Motivation in Language
Günter Radden and Klaus-Uwe Panther
Hamburg University
24/03/2016
Motivation
1
Motivation as understood
in psychology and sociology
“Motivation is an internal state or condition (sometimes
described as a need, desire, or want) that serves to activate or
energize behavior and give it direction.” (Huitt 2001).
“The conscious or unconscious stimulus for action towards a
desired goal provided by psychological or social factors; that
which gives purpose or direction to behaviour.” (Oxford
English Dictionary)
What motivates Al Qaeda to carry out terrorist attacks?
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Motivation
2
Motivation in a wider sense
and applied to language
A motivational process involves:
(i) a basis, or source, for the motivational process to operate on;
(ii) independent factors triggering the motivational process;
(iii) the “shaping” of at least some of the target’s properties by
the source and independent factors;
(iv) the resulting target of the motivational process.
Definition of linguistic motivation:
A linguistic sign (target) is motivated to the extent that some of
its properties are shaped by a linguistic or non-linguistic source
and language-independent factors.
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Motivation
3
Motivation of Benefactives:
(a) English for as in Red wine is good for your health.
(i) Source: preposition for ‘in front of, before’
(ii) Independent factor: metonymic reasoning:
Objects that are in front of us are perceptible and
accessible and hence potentially beneficial to us.
(iii) Shaping: meaning extension of for (at the expense
of its spatial sense)
(iv) Target: sense of for: ‘benefactive’
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Motivation
4
Motivation of Benefactives:
(b) Case marker ná inEwe
The Ewe verb ná ‘give’ has grammaticalized into the case
functions Benefactive, Purpose and Dative.
(i) Source: verb ná ‘give’, i.e. ‘Agent causes Recipient to
have Object’
(ii) Independent factors: two metonymies:
a) NEUTRAL FOR POSITIVE: Recipient to Benefactive
b) EVENT FOR SALIENT PARTICIPANT OF EVENT:
event of ‘giving’ for ‘benefitting recipient’
(iii) Motivational process: grammaticalization of verb into
case marker
(iv) Target: Case marker ná ‘Benefactive’
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Motivation
5
Characteristics of motivation
(i) Motivation is a causal relation but the notion of
causation is non-deterministic—that’s why motivation
is described as “shaping” or “influencing”).
(ii) Motivation in language is “relative’, i.e. a matter of
degree on a continuum between the poles of arbitrariness
and predictability.
(iii) A motivational process is based on post hoc, i.e.
abductive reasoning by the analyst, i.e. it is inferred
from some observed fact and general principles of
reasoning to a conclusion that “best explains” the
observed fact.
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Motivation
6
Non-determinacy in naming a thing
What do we call this thing?
The motivational source is the concept ‘screwdriver’.
The motivational target is the name of it.
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Motivation
7
Words for ‘screw-driver’ across languages
SCREW-DRIVE-ER
SCREW(S)-PULL-ER
screwdriver
Schraubenzieher
skruetrækker
csavarhúzó
SCREW-TURN-ER
schroevedraaier
neji-mawashi
TURN-SCREW
tournevis
nasadolige
SCREW-TURN
śrubokręt
DE/OUT-SCREW-ER
destornillador
STICK-IN/TAKE-OUT-SCREW cacciavite
KEY OF CUT
chave de fenda
SCREW-KNIFE
luósīdāo
SCREW-CHISEL
skruvmejsel
ruuvimeisseli, ruuvitaltta
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Motivation
English
German
Danish
Hungarian
Dutch
Japanese
French
Korean
Polish
Spanish
Italian
Portuguese
Chinese
Swedish
Finnish
8
Screwdriver ICM (Idealized Cognitive Model)
Schrauben-zieh-er csavar-húz-ó
schroeve-draai-er
INSTRUMENT
TOOL
tourne-vis
key
‘screwdriver’
chisel
ACTION
APPLIED-TO
MATERIAL SHAPE
PURPOSE
MEANS
METAL
cut of
screw
drive-in
pull-out turn
screw-driv-er
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Motivation
long thin rod
with handle
on one and
blade at the
other end
long shaft
with metal
blade
skruvmejsel
chave de fenda
9
Screwdriver ICM – ‘screw’
Schrauben-zieh-er csavar-húz-ó
schroeve-draai-er
INSTRUMENT
TOOL
tourne-vis
key
‘screwdriver’
chisel
ACTION
APPLIED-TO
MATERIAL SHAPE
PURPOSE
MEANS
METAL
cut of
screw
drive-in
pull-out turn
long shaft
with metal
blade
skruvmejsel
chave de fenda
screw-driv-er
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long thin rod
