. The present paper ties in with the development of a dialogic construction grammar by introducing a dimension of online syntax in conversation. It is argued that in the process of interactional alignment between speakers, local constructional routines are established. These ad hoc constructions serve the process of interactionally grounding the ongoing discourse. A corpus-based analysis reveals the scope of the phenomenon, the cognitive processes involved and its interpersonal effects.
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From Motion Frames to Grammar: A Usage-based Model of Construction Learning
Usage-based approaches to language acquisition assume that all aspects of the problem should encompass meaning and communicative function. But the introduction of meaning and function is not guaranteed to make the learning problem more tractable. This paper identifies two structural conditions on linguistic representation, inspired by frame semantics and construction grammar, that play a critical role in facilitating a usage-based model of grammar learning. The model exploits both frame-based semantic structure and cross-domain constructional structure to learn motion-based constructions, demonstrating the importance of both kinds of structure for putting meaning to effective use in grammar learning.
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(Inter)subjectivity in Neuter Demonstratives: Spanish esto vs. eso
Through an analysis based on a corpus of informal Spanish conversation, I will show that Spanish neuter demonstratives esto and eso have developed new, non-deictic meanings which can be analyzed in terms of (inter)subjectivity. I will look at the use of esto vs. eso in three specific combinatories where this feature is particularly relevant. (i) In evaluative judgements, eso is used more frequently. (ii) Eso es is more frequent as an ascent marker than esto es. (iii) In combination with es que (which presents a proposition as undisputable), eso is the preferred form.
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BioFrameNet, a FrameNet Extension to the Domain of Molecular Biology
The present work introduces BioFrameNet, an extension of FrameNet to the molecular biology domain. We examine the syntactic and semantic combinatorial possibilities exhibited in the language of scientific writings in this domain to get a better understanding of its grammatical properties. BioFrameNet follows FrameNet's grounding in Frame Semantics, and in doing so offers a new perspective on the scientific language of molecular biology and shows that such an approach produces a semantically insightful analysis of this specialized language.
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Construction Grammar, Frame Semantics, and Spoken Interaction
I investigate possible contributions of frames and constructions to the study of spoken interaction. Using the example of pragmatic markers, I demonstrate (a) how a construction grammar account can significantly further our understanding of their multifunctionality and apparent variability and thus contribute to accounting for their interpretability and learnability; and (b) that the notion of semantic frame can be used to address key pragmatic issues, such as situational appropriateness and linguistic choice.
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Lexicon Meets Constructicon: A FrameNet Approach to to-marked Quotative Constructions in Japanese
Building upon works in Japanese Philology and the author’s corpus-based analyses (2002,2009a,b), this paper analyzes a family of quotative to constructions, incorporating lexical characteristics of each construction, and proposing that the constructional polysemy is best captured via semantic frames and ‘frame-to-frame relations’. The presentation will: (i) present the class of bi-clausal constructions marked by the quotative particle to, delineating clusters of predicates characteristic of each type of construction (based on over 15,000 corpus examples); (ii) discuss how the essential features of Construction Grammar and FrameNet/Frame Semantics contribute to the integration of lexicon and construction, and the analysis of constructional polysemy.
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Transitivity, Subjectivity and Discourse: A Corpus Analysis of Spanish Argument Structure
We rely on a large syntactic data-base of contemporary Spanish to test to what extent the communicative function of argument structure is mainly related to the descriptive vs. evaluative (subjective) aims of discourse. First, we determine the degree of subjectivity of different textual genres in the corpus by means of quantitative analysis of morpho-syntactic and semantic features related to subjectivity. Then, we show how genre differences in the degree of subjectivity are related to number of arguments per clause, particular syntactic patterns, and coding devices such as lexical vs. pronominal clitic instantiations of participants.
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Causative Event Framing: The Causee Issue
This contribution looks into special properties of English causative verbs that show specific distribution patterns. These verbs license constructions like transitives/ditransitives, inchoatives, resultatives etc. This alternation means that some arguments may be missing or there are more than expected. Grammaticalization of these constructions therefore base on different conceptualizations(cf. Haase 2009). Goldberg 2001 has identified three determinants of patient omission under low discourse prominence in which the causee can be deleted. These determinants are atelicity, iterativity and de-emphasis. In this contribution, the reality of the determinants is assessed in a quantitative survey of constructions in which causee neglect can be observed.
