Strategies for Translation

22.09.16

Cognitive linguistics

CL is a rather recent linguistic theory. CL originally emerged in 1970th. The main sources traditionally considered following:

1. Psychology and neurophysiology investigated interconnection between language and mind. (В.М.Бехтерев, И.П.Павлов, И.М.Сеченов, К.Вернике, П.Брока).

* Neurolinguistics  * Psycholinguistics

2. Linguistic semantics.

CL studied semantics in the very deep level. Cognitive semantics are peculiar part of CL.

*  Cognitive science

It is always difficult to locate exactly date of birth of any theory. But in case of CL many scientists consider that an important date in the perception of this theory is 1987. In this year 3 of its foundational books were published.

1. George Lakoff “Women, fire and dangerous themes”. (also “Metaphor by which we live”)

2. Ronald W. Langacker (Лангакер/Ланакер) “Foundations of cognitive grammar”.

3. Mark Johnson’s book “The body in the mind”.

1989 – Creation of international CL association

1990 – “Cognitive Linguistics” (journal). Also the year when the first CL conference was held.

It also formulated in the emergence of modern cognitive science in 1960-70th. Particularly to the work of human categorization and in earlier traditions such as Gestalt psychology. CL is primarily concerned with investigating the relationship between language, the mind and socio-physical experience. The earlier pioneers in Cognitive semantics were responding in part with dissatisfaction to formal approaches to the language. Early research especially in the 1970th was dominated by irrelatively small group of scholars based on the western seaboard of the USA. During the 1980th CL research began to take route in the northern continental Europe, particularly, in Belgium, Holland and Germany. By the early 1990th there was a growing proliferation of research in CL through Europe and North America and relatively large Internationally distributive group of researchers who identified themselves as Cognitive Linguists. In 1990th the International Cognitive Linguists Society was established with the journal.

Ronald W. Langacker said: “This marked the birth of CL as a broadly grounded self-conscious intellectual movement”

Today CL is the most rapidly expanding school of theoretical linguists with the flourishing International CL community and National CL associations in many countries throughout the world.

Due to its interdisciplinary nature it is also one of the most exciting areas of study with cognitive science.

Theories of CL (Mental theories)

1 Conceptual blending (Gilles Fauconnier)

2 “Conceptual metaphor theory” by George Lakoff and Mark Johnson

3 “Primary metaphor theory” by Joseph Grady

4 “Construction grammar” Charles Fillmore

5 “Construction grammar”Adele Eva Goldberg

6 “Embodied construction grammar” Benjamin Bergen and Nancy Chang

7 Vivian Evans “Theory of lexical representation and semantic position”

8 “Mental space” Gilles Fauconnier

CL is study of language in its cognitive function where cognitive refers to the crucial road of immediate informational structures in our encounters in the world. CL is cognitive in the same way as cognitive psychology is; by assuming that our interaction with the world is mediated through informational structures in the mind. CL took its place in the paradigm of modern world linguistic concepts.

The CL enterprise is characterized by two fundamental commitments (George Lakoff and company). These underlie both the orientation and approach adopted by practicing cognitive linguists and the assumptions and methodologies employed in the two main branches of the CL: Cognitive Semantics and Cognitive Grammar.

The first key commitment is the generalization commitment. It represents a dedication to characterizing general principles that apply to all aspects of human language. This goal is just a special subcase of the standard commitment in science to seek the broadest generalization possible. In contrast to the Cognitive Linguistic approach, other approaches to the study of language often separate the language faculty into distant areas such as phonology, semantics, pragmatics, morphology. As a consequence there is often little basis for generalization across these aspects of language or for study of their interrelations. This is particular true for formal linguistics (Noam Chomsky).

CL acknowledges that it may often be useful to treat such areas as syntax, semantics, and phonologyas being notionally distinct. However, given the Generalization Commitment, CL do not start with the assumption that the ‘modules’ or ‘subsystems’ of language are organized in significantly divergent ways, or indeed that wholly distinct modules even exist. Thus the generalization commitment represents commitment to openly investigating how the various aspects of linguistic knowledge emerge from a common set of human cognitive abilities upon which they draw rather than assuming in the encapsulated models of the mind.

30.09.2016

Tasks and problems of CL

In the beginning of 1990 В.З. Демьянков singled out four variants of cognitive study (actually CL came from cognitology/cognitive studies):

1. Description and explanation of mechanisms combining stimulus and reaction.  

2. Research/ study of inner mental human phenomena.

3. Focus on a subject as a source of an initiator of own action.

4. Study of cognitive processes specificity in comparison with artifacts (sort of object which has some value)

 Маслова distinguishes 3 main problems facing CL as a present moment of its development. According to her, the research is done in the following directions:

1) Types of knowledge presented in the science (gnoseology - theory of cognition \теория познания), and mechanism of distracting knowledge from signs. That is rules of interpretation (cognitive semantics and pragmatics).

2) Condition of emergence and development of science of laws reflecting their functioning.