No label defined (Q4532008)

The present volume is editing the most prominent papers of the fourth Conference on ``Conceptual Structure, Discourse and Language'' (CSDL-4), held at Emory University in Atlanta (October) 1998. The range of the issues represented in this volume can be subsumed to the following main four topics (and classes): (I) The relationship of lexical and grammatical meaning; (II) Metaphor and conceptual integration; (III) Functional considerations; (IV) Experimental and developmental approaches. Here there are some brief remarks on the 16 enclosed papers. The first class of papers (I) contains five papers: (I-1) What WH Means (R. W. Langacker) analyzes the meaning of the English \(wh\)-formative (what, when, etc.), using the cognitive notion of establishing mental contact with one entity from a range of alternatives in the current shared (mental) discourse space. The parallelism between \(wh\)-forms and demonstrative \(th\)-forms (that, then etc.) sheds light on the broader implications for the analysis of interrogative and relative clauses cross-linguistically. (I-2) The Syntax of French Raising Verbs (M. Achard) using data from French, argues that the syntactic differences inherent in the raised versus unraised verb constructions are not merely structural, but are also a matter of more objective versus more subjective construal. (I-3) Copula and Time-Stability (Regina Pustet) investigates the factors which determine whether lexical items may or may not combine with copulas and entails that the relevant criteria correspond not necessarily to the traditional classification of nouns, verbs and adjectives, but rather to a number of semantic classes which reflect the hierarchy of time-stability of the concepts represented. (I-4) Some Aspects of Path-Like Iconicity in German Separable Verb Construction (M. B. Smith) examines the separability of verb prefixes in German, looks for the semantic motivation of prefix separation, and proposes a semantically-based account for the word-order facts in German from the perspective of cognitive grammar. (I-5) Access Path Expressions in Thai (K. Takahashi) considers both the cognitive and functional motivation for access path expressions, and provides a cross-linguistic comparison of the semantic constraints on the form and the use of these expressions in English and Thai. The second class of (four) papers focuses on semantics in the process of metaphorical mapping and conceptual integration. (II-1) A Cognitive Linguistics Approach to the Layperson's Understanding of Thermal Phenomena (T. G. Amin) begins with Dowty's system of verb classification used to explore the semantics of the notions of heat and temperature, moves then to an analysis of metaphors for heat, and concludes with examining the seemingly contradictory understandings of heat through processes of conceptual integration. (II-2) Deixis and the FRONT/BACK Opposition in Temporal Metaphors (K. E. Moore) using data from English, Wolof and Japanese, addresses an analysis of a single Moving Time metaphor as an approach based on two metaphors, depending upon recognizing the existence of deictic and non-deictic expressions of time. (II-3) The Cognitive Basis of Visual Evidentials (F. De Haan) surveys languages with visual evidentials, shows how evidentials tend to develop diachronically from demonstratives and tense/aspect markers, and brings plausible cognitive semantic motivations for this kind of grammaticalization process. (II-4) Voilà: Extensions of Deictic Constructions in French (B. K. Bergen, Madelaine Plauché) show how voilà (`there is') constructions are related to each other semantically as members of a radial complex conceptual category. The various senses of such constructions are motivated by metaphor, metonymy, constructional grounding, and other cognitive mechanisms. The third class of three papers considers the functional aspects in explicating grammatical phenomena, and explores how factors integral to a discourse event are playing a role in determining linguistic structure. (III-1) Prosodic Integration in Spanish Complement Construction (Ivo Sanchez) presents empirical data which support the role of intonation units (prodody) as a means of coding semantic integration between the two clausal constituents of complementation constructions in spoken Spanish. (III-2) Semantic Influences on Attributions of Causality in Interpersonal Events (Roberta Corrigan) argues that not necessarily the person instigating an event actually caused the event to occur, but rather, there are features independent of grammatical or thematic roles, such as contextual factors concerning the social identities of event participants, which play an important role when assigning causality. (III-3) Switch Reference and Zero Anaphora: Emergent Reference in Discourse Processing (L. Tao) provides a cross-linguistic study of the switch-reference pattern, and shows that the more grammatical coding a language uses in its presentation of referential meaning, the less its speakers may rely on inference in processing discourse information and vice versa. Elliptical reference or zero anaphora entails greater reliance on inference by the listener. Experimental and developmental evidence for certain kinds of linguistic phenomena provides the basis for a fourth class of (four) papers. (IV-1) The processing of Fixes Expressions During Sentence Comprehension (D. Hillert and D. Swinney) present the results of two lexical priming experiments which support the conclusion that, for German nominal compounds, all meanings, both idiomatic and literal, are simultaneously and exhaustively accessed when the nominal compound is understood. (IV-2) Constructional, Grounding: On the Relation Between Deictic and Existential there-Constructions in Acquisition (C. Johnson) proposes that children acquire the more concrete deictic constructions first and then extend these constructions to the more abstract existential uses. (IV-3) Linking Early Linguistic and Conceptual Capacities: The Role of Theory of Mind (Anna Papafragou) brings evidence that central semantic and pragmatic aspects of language acquisition presupposes certain advancements in children's ability to attribute mental representations to themselves and to others. (IV-4) Perspective, Deixis and Voice: Developmental Reflections (Nancy Budwig) presents a developmental functional approach to investigate the grammatical acquisition of perspective in German and in English. People working in linguistics, computational linguistics, natural language processing acquisition, and representation, language philosophers constitute the main readers-target of this volume.