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Framing Causal Events in Japanese and English
What typological difference(s) can account for the fact that English sentences that express 'X caused Y' are often best translated into Japanese not with a causal predicate, but as a sequence of events, with causation implicit? Using FrameNet methodologies on a corpus of English scientific articles and Japanese translations, we test several typological claims about the differences between Japanese and Western languages, including: (i) Western languages prefer object-orientation (identifying a central entity/Agent in a causal chain); Japanese prefers event-orientation (Tokieda 1950); (ii) Japanese describes changes of states in the world; English describes actors acting upon others.
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Deictic Verbs in Second Language Acquisition
Deixis is complex linguistic phenomenon that covers factors related to time, space and social aspects of the communicative context (Fillmore 1966), as well as the presuppositional content and the goal of motion (Gathercole 1977, 1978). This paper examines the acquisition of the deictic verbs ir-venir (‘go-come’) and llevar-traer (‘bring-take’) by L2 Spanish advanced learners whose L1 shows a different deictic pattern. It will be shown that these learners have problems with the usage of these verbs and produce a full lexical transfer (Stringer 2007). Data (Catalan, French, German, and Italian) are elicited using two stimuli: videos and grammar questionnaires.
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A Comparative Analysis of Chinese and English sadness: A Conceptual Metaphor Based Approach
To answer the following questions: (1) is the conceptual metaphor sadness is natural object shared by Chinese and English? (2) In view of similarities and distinctions between Chinese and English sadness metaphors, what universal cognitive features and culture-specific features can be illustrated? (3) As for sadness, what different understandings, attitudes and handling ways can be revealed? I attempt to seek out the most representative literary works embodying sadness in each language and analyze them at length. The discussion results will provide not only bilingual evidence to back up conceptual metaphor theory but also an exploratory angle to discuss cultural differences.
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Cases, Semantic Roles and Markedness
One way to study semantic roles is to see them as prototypes. One of the features relevant here is illustrated by animacy. Certain roles are typically animate, while others are not. This is also manifested in coding; marked roles bear more elaborate marking. In our talk, we will discuss the semantic roles from the viewpoint of animacy and markedness. Our goal is to show that conceptual markedness correlates with linguistic markedness. We also wish to show that a prototype analysis better captures the nature of semantic roles, and all definitions of semantic roles should also consider markedness and also animacy.
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The Korean Evidential Marker te- Revisited: Its Semantic Constraints and Distancing Effects in Mental Spaces Theory
The Korean retrospective evidential marker te- is unique in that it shows unexpected semantics such as eliciting psychological distance and deictic discontinuity. The aim of this paper is to argue that the marker -te can be given a unified treatment within Mental Spaces Theory. This paper also discusses its intriguing semantics of the marker including restrictions on (first and non-first) personal pronoun usages and their exceptions. In the discussion, this paper proposes that the marker’s unique semantics can be explained by mental space presupposition, rather than evocation, by off-staging her viewpoint (objectification) and by building space layers in MST.
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Corpus-based Analysis and Annotation of Constructions
We report on a year-long project to extend the tools and methodologies of FrameNet to analysis and annotation of grammatical constructions (Fillmore 1988, Sag 2007). Whereas a frame-based lexicon describes frames, their participants, and the words that evoke those frames, our constructicon contains a description of constructions—their morphosyntactic, semantic, and pragmatic properties—and their constituent parts. For instance, the Rate construction licenses the juxtaposition of two noun phrases (one quantified, one a-marked) resulting in a particular meaning: moving at 50 miles an hour. We will demonstrate our methodologies and illustrate some of the 70-some analyzed constructions.
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Spoken Language Syntax and Two Kinds of Frames
The paper brings together Fillmorean cognitive frames and interactional frames in an attempt to bring together Construction Grammar, spoken language data, and interaction. I shall claim that (1) Frames are an essential tool in organizing speech (both theoretically and conceptually); (2) The distinction between cognitive and interactional frames is not only useful but indispensable for a proper understanding of the structure of spoken language; (3) The concepts of Frame and Construction are both applicable to spoken language, and a proper understanding of speech requires both of the two.
