The Configurational Structure System

The Configurational Structure System imposes structure upon the contents of the domains of SPACE and TIME. Closed-class elements perform an important role in encoding this configurational structure. We have already begun to see how this system works in our discussion of ‘continuous’ versus ‘discrete’ quantities of SPACE and TIME. Talmy proposes six further schematic categories within the Configurational Structure System. These are represented in Figure 15.3. These categories structure the scenes encoded by language and the participants that interact within these scenes. In the remainder of this section, we examine each of the six schematic categories in turn, briefly illustrating the nature of the schematic meaning emerging from each category and establishing what kinds of closed-class elements encode this schematic meaning.

Plexity: number and aspect

 Plexity relates to whether a quantity of TIME or SPACE consists of one (uniplex) or more than one (multiplex) equivalent elements. When related to SPACE (or matter), this is the basis of the grammatical category number. For instance, the singular count noun slipper represents uniplex structure, while the plural count noun slippers represents multiplex structure. Mass nouns like champagne also have multiplex structure. When related to the domain of TIME (or action), plexity forms part of the basis for the distinction between semelfactive versus iterative lexical aspect. Lexical aspect relates to the internal ‘structure’ of an event and is linguistically encoded in a number of ways. Consider example (6).

The verb cough encodes a punctual event which means that it is over almost as soon as it has begun. In the absence of any context that tells us that this event was drawn out over a period of time, we interpret the event as semelfactive, which means that it happened only once. This is the interpretation in (6a). When a punctual event is drawn out over a period of time, as in (6b), it becomes iterative. This means that it happens repeatedly. Clearly, semelfactive aspect has uniplex structure, while iterative aspect has multiplex structure. Observe that this type of aspect is built into the meaning of the verb itself rather than being grammatically marked. This is what distinguishes lexical aspect from grammatical aspect such as perfect or imperfect (progressive) aspect, which was introduced in the previous chapter. However, lexical aspect interacts in important ways with grammatical structure, as we will see at various points throughout this section.

 Boundedness: count, mass and aspect

 The term boundedness relates to whether a quantity is understood as having inherent boundaries (bounded) or not (unbounded). In the domain of SPACE, this is the basis of the count/mass noun distinction. For example, count nouns like slipper and canapé have bounded structure, in that each designates an entity with inherent ‘edges’ which can thus be individuated and counted. On the other hand, mass nouns like champagne and oxygen do not have inherent ‘edges’ and therefore cannot be individuated and counted. In the domain of TIME, boundedness is the basis of the distinction between perfect and imperfect grammatical aspect. Consider example (7).

Example (7a) is grammatically marked for perfect aspect by the presence of the perfect auxiliary have followed by the past participle left. As we saw in Chapter 14, perfect aspect encodes an event that is completed and can thus be thought of as bounded. Example (7b), on the other hand, is grammatically marked for imperfect (progressive) aspect by the progressive auxiliary be followed by the progressive participle leaving. Imperfect aspect encodes an event that is ‘ongoing’ and can thus be thought of as unbounded. It is important to point out that verbs can also be inherently bounded or unbounded in terms of their lexical aspect, which is traditionally described as telicity. Telic verbs like win entail what we can think of as an inherent ‘endpoint’ or ‘goal’, while atelic verbs like sleep do not. For our purposes, telicity can be thought of as boundedness and atelicity as unboundedness. Compare the following examples:

As Talmy points out, verbs that are inherently bounded are compatible with adverbial expressions like in four minutes, which denote a bounded period of time. This is illustrated by (8a). In contrast, verbs that are inherently unbounded are not compatible with this type of adverbial expression, as in (8b).

As with the conversion operations that mediate between the domains of SPACE and TIME, Talmy points out that it is possible to convert unbounded quantity (for example, water or sleep) into a bounded portion (for example some water or some sleep). This process is called excerpting and underlies expressions like two champagnes or three sands and two cements. Here, we rely upon the division of mass into bounded portions like glasses of champagne and sacks of sand and cement. The converse operation is called debounding. For example, the count noun shrub designates a bounded quantity while the mass noun shrubbery construes this as unbounded.

Dividedness

Dividedness relates to the internal segmentation of a quantity and underlies the distinction we introduced earlier between discrete and continuous matter: if matter can be broken down into distinct parts, it is discrete. If it cannot, it is continuous. It is important to emphasise that the properties ‘unbounded’ and ‘continuous’ are not the same, although they can correlate. For example, the mass noun oxygen is both continuous and unbounded. In contrast, the mass nouns timber and furniture are unbounded but have internally discrete structure. This property is not reflected in closed-class elements, unlike boundedness. As we have seen, though, Talmy relies upon this parameter for the broad division of the domains of SPACE and TIME into two subcategories.

