Browsing by Subject "Conceptual integration"

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
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    Much more than money: Conceptual integration and the materialization of time in Michael Ende’s Momo and the social sciences.
    (John Benjamins Publishing Company, 2012-01) Pagán Cánovas, Cristóbal; Teuschner, Ursina; Filología Inglesa
    We analyze conceptual patterns shared by Michael Ende’s novel about time, Momo, and examples of time conceptualization from psychology, sociology, economics, conventional language, and real social practices. We study three major mappings in the materialization of time: time as money in relation with time banking, time units as objects produced by an internal clock, and time as a substance that flows. We show that binary projections between experiential domains are not enough to model the complexity of meaning construction in these widely successful examples. To account for the intricacies of time materialization in context, we use generic integration templates, models for conceptual templates based on Fauconnier and Turner’s Blending Theory. The interplay of such detailed patterns with pragmatic and cultural factors, including diachronic aspects, is crucial to identify the cognitive models at work, and the factors that guide their instantiations as a variety of surface products. The blending model for the spatialized time can be refined and extended to the materialization of time.
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    On defining image schemas
    (Cambridge University Press (CUP), ) Mandler, Jean; Pagán Cánovas, Cristóbal; Filología Inglesa
    In this theoretical paper we propose three diff erent kinds of cognitive structure that have not been diff erentiated in the psychological and cognitive linguistic literatures. They are spatial primitives , image schemas , and schematic integrations . Spatial primitives are the fi rst conceptual building blocks formed in infancy, image schemas are simple spatial stories built from them, and schematic integrations use the fi rst two types to build concepts that include non-spatial elements, such as force and emotion. These diff erent kinds of structure have all come under the umbrella term of ‘image schemas’. However, they diff er in their content, developmental origin, imageability, and role in meaning construction in language and in thought. The present paper indicates how preverbal conceptualization needs to be taken into account for a complete understanding of image schemas and their uses. It provides examples to illustrate this infl uence, the most important of these being the primacy of imageable spatial information.
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    Understanding Timelines: Conceptual metaphor and conceptual integration
    (De Gruyter Mouton, 2014-01-18) Coulson, Seana; Pagán Cánovas, Cristóbal; Filología Inglesa
    One of the most broadly investigated topics in the conceptual metaphor literature is the importance of spatial construals for thinking and talking about time. We address the relationship between conceptual metaphor theory (CMT) and conceptual integration theory (CIT) by exploring how people understand timelines – both as graphical objects, in discourse about timelines taken from newspapers and the web, and in poetic examples. The inferential structure of the timeline is well captured by the conceptual metaphors TIME IS SPACE and EVENTS ARE OBJECTS. Instantiated graphically, the timeline serves as a material anchor for a conceptual integration network representing partial cognitive models of time, lines, objects, and a hybrid model known as a ‘blend’. Understood in respect to this network, the analogue properties of the line give it novel computational properties facilitating inferences about the events that the timeline represents. The history of the modern timeline suggests that it reflects a distributed cognitive process, involving multiple individuals over a large span of time and illustrating the importance of cultural evolution in the development of conceptual integration networks. Analysis of both poetry and everyday discourse about timelines suggests that conventional mapping schemas are best viewed not as determining the interpretation of timelines but as providing soft constraints that help guide interpretation. Future metaphor research will best proceed via a merger of techniques from CMT and CIT, characterizing metaphor as involving complex networks of mappings that can be updated flexibly as a function of context and goals.