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On the Use of Posture Verbs by French-Speaking Learners of Dutch: A Corpus-based Study
This paper analyzes the difficulties that French-speaking learners of Dutch have with the highly grammaticalized posture verbs staan ('stand'), liggen ('lie') and zitten ('sit'). Comparing L1 and L2 essays, our study confirms (i) the L2-speakers underusing these verbs; (ii) their occasional overuse of these posture verbs and (iii) their operating on grammaticised semantic distinctions drawn from the target language. Even if the categories used by L2 speakers may not be the same as those of native speakers, our analysis suggests that grammaticised semantic distinctions drawn from the target language do play an important role in the learner’s language.
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Italian FrameNet: Verbs of Visual Perception and their Polysemy
This paper presents a frame semantic analysis of Italian verbs expressing visual perception, with the ultimate goal of developing Italian FrameNet, a frame-based lexical resource for Italian analogous to the original English FrameNet (http://framenet.icsi.berkeley.edu). Generally, existing English frames can describe the behavior of Italian lexical units, but sometimes changes in frame structure are necessary. For instance, the Perception_active frame has been divided into two subframes according to the coreness status of the direction Frame Element. The work also sheds light on the polysemic patterns of Italian verbs of visual perception, which are often similar to those of their English counterparts.
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How Politeness is Embodied through Image Schemas
This paper attempts to explore how politeness is embodied through image schemas. It examines the politeness value of the linguistic expression in Chinese related to four pairs of image schemas: up/down, front/back, left/right, inside/outside. This case study tends to support the following claims: honorifics and litotes expressions are embodied through image schemas; Politeness Principle and Co-operative Principle are embodied through honorifics and litotes expressions through moral imagination based on image schemas; and eventually this research tends to support that principles of human ethics are embodied in many important ways.
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In this talk I will advance a frame-semantic account of antonymy, based on the idea that words are related to each other through a frame in which they participate (Fillmore 1992). I propose that two words are regarded as antonymous when their conceptual contents are placed in a certain conceptual opposition within the frame in which they co-participate. There are two such conceptual oppositions: directional opposition and polarity opposition. I will show that this account allows flexibility and multiple motivations found in antonyms that were not captured in structuralist analysis of antonymy (e.g., Lyons 1968).
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Integration of Frames: The Case of Japanese Noun-Modifying Constructions
Building on the ideas of frame semantics (e.g. Fillmore 1977, 1982), conceptual blending (Fauconnier and Turner 2002), and contextually-based construction grammar (Östman and Fried 2005), this paper argues for an analysis of the Japanese noun-modifying construction (NMC), which has the form of [[Predicate (finite)] Noun], in terms of integration of cognitive, discoursal and social factors including the interlocutors’ understanding of the world in which the NMC is used, and the genre of the discourse. I also suggest that this approach can offer an analytical basis for similar constructions to Japanese NMCs in other languages such as Chinese and Korean.
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The Dependence of Metaphor Theory on Frame Semantics: Time in the Source and Target Frames of Temporal Metaphors
While the temporal structure of the target frame of the Moving Ego metaphor is consistent with that of its source frame, a paradox seems to arise in the case of Moving Time. This has to do with the "later-to-earlier" metaphorical direction of movement of Moving Time, which has no counterpart in actual movement. The paradox is resolved by using Fillmorean conceptual/semantic frames to describe the aspects of experience that are relevant to the motivation of the metaphor.
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From Buds to Flowers: The Blossoming of Frames and Constructions in Child Language
In the course of their development, children make their way along successive transitory systems with their own internal coherence. We will present the paths they follow from gestures and first words to complex constructions embedded in their dialogic context, developing both linguistic, conversational and social skills necessary to full mastery of language. Our data shows that the use of grammatical forms is irregular in terms of canonical syntax but not random, and corresponds to particular semantic/pragmatic features. In our analyses we will underline the influence of Fillmore in the field of language acquisition seen from the perspective of French linguists.
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Semantic Frames May Give Rise to Evidential-like Pragmatics
Northern Pomo displays unusual Fluid-S person-sensitive case-marking for verbs in FrameNet’s Biological_Urge frame. 1st-person Experiencer subjects are usually Accusative (ACC), while corresponding 3rd-person subjects’ default is Nominative (NOM). Data from logophoric contexts and "expressive" speech acts reveal that 3rd-person ACC is licensed when the speaker has access to the subject’s internal experience. To receive ACC, the Experiencer subject must be Point-of-View (POV) center. Speaker is default POV-center, so ACC is 1st-person default. Context shift licenses 3rd-person ACC. Not all Experiencer subjects license this fluid-S pattern. Rather, Biological_Urge events involve privileged access to internal experience, thus giving rise to evidential-like effects.