Disposition of quantity: the role of closed-class elements

So far, we have seen that quantities of SPACE and TIME can be described in terms of plexity, boundedness and dividedness. Talmy describes the intersection between these three schematic categories in terms of disposition of quantity, as shown by the dotted box in Figure 15.3. We can think of disposition of quantity, then, as a ‘bundle’ of attributes that characterises certain conceptual categories and is reflected in the grammatical subsystem. For example, the mass noun furniture is matter, multiplex, unbounded and discrete, while the mass noun water is matter, multiplex, unbounded and continuous. Disposition of quantity is illustrated by Table 15.3. In this table, the two central columns represent the intersection of the three categories: plexity, dividedness and boundedness. The cell labelled A represents quantity that is [multiplex, discrete, unbounded]; cell B represents quantity that is [multiplex, discrete, bounded]; cell C represents quantity that is [uniplex, discrete, bounded]; cell 1 represents quantity that is [multiplex, continuous, unbounded]; and cell 2 represents quantity that is [multiplex, continuous, bounded]. Because a uniplex quanitity consists of a single element, it is inherently bounded and discrete, which explains why cell 3 is labelled ‘not applicable’ and why there is no fourth row in the table illustrating the intersection of plexity with unboundedness.

Table 15.4 provides examples of linguistic expressions that reflect the ‘bundles’ of schematic properties represented in Table 15.3. The first example in each cell relates to matter (SPACE) and the second example to action (TIME).

Closed-class elements play a key role in the conversion of quantity from one state to another. Examples (9)–(12) illustrate some of the possibilities. In examples (9) and (10) it is the presence of the (plural/mass indefinite) deter miner some that construes unbounded matter as bounded matter. In example (11) it is the plural noun suffix-s that construes uniplex matter as multiplex matter. In example (12), it is grammatical aspect, introduced by the progressive auxiliary be and the participial suffix-ing, that construes uniplex bounded action as multiplex unbounded action.

Degree of extension: aspect and preposition phrases Degree of extension relates to how far quantities of SPACE or TIME ‘stretch’ over distance. This category interacts with boundedness, but introduces a more detailed structure that we can think of in terms of points on a continuum between bounded and unbounded. For example, SPACE or TIME can be either a point (speck, die), a bounded extent (ladder, wash up) or an unbounded extent (river, sleep). Focusing on the domain of TIME, example (13) illustrates that each of these degrees of extension (encoded by the verb) is compatible with different types of adverbial expressions.

The differences between these verbs, as they relate to degree of extension, is once more a matter of lexical aspect. The verb die encodes a punctual event; as we saw earlier, this means that it is over almost as soon as it has begun. In contrast, wash up and sleep are durative events, which means that they extend over time. However, while wash up is telic (has an inherent endpoint), sleep is atelic. Observe that the adverbial expressions in (13) are preposition phrases, headed by closed-class elements like at, in, for and so on. Although these preposition phrases also contain noun phrases that encode the ‘stretch’ of time (four o’clock, ten minutes, an hour), it is the preposition that determines the compatibility of the adverbial expression as a whole with the meaning encoded by the verb, as illustrated by examples (13d) and (13e). However, these adverbial expressions can sometimes modify the degree of extension encoded by a verb. In example (14a), the verb die is construed in terms of a bounded extent (it took her an hour to die), and in (14b) it is construed in terms of an unbounded extent.

Pattern of distribution: aspect and preposition phrases

 Pattern of distribution relates to how matter is distributed through SPACE or how action is distributed through TIME. We illustrate this category by focusing on action through TIME, encoded by verbs. Table 15.5 provides examples of the various patterns of distribution.

 These patterns can be explained as follows. While dying represents a change of state from which its participant cannot emerge, falling represents a change of state from which its participant can emerge (if you fall you can get up again, but getting up again is not a necessary part of falling). If a light flashes, it goes from dark to light and back to dark again, which represents a cyclical change of state. Repeating the cycle is not an intrinsic part of flashing (because a light can flash only once), while it is an intrinsic part of breathing. In contrast to all of these, which involve some internal change, sleep represents a steady or unchanging state. Like degree of extension, this category largely determines aspect, and is reflected in the compatibility or incompatibility of certain verbs with certain grammatical constructions. For example, these parameters explain why the examples in (15) are not well-formed.

