An illustration of mental space construction

In this section, we analyse a short text so that we can apply some of the aspects of mental space construction that have been introduced so far. Although this text is very simple, it nevertheless involves meaning construction processes of considerable complexity.

As we have seen, mental space construction always proceeds by the establishment of a base that represents the starting point for any particular stage in the discourse. We can think of ‘stages’ in discourse as topics of conversation. Elements are introduced into the base by indefinite descriptions or are identified as pre-exisiting by definite descriptions or by non-linguistic factors such as contextual salience. Salience can arise in a number of ways, for example if the speaker is referring to something that is visible or familiar to both speaker and hearer (Pass me the scissors) or something they have been discussing previously (I found the book). The first sentence in (10) provides a definite description, Fido. This is in presuppositional mode, which signals that the element Fido is present in the discourse context. Observe that we can make this assumption regardless of whether we have access to the previous discourse context. If (10) is part of a spoken story, for example, we probably already know who or what Fido is. But if (10) begins a written story, we ‘construct’ this background context. This element is therefore set up in the base space as part of the background. Moreover, Fido is a name, and background knowledge tells us that it is a name typically associated with a male dog. We can therefore deduce that the expression refers to a dog. There is also an indefinite description in this sentence: a tortoise. The indefinite description introduces a new element to the discourse, and this is set up in the base space. The verb see intro duces a relation between the two elements based on a SEE frame which involves at least two participant roles: SEER and SEEN. This frame is projected to the base space by means of schema induction, and the SEER role is mapped onto Fido (element a1) while the SEEN role is mapped onto a tortoise (element b1 ). This is illustrated in Figure 11.10.

 The second sentence employs the anaphors he and it. Because we already know from background knowledge that the name Fido refers to a male animal, he identifies a1 in the base space and it refers to the animal whose sex has not been identified: element b1. The verb chase prompts for further structure to be added to the base space: the projection of the CHASE frame via schema induction. Like the SEE frame, CHASE also has two participant roles: CHASER and CHASED. These are mapped onto a1 and b1, respectively. This is illustrated by Figure 11.11.

The third sentence contains the space builder, he thinks that. This sets up a new BELIEF space which is established relative to the base. He prompts for a2, a counterpart of a1 (Fido), while the tortoise introduces an element in the presuppositional mode because this element has already been introduced into the dis course by the indefinite expression a tortoise. This prompts for a counterpart in the base: the tortoise introduces element b2, counterpart of b1 (a tortoise). In both cases, the pragmatic function that links the counterparts is the identity relation. The Access Principle entails that connectors are established between the counterparts and the Optimisation Principle ensures that information in the base space is automatically transferred to the new belief space. This means that the properties and relations holding for the counterparts of a1 and b1– namely a2 and b2– are set up in the belief space. This includes the participant roles that follow from the SEE and CHASE frames. In addition, the property SLOW is associated with b2 (the tortoise) in Fido’s BELIEF space. This is represented by Figure 11.12.

 In the fourth sentence, new information is added which states that the tortoise is fast. Because this information relates to reality, it is added to the base space rather than to Fido’s BELIEF space. The use of but, which introduces a counter-expectational interpretation, overtly signals that the Optimisation Principle does not apply to this information, which means that the information that the tortoise is fast is limited to the base space. This is because information in the BELIEF space, namely that the tortoise is slow, contradicts information in the base. In this way, the Optimisation Principle prevents contradictory information (that the tortoise is fast) from spreading to the BELIEF space: Fido cannot simultaneously think that the tortoise is slow and that the tortoise is fast. This is illustrated in Figure 11.13.

 The final sentence includes the space builder maybe. This sets up a POS SIBILITY space. In this space, the counterpart of the tortoise (b1) is a cat (b3).

The expression really signals that this POSSIBILITY space is set up from the perspective of the base space rather than from the perspective ofFido’s BELIEF space, because the base space is the reality space (see Figure 11.14).

As this relatively simple example demonstrates, even a short piece of discourse involves active participation on the part of the hearer/reader in terms of the construction of a number of different mental spaces in which linked but potentially contradictory information can be held. This model goes some way towards explaining the complex cognitive operations that go on ‘in the back ground’ during meaning construction, and shows how language prompts for knowledge within the conceptual system. In the next section, we look at how Mental Spaces Theory can account for two other aspects of linguistic meaning: counterfactual if . . . then . . . constructions and the tense-aspect-modality (TAM) system.

اخر الاخبار

اخبار العتبة العباسية المقدسة

قسم الشؤون الفكرية يصدر كتابًا توثيقيًّا عن جرائم الإرهاب بحق زائري الأربعين في العراق

في مقابلة خاصة مع المشرف على قسم الشؤون الطبية: مركز السيد جعفر الحلي يعزز الاستجابة الطبية الطارئة ولا سيّما في الزيارات المليونية

لمنتسبي العتبة العباسية المقدسة.. قسم الشؤون الدينية يجري الاختبارات العملية للمشاركين في الدورة التطويرية الثانية

المجمع العلمي يقيم الدورة الــ 20 في تعليم أحكام التلاوة لطلبة العلوم الدينية

المزيد

الآخبار الصحية

العلاج بالماء البارد.. باحثون يكشفون فوائده الصحية

من دون صالة رياضية.. عادة بسيطة لتحسين الصحة وخسارة الوزن

لصحة القلب وتفادي السرطان.. استهلك هذا النوع من الطعام

دراسة تحذر من خطر شرب القهوة في أكواب البلاستيك

المزيد

الآخبار التكنلوجية

إنجاز طبي تاريخي.. جراحة قلب بلا شق في الصدر

اليابان.. مراحيض توفر فحص للحالة الصحية عبر "تحليل البراز" !

اختراق واسع لمنصة "إنستغرام".. ونشر بيانات على "الدارك ويب"

علماء يحذرون: هكذا سيفنى كوكب الأرض

المزيد

مواضيع ذات صلة

Roles and values

The Access Principle

Counterparts and connectors

Mental space lattices

Properties and relations

Elements

Space builders

The architecture of mental space construction

Towards a cognitive theory of meaning construction

Meaning construction in cognitive semantics

Sentence meaning in formal semantics

Meaning construction and mental spaces