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Metaphorical and Metonymic Motivation of Transitivization and Intransitivization
Within the cognitive linguistics paradigm scholars like Radden and Panther (2004) provide a thought-out overview of motivation. We focus on the constraining factors, spelled out in the form of high-level metaphors and metonymies, which underlie transitivization and intransivization. For instance, high-level metaphors like an experiental action is an effectual action allow laugh to be compatible with the caused-motion construction. Moreover, the possible intransitivization of some predicates (like spill in The coffee spilt on my shirt) in the context of the inchoative and middle constructions is also constrained by high-level metaphorical and metonymic activity (e.g. the process for action metonymy).
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Why is This Day Different from All Others?
Following Fillmore (2002), which characterizes the realization of calendar units (CUs) and calendar subunits (CSUs) in temporal location constructions, this paper considers lexical instances of deictic period names in Hebrew. The lexical day name hayom (the-day) – ‘today’ is a relatively simple instantiation of the LTN (last-this-next) construction, and strikingly demonstrates the affinity between CUs and LTN. The analysis reveals idiosyncrasies that can be motivated (e.g. maxar – ‘tomorrow’, maxratayim (“two tomorrows”) – ‘the day after tomorrow’), yet not predicted. This work demonstrates the efficacy of Construction Grammar for various grammatical phenomena within the morphological and lexical dimension of grammar.
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Novel Metaphors of Time, Experiential Grounding and Cultural Models: Evidence from Modern Greek
The present paper seeks to explore figurative creativity with reference to time conceptualization. The objective is two-fold; on the one hand, to explore the experiential grounding of novel metaphors of time attested in poetry and, on the other, to investigate whether novel metaphors reify the cultural models underlying temporal cognition in Modern Greek. On the basis of the above, the controversial issue of metaphorical universality vs. cultural diversity will be discussed. The research is based on an original corpus of poems that have been collected from online anthologies of Modern Greek poetry.
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Automatic Induction of FrameNet Lexical Units
Many attempts to integrate FrameNet in NLP systems for tasks such as QA and RTE have so far failed. Recent studies indicate that the main reason for the lack of success lies in the limited coverage of FrameNet. Indeed, the FrameNet database only contains around 10,000 lexical units. In this work, we investigate the applicability of distributional and WordNet-based models on the task of lexical unit induction, i.e. the expansion of FrameNet with new lexical units. Experimental results show that our distributional and WordNet-based models achieve good level of accuracy and coverage, especially when combined.
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Frames Predict Null-Complement Interpretations
Despite the idiosyncrasies of null-complement phenomena that Fillmore (1986) discusssed, much research has pursued large-scope, single-factor explanations, in particular, in terms of Aktionsart (Rappaport Hovav & Levin 1998) and selectional restrictions (Resnik 1993). We argue instead for a limited implicational regularity tying the interpretation type of an omitted argument to the frame membership of its predicator. We show that our account is robust and that the exceptions to it are well motivated. Importantly, our account of null-complement interpretation suggests that frame-specific roles are relevant to syntax, rather than only roles that can be read off Aktionsart.
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Framing Instrumental Roles in Titles of Medical Abstracts: A Combined Conceptual and Modelling uml Approach
We describe the instrumental role in FrameNet as part of causal action chains inspired by Langacker and Talmy. In medical terminology/LSP, titles in medical research articles display both instrumentals and causal cues about patient states, causes and effects on the one and subtypes of medical instrumentals, like devices, substances, techniques or statistical research methods on the other. Patterns revealed take into account subdiscipline and instrumental subtype variation in about 150 titles to show instrumentality is not limited to entity classes assumed by FrameNet and integrate these in a UML template accessible to conceptual modeeling by the non-linguists like IT engineers.
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Primary Metaphors as a Tool for Cross-Linguistic Research
Primary metaphors are based on direct correlations between subjective and sensorimotor experience within recurring experiential scenarios (Grady & Johnson 2002). We analyze the primary metaphors which figure prominently in the conceptualization of existence in English and Spanish (e.g. persisting is remaining erect and the mappings of the event-structure metaphor) and which may be variously related to the high-level mappings discussed in previous research on the metaphorical structure of existence in English (existence is space, etc). The comparison reveals certain cross-linguistic differences and allows exploring the usefulness for contrastive analysis of some potentially universal patterns described in Cognitive Linguistics.