Because die is one-way non-resettable (at least under normal circumstances), you can only do it once. This is incompatible with the keep V-ing construction, which is restricted to events that either can be repeated (Lily kept falling out of bed, Lily kept breathing) or involve a steady state (Lily kept sleeping). Like die, fall is also one-way in the sense that it is unidirectional rather than cyclic, but unlike die it is resettable, so it is possible to do it more than once. However, because it is one-way rather than cyclic, it involves stopping and starting (you are not still falling while you are getting up again), so it cannot be done continually for an extended period of time (for an hour), unless it happens repeatedly.

As much of the discussion in this section has illustrated, aspect is a complex category, and reveals much about the interaction between grammar and meaning. We return to explore aspect in more detail in Chapter 18.

Axiality: degree modifiers

 The final schematic category of configurational structure is axiality. This relates to the way a quantity of SPACE or TIME is structured according to a directed axis. For example, Talmy argues that the adjectives well and sick are points on an axis relating to HEALTH. On the axis, well is the endpoint, whereas sick is the remainder of the axis. This explains the different distribution of the closed-class degree modifiers like almost and slightly in relation to these adjectives. For example, while it is possible to be slightly sick or almost well, it is not possible to be *slightly well or *almost sick. This follows from the axiality model because it is not possible to be ‘slightly’ at an end point, nor ‘almost’ on the journey towards that endpoint. Axiality is illustrated in Figure 15.4.

 In sum, we have seen that the ‘Configurational Structure System’ partitions quantities from the domains of SPACE and TIME according to the internal structural properties of those quantities, as well as in terms of how they are distributed within SPACE and TIME. We saw that quantity in SPACE is prototypically encoded by nouns, while quantity in TIME is prototypically encoded by verbs. We also saw that the processes of reification and actualisation can convert quantity from TIME to SPACE and from SPACE to TIME, respectively, and that grammatical categories (word classes) also play a role in this process. We saw that plexity (uniplex and multiplex structure) is reflected by the grammatical cate gory number (singular and plural), and that boundedness is reflected by the distinction between count nouns and mass nouns, as well as playing a role in lexical aspect (telicity). In our discussion of disposition of quantity, we saw that closed class elements play a role in altering the way that quantities are construed; for example, determiners can impose boundedness on unbounded matter, the plural morpheme can convert uniplex matter to multiplex matter, and progressive aspect construes bounded action as unbounded action. In our discussion of both degree of extension and pattern of distribution, we saw that temporal expressions headed by prepositions play a key role in structuring lexical aspect. Finally, we saw an example of how the closed-class category degree modifiers reflect properties relating to axiality. The discussion in this section therefore begins to establish how the grammatical subsystem provides schematic or structural meaning to the linguistic expression of the cognitive representation.

اخر الاخبار

اخبار العتبة العباسية المقدسة

شركة براق القمّة تعرض نماذج صناعتها من الشاحنات في مهرجان عين الحياة الرابع

المجمع العلمي يطلق برنامج (القرآني الصغير) ضمن فعاليات مهرجان عين الحياة الرابع

مجموعة مشاتل الكفيل تعرض تشكيلة متكاملة من النباتات الظلية والموسمية في مهرجان عين الحياة الرابع

قسم الشؤون الدينية يختتم الدورة 57 لتأهيل منتسبي العتبة العباسية المقدسة الجدد

المزيد

الآخبار الصحية

عوامل تضعف القدرات الإدراكية لدى الإنسان

طريقة جديدة لتجديد خلايا الدماغ

دراسة بريطانية: الأطعمة النباتية عالية الجودة تقلل خطر فشل القلب

7 أطعمة يومية "تسمم" جسمك بالبلاستيك دون أن تشعر

المزيد

الآخبار التكنلوجية

اكتشاف أثري في أوريغون الأمريكية قد يعيد كتابة تاريخ البشرية

اكتشاف كائن بحري مدرع بلسان "حديدي" في بحر اليابان

نظام كوكبي "مقلوب" يحير علماء الفلك

بسبب الذكاء الاصطناعي.. هذه الوظائف "ستختفي" بعد أشهر قليلة ؟!

المزيد

مواضيع ذات صلة

Categorisation and polysemy in grammar: the network conception

Force-dynamics

Attention

The conceptual basis of word classes

Langacker theory of Cognitive Grammar

The Force-Dynamics System

The Perspectival System

The Attentional System

Schematic systems

Conceptual alternativity

The configuration of SPACE and TIME

Conceptual Structuring System Model of Talmy