Idiomatic creativity : a cognitive-linguistic model of idiom-representation and idiom-variation in English / Andreas Langlotz.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Langlotz, Andreas.

Series:

Human cognitive processing ; v. 17.

Human cognitive processing, 1387-6724 ; v. 17

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

English language--Idioms.

English language.

English language--Variation.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (339 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Amsterdam ; Philadelphia : J. Benjamins, 2006.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

This book revisits the theoretical and psycholinguistic controversies centred around the intriguing nature of idioms and proposes a more systematic cognitive-linguistic model of their grammatical status and use. Whenever speakers vary idioms in actual discourse, they open a linguistic window into idiomatic creativity - the complex cognitive processing and representation of these heterogeneous linguistic constructions. Idiomatic creativity therefore raises two challenging questions: What are the cognitive mechanisms that underlie and shape idiom-representation? How do these mechanisms define the scope and limits of systematic idiom-variation in actual discourse? The book approaches these problems by means of a comprehensive cognitive-linguistic architecture of meaning and language and analyses them on the basis of corpus-data from the British National Corpus (BNC). Therefore, Idiomatic Creativity should be of great interest to cognitive linguists, phraseologists, corpus linguists, advanced students of linguistics, and all readers who are interested in the fascinating interplay of language and cognitive processing.This book has a companion website: www.idiomatic-creativity.ch.

Contents:

Idiomatic Creativity

Editorial page

Title page

LCC data

Table of contents

Tables and figures

Acknowledgments

Introduction

1.1. A preliminary definition of idiom

1.2. Introducing the problem: Idioms and creativity - a contradiction in terms?

1.3. Towards a cognitive-linguistic approach to idiom representation and variation

Idiom representation and variation - a hard nut to crack

2.1. Idioms as semantic units - the orthodox view

2.1.1. Idioms as non-compositional phrases

2.1.2. Direct look-up models - the psycholinguistic correlates of the orthodox view

2.1.3. Consequences of the orthodox view for the explanation of syntactic flexibility

2.2. The compositional view

2.2.1. A broader view of idiom semantics

2.2.2. The syntactic behaviour of idiomatically combining expressions

2.2.3. Criticism against the compositional view

2.2.4. The psycholinguistic correlates of the compositional view

2.2.5. Towards a hybrid model of idiom representation and processing

2.3. Proverbiality - the functional motivation of idioms

2.3.1. Proverbiality

2.3.2. Idiom motivation and conceptual metaphors

2.3.3. Criticism against the conceptual metaphor view of idiom motivation

2.4. Outlook - desiderata for a cognitive-linguistic model of idiom representation and variation

The cognitive architecture of meaning and language

3.1. Basic cognitive processes

3.2. The mental representation of knowledge and meaning

3.2.1. Conceptualisation

3.2.2. Sensorimotor experience and preconceptual structures

3.2.3. Cognitive models

3.3. Complex patterns of semantic extension

3.3.1. Conceptual metaphors

3.3.2. Conceptual integration through blending

3.3.3. Metonymy

3.3.4. Emblems

3.3.5. The cognitive interaction of metaphor, metonymy, blending and emblems.

3.4. Cognitive Grammar: The mental representation of linguistic knowledge

3.4.1. Symbolic units and linguistic semantics

3.4.2. Grammar as a structured inventory of symbolic units

3.4.3. The usage-based nature of language and its relevant coding

3.4.4. From conceptualisations to grammatical constructions - the coding of conceptual content

3.4.5. The creation of novel grammatical constructions

3.5. Summarising overview

Idiom representation - a cognitive-linguistic model

4.1. Adapting idioms to the cognitive-linguistic framework

4.2. A cognitive-linguistic account of compositeness

4.3. Institutionalisation and lexicalisation - the cognitive entrenchment of an idiom

4.3.1. Lexicalising the mouse1 -&gt

mouse2-metaphor

4.3.2. Idiomatic activation-sets - a preliminary overview

4.4. A cognitive-linguistic anatomy of the internal semantic structure of idioms

4.4.1. Idioms as complex scenes

4.4.2. Geeraerts's prismatic model of idiom semantics

4.4.3. Idiomatic compositionality revisited

4.4.4. Motivation revisited

4.4.5. Isomorphism/analysability - a cognitive-linguistic explanation

4.4.6. Are motivation and isomorphism two cognitively distinct phenomena?

4.5. Conceptual patterns shaping the internal semantic structure of idioms

4.5.1. Idiom-transparency and conceptual metaphor

4.5.2. Metonymic motivation

4.5.3. Emblematic motivation

4.5.4. Hybrid `literal' scenes - conceptual blending

4.6. Typical patterns of figuration reflected by idioms

4.7. The cognitive functionality of idioms

4.7.1. Idioms as cognitive micro-models

4.7.2. The different qualities of specific idiomatic micro-models

The conceptual motivation of idioms denoting success, progress and failure

5.1. What is success, progress and failure? - A cognitive-model.

5.2. The conceptual source domains for spf-idioms

5.2.1. competition-models

5.2.2. struggle-for-life-models

5.2.3. life-models

5.2.4. consumption-models

5.2.5. progress as forward movement in space

5.2.6. machine-metaphors

5.2.7. Archetype-metaphor models

5.3. Metonymic and metaphtonymyic motivation

5.4. Motivation by emblems

5.5. Opaque and constructionally-idiosyncratic spf-idioms

5.6. Implications for the psycholinguistic controversy about metaphorical motivation

Idiom variation and variability - a cognitive-linguistic model

6.1. Frozenness vs. variability - towards a cognitive-linguistic view

6.1.1. The technical description of formal and semantic alterations in idiom variants

6.1.2. Problems in the analysis of idiom variation

6.2. Idiomatic creativity

6.2.1. Idiomatic usage-events

6.2.2. Creative idiomatic usage-events

6.3. Subtypes of idiom variation

6.3.1. Usual and occasional variation

6.3.2. Intentional vs. non-intentional variants

6.4. Principles of idiom variation

6.4.1. Constructional adaptations

6.4.2. Literal-scene manipulation

6.4.3. Topic indication

6.4.4. Topic-related literal-scene manipulation

6.4.5. Ambiguation and punning

6.5. Cognitive constraints on idiom variation

6.5.1. Recognisability

6.5.2. Functionality

6.5.3. Compatibility

6.5.4. Non-ambiguity, non-conspicuity and evocational autonomy

6.5.5. Grammaticality

The lexicogrammatical variation of idioms denoting success, progress and failure

7.1. Database and analytical procedure

7.2. Articles and article-variation in spf-idioms

7.2.1. The functions and behaviour of the definite article in idioms

7.2.2. The functions and behaviour of the indefinite and zero article in idioms

7.3. Number and number variation in idioms.

7.4. Passivisation - idiom variation at the clause level

7.5. Adnominal modification

7.5.1. Idiom-internal and idiom-external relativisation

7.5.2. Prepositional postmodification in combination with the development is a journey-metaphor

7.5.3. Idiomatic postmodification by of-complements

7.5.4. Premodification by adjectives and nouns

7.6. Lexical substitution

7.6.1. Topic-indicating lexical substitution

7.6.2. Synonyms, antonyms and perspectival variants

7.7. Controversial data

Conclusions and outlook

Notes

-12pt

References

Dictionaries and databases

Author index

Subject index

The series Human Cognitive Processing.

Notes:

Revision of the author's thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Basel, 2003.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9786612156069

9781282156067

1282156063

9789027293763

9027293767

OCLC:

191935814