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Spanish FrameNet in Question Answering
The present work reports on the preliminary results of applying Spanish FrameNet (SFN) data in a prototype QA system. SFN is developing a semantically and syntactically annotated lexical resource with broad lexical coverage that can be used as a training corpus for applications requiring automatic semantic role labeling. SFN data were used to train Shalmaneser, a software package for shallow semantic parsing, the output from which was integrated into a Spanish QA system developed on QALL-ME. Preliminary findings suggest that QA systems based on FS are easily portable to other domains, and other languages that have FrameNet lexical resources.
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‘Conversations’ in Image and Text: Fictive Interaction in Artists’ Statements and Accompanying Artworks
In my examination of 160 artists’ statements and 480 paintings from the series New American Paintings, I found that variations in the use of fictive interaction (here, metaphoric blends conceptualizing art as “speech”) in artists’ statements corresponded with artists’ tendency to produce either representational art (which incorporates identifiable subject matter) or non-representational art (which involves only abstract shapes and colors). For example, representational artists talk about “languages” of represented imagery, whereas non-representational artists prefer “languages” of colors and forms. I argue that artists tend to use conceptual blends with entailments that are harmonious with the goals of their artistic genre.
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oi na+V in Cypriot Greek: A Speech-act Construction at the Interface of Semantics, Pragmatics and Intonation
The expression oi(NEG) na(SUBJ)+V in Cypriot Greek realizing ‘requests not-to-X’ is investigated in spoken corpus, internet, and experimental data. I propose that, in contrast to the negated subjunctive na min+V, oi na+V additionally introduces into the discourse the affirmative of the proposition expressed in the negated clause as something the addressee is likely to do, thereby warning the addressee against V-ing. By uttering a friendly warning, the speaker takes the hearer’s perspective and advises him/her accordingly. This analysis extends previous ones attributing neg-raising to negative face, highlighting how both positive and negative face can motivate constructional structure in language.
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A Frame-based Approach to Connectives
This study proposes an extended FrameNet (FN: http://framenet.icsi.berkeley.edu/) approach for the description of connectives, and aims to clarify the meanings of connectives by scrutinizing the combinatorial patterns of semantic frames (termed “frame valence”) evoked by the two clauses conjoined with the connective. This approach is an extension and application of the FN framework to connectives that have not yet been fully described in the project. Taking while and since as examples, we argue that laying out such frame valences is a useful method for differentiating the meanings of polysemous connectives as well as for clarifying the differences between synonymous connectives.
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Discourse-Level Constructions: The Case of Speech and Thought Representation in English
This paper treats different modes of representing speech and thought in English as 'discourse constructions', building on Dancygier and Sweetser's (2005) notion of constructional compositionality whereby constructional meaning may be metonymically prompted by a salient aspect of form in the right context. By systematically taking into account contextual knowledge of the current and represented discourse situations alongside the contribution of the formal parameters of syntagmatic structure and deictic-expressive patterns, traditional category boundaries are re-drawn to produce, among other results, a sharper delineation of the indirect and free indirect types, and a new, narrator-oriented counterpart to the character-oriented free indirect type.
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Towards an Italian Legal FrameNet
The work presented here reports and ongoing project aims at building an Italian FrameNet-like resource specialized for the legal domain, extending and refining the general FrameNet. Applying Frame Semantics theory to the legal domain seems appropriate in order to (i) identify domain-specific syntactic realizations of frame-evoking lexical units and (ii) provide a frame-based representation of the events and situations depicted in legal texts. The observed close intertwining of legal language with ordinary language involves a number of challenging issues which are currently being faced. Consequently, a number of specific annotation strategies has been envisaged.
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Evaluating Frame Semantics as a Methodology to Describe How New Words Replace Old Words
The paper evaluates frame semantics (Fillmore (2006[1982]) as a methodology to describe new words replacing old words. According to Fillmore, alternate framing occurs when there is a desire to highlight some aspects of the situation and hide others. ‘People with disabilites’ and their labels over 40 years are studied. The framing has altered, from describing the person as utvecklingsstörd ‘disturbed’ or funktionshindrad ‘restrained’ to med funktionsnedsättning ‘having a reduction’. However, it can be discussed whether the new terms are merely “relexicalizing unchanged frames” (Fillmore). The study shows that Fillmore’s frame semantics still provides powerful tools concerning principles for new words.
