New Voices in Semantics and Pragmatics
The following four papers were presented by linguists from the John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin and Maria Curie-Skłodowska University.
Angelina Rusinek
From 'sucking' and 'being smooth, shining' to 'happiness': in search of English-Polish cognates in the English 'happiness' vocabulary
Maria Curie-Skłodowska University
Language and culture are inextricably linked with each other, language being often understood as a mirror of culture. If we follow Sapir (1921: 218) and state that “[c]ulture may be defined as what a society does and thinks [and] (….) [l]anguage is a particular how of thought” we come to a conclusion that the principles of linguistic relativity and determinism are connected with the phenomenon of language change. The paper is done within the spirit of historical linguistics and analyzes the historical background of English and Polish etymologically related vocabulary, i.e. cognates, concentrating on English ‘happiness’ terms. The aim of the paper is to show the common etymological roots of two pairs of cognates: English felicity and Polish dziecko, as well as English glad and Polish gładki.
Konrad Żyśko
Wordplay and Hidden Sense Relations: polysemy or homonymy?
Maria Curie-Skłodowska University
This work addresses the problem of distinguishing between polysemy and homonymy in relation to wordplay. It seems that the criterion of shared etymology does not provide adequate methods of delineation between these concepts, as there exist lexemes which are viewed as homonymous in spite of their shared etymology, as well as those viewed as polysemous although characterized by distinct etymologies (Łozowski 2000: 78). Thus, it can be concluded that what is the linking force between two concepts is not the etymology itself but rather resemblance-based conceptual connections that speakers create. However, since wordplay is frequently based on homonymy, it may direct towards some elements that used to be the motivating force behind meaning extension, yet which now could be only uncovered via a historical analysis.
Hubert Kowalewski
“So what's motivation, anyway?” Towards a comprehensive definition
Maria Curie-Skłodowska University
In traditional linguistics, the issue of the motivated nature of the linguistic sign received relatively little attention. To large extent, this lack of interest was a part of Ferdinand de Saussure’s heritage (cf. Saussure 1966 [1916]), who deemphasized the importance of motivation in the linguistic system. With the advent of the cognitive paradigm, the role of this phenomenon has been reevaluated (cf. Taylor 2002; Cuyckens et al. 2003; Joseph 2000; Łozowski 2006; Hiraga 2005). Yet despite this positive reevaluation, there are few attempts at providing a comprehensive definition and a coherent methodological framework for actual analysis. This presentation addresses this gap by proposing a broad definition and a set of explanatory tools for systematic investigation of motivation in language.
References:
Cuyckens, Hubert, Thomas Berg, René Dirven, and Klaus-Uwe Panther, eds. 2003. Motivation in Language: Studies in Honor of Günter Radden. Amsterdam-Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company.
Hiraga, M. K. 2005. Metaphor and Iconicity. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Joseph, J. E. 2000. Limiting the Arbitrary. Linguistic Naturalism and Its Opposites in Plato’s Cratylus and Modern Theories of Language. Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins.
Łozowski, Przemysław. 2006. “Podobieństwo jako przejaw niedowolności (niearbitralności) znaku językowego.” Edited by Henryk Kardela, Zbysław Muszyński, and Maciej Rajewski. Kognitywistyka 2. Podobieństwo, 131–41.
Saussure, F. de. 1966. Course in General Linguistics. Translated by Wade Baskin. New York, Toronto and London: McGraw-Hill.
Taylor, J. R. 2002. Cognitive Grammar. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Jolanta Sak-Wernicka
Pragmatics, Modularity and Visual Impairment
John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin
Pragmatic interpretation is in large part a mind-reading task which involves going beyond the linguistic content of a speaker’s utterance and making inferences about what the speaker thinks, feels or believes. Drawing on the modularity hypothesis (Fodor 1983), Sperber and Wilson (2002) claim that this process is controlled by a dedicated comprehension module. The ability to reason about other people’s mental states, also known as Theory of Mind (ToM), has received considerable research attention and has been found to be related to linguistic and visual experience (e.g. de Villiers, 2007, Clark & Krych, 2004; Bayliss et al., 2007). To this day, however, it is unknown whether language and vision are both necessary for effective ToM. ToM deficits in individuals with neurological and developmental disorders have been observed to reflect their deficits in pragmatic language abilities (e.g. Dahlgren et al. 2010; Happé, 1994; Losh et al., 2012), but it still remains unknown what impact the lack of access to visual cues may have on mind-reading. The aim of this presentation is to investigate whether linguistic cues may compensate for the missing visual cues and whether people who are blind may be as successful in recognising other people’s mental states as people who are sighted.
References:
Bayliss, A., Frischen, A., Fenske, M. & Tripper, S. (2007) Affective evaluations of objects are influenced by observed gaze direction and emotional expression. Cognition 104, 644-653.
Clark, H. & Krych, M. (2004) Speaking while monitoring addressees for understanding. J. Mem. Lang. 50, 62-81.
Dahlgren, S., Dahlgren-Sandberg, A. & Larsson, M. (2010) Theory of mind in children with severe speech and physical impairments. Res. Dev. Disabil. 31, 617-624.
de Villiers, J. (2007) The Interface of Language and Theory of Mind. Lingua 117(11), 1858-1878.
Fodor, J. (1983) The Modularity of Mind. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Happé, E. (1994) An advanced test of theory of mind: understanding of story characters’ thoughts and feelings by able autistic, mentally handicapped, and normal children and adults. J. Autism Dev. Disord. 24, 129-154.
Losh, M., Martin, G., Klusek, J., Hogan-Brown, A. & Sideris, J. (2012) Social communication and theory of mind in boys with autism and fragile X syndrome. Front. Psychol. 3, 266.
Sperber, D. & Wilson, D. (2002) Pragmatics, Modularity and Mind-reading. Mind and Language 17, 3-23.
Photos by Anna Prażmowska