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A Conceptual Approach to Phrasal-Verb Instruction
This paper proposes a novel method for phrasal-verb instruction, one that draws learners’ attention to metaphor and introduces them to the zone of activity, an image schema based on Lindner’s (1981) region of interactive focus. Through their own imaginative sketches, students represent how adverbial particles locate action or activity in a physical or metaphoric place. This enables second-language learners of English to find systematicity within phrasal verb meanings – no matter how opaque or figurative those meanings may be. The paper reports on implementation of the method within ESL courses, highlighting the promise cognitive linguistics holds for enriching language pedagogy.
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The Discourse Functions of Esphoric NPs as Reference-point Constructions
This paper deals with the discourse functions of ‘esphoric NPs’, i.e. NPs of the type the lights of a car, analyzed as binominal NPs which refer to two discourse referents and in which the referent of the first NP is identifiable through its conceptual relation with the referent of the second NP. These NPs are described as a type of reference-point construction, in which the target precedes the reference point. This paper will present a corpus study of (i) the identifiability status of the referents of esphoric NPs and (ii) their general discourse function.
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An Empirical Study on the Effect of Chinese Lexicalization Pattern on English Verb Learning: A Case of State-change Verbs
This paper aims to explore the possible effect of Chinese lexicalization pattern on Chinese-speaking learner’s interpretation of English state-change verbs. It is beneficial to know about the conceptual foundations or “lexicalization” for verb learning. To learn verbs, learners have to discover the lexicalization patterns of which meanings are typically conflated in a verb, and which are expressed by other means, such as particles or prepositional phrases. Mandarin and English are typologically complementary in their lexicalization of state-change event. This research finds out the features of Chinese-speaking learners in learning English state-change verbs, providing strategies for English verb teaching and learning.
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Metaphors of Envy and Jealousy in Chinese
This paper is aimed to analyze how Chinese express the emotions of envy and jealousy figuratively. The data has been systematically collected. The author claims first that the image of envy and jealousy in Chinese people's concept is a kind of sour fluid contained mainly in heart and sometimes in chest. Second, envy and jealousy in Chinese are conceptualized as hard-controlled strong force. Finally, the author tries to elaborate on the physiological effect caused by the force, that is, eyes turn red, compared to the green with envy in English and the conceptual explanations about the differences are under analysis.
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Conceptual Metaphor of love in Chinese: Before and After the Reform and Opening-Up
Since reform and opening-up great changes have taken place in China. As the society develops, the lifestyle and the way of thinking have also changed. Under such circumstances, has love also changed? Changes or not, what are the reasons lying behind? Among those factors (e.g. custom, politics, media), which ones have a relatively instant effect on conceptual metaphors while the rest a long cycle to function? This paper tries to answer these questions through comparative studies.
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Corpus-based Approach to Emotion Metaphors and Metonymies in Chinese: A Case Study of Anger
In this paper, a corpus-based approach has been adopted to systematically study the Chinese metaphorical expressions of anger (qi, literally means gas). CCL, a corpus built-up by Peking University, has been used for the research. Linguistic expressions of anger are classified into three groups with ‘得de’ is one of the most basic ways of realizing emotion metaphors in Chinese: first group involving internal organs, the location for both the fire and the gases; second group involving outer organs or seven apertures, outlet of internal fire or gas, and third group involving behaviors caused by release of anger.
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Semantic Creativity in Multi-Agent Political Discourse: Bringing Together Intersubjectivity and Discourse Dynamics
In this contribution, we aim at providing a combined approach to discursive sense-making by bringing together models of intersubjective meaning coordination (Verhagen 2005, 2007) and models of discourse dynamics, more specifally Langacker's (2001, 2008) Current Discourse Space model. We shed a closer light on how interlocutors express and share perspective via the construal operations of viewpoint, subjectification, and objectification, respectively. We are particularly interested in how speakers in adversarial discourse constellations like parliamentary discourse echo and creatively exploit the construal configuration set up by their interlocutors.
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