with handle
on one and
blade at the
other end
Motivation
10
Screwdriver ICM – ‘drive’
Schrauben-zieh-er csavar-húz-ó
schroeve-draai-er
INSTRUMENT
TOOL
tourne-vis
key
‘screwdriver’
chisel
ACTION
APPLIED-TO
MATERIAL SHAPE
PURPOSE
MEANS
METAL
cut of
screw
drive-in
pull-out turn
long shaft
with metal
blade
skruvmejsel
chave de fenda
screw-driv-er
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long thin rod
with handle
on one and
blade at the
other end
Motivation
11
Screwdriver ICM – ‘pull’
Schrauben-zieh-er csavar-húz-ó
schroeve-draai-er
INSTRUMENT
TOOL
tourne-vis
key
‘screwdriver’
chisel
ACTION
APPLIED-TO
MATERIAL SHAPE
PURPOSE
MEANS
METAL
cut of
screw
drive-in
pull-out turn
long shaft
with metal
blade
skruvmejsel
chave de fenda
screw-driv-er
24/03/2016
long thin rod
with handle
on one and
blade at the
other end
Motivation
12
Screwdriver ICM – ‘turn’
Schrauben-zieh-er csavar-húz-ó
schroeve-draai-er
INSTRUMENT
TOOL
tourne-vis
key
‘screwdriver’
chisel
ACTION
APPLIED-TO
MATERIAL SHAPE
PURPOSE
MEANS
METAL
cut of
screw
drive-in
pull-out turn
long shaft
with metal
blade
skruvmejsel
chave de fenda
screw-driv-er
24/03/2016
long thin rod
with handle
on one and
blade at the
other end
Motivation
13
Screwdriver ICM - Instrument
Schrauben-zieh-er csavar-húz-ó
schroeve-draai-er
INSTRUMENT
TOOL
tourne-vis
key
‘screwdriver’
chisel
ACTION
APPLIED-TO
MATERIAL SHAPE
PURPOSE
MEANS
METAL
cut of
screw
drive-in
pull-out turn
long shaft
with metal
blade
skruvmejsel
chave de fenda
screw-driv-er
24/03/2016
long thin rod
with handle
on one and
blade at the
other end
Motivation
14
Screwdriver ICM
Schrauben-zieh-er csavar-húz-ó
schroeve-draai-er
INSTRUMENT
TOOL
tourne-vis
key
‘screwdriver’
chisel
ACTION
APPLIED-TO
MATERIAL SHAPE
PURPOSE
MEANS
METAL
cut of
screw
drive-in
pull-out turn
long shaft
with metal
blade
skruvmejsel
chave de fenda
screw-driv-er
24/03/2016
long thin rod
with handle
on one and
blade at the
other end
Motivation
15
Relativity of motivation
[The principle of arbitrariness] would lead to the worst sort
of complication if applied without restriction. But the mind
contrives to introduce a principle of order and regularity
into certain parts of the mass of signs and this is the role of
relative motivation.
There is no language in which nothing is motivated, and
our definition makes it impossible to conceive of a
language in which everything is motivated. Between the
two extremes—a minimum of organization and a minimum
of arbitrariness—we find all possible varieties.
(de Saussure 1916/1959)
Motivation
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Relativity of motivation
Arbitrariness
Relative
M o t i v a t i o n
20
80
12
vingt
quatre-vingt
douze
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14
quatorze
Motivation
Predictability
19
21
dix-neuf
vingt-et-un
17
Motivational processes within a wider framework
(i) Motivational processes are triggered by independent
factors, i.e. factors that are external to the human
system the motivational entity belongs to.
(ii) In principle, motivational relations may hold between
any two human systems.
(iii) We claim that all human systems interact with
cognition as the central system and may, via
cognition, interact with one another. Cognition thus
functions as a switchboard that receives input from
peripheral systems and may influence them in turn.
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Motivation
18
Cognition and its interaction with other human
systems (Radden & Panther 2011)
Action
Perception
Emotion
COGNITION
Social/Communicative
Interaction
Reasoning, inferencing, etc.
Categorizing, ecology
Framing, cognitive modelling, etc.
Associative thinking (conceptual me tonymy)
Analogizing (conceptual metaphor)
Conceptual blending (integration)
Perspectivizing
Culture
Bodily experience
Language
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Motivation
19
Cognition: Reasoning
(Kahneman 2011)
A bat and a ball cost $1.10.
The ball costs one dollar more than the bat.
How much does the ball cost?
The answer 10c is intuitive, appealing, and wrong.
If the ball costs 10c, then the total cost will be $1.20 (10c for
the ball and $1.10 for the bat), not $1.10.
The correct answer is 5c.
System 1 is fast, instinctive and emotional. (10c)
System 2 is slower, more deliberative, and more logical. (5c)
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Cognition: Categories
A category is a conceptual unit formed on the basis of a collection
of equivalent experiences that are meaningful and relevant to
us, i.e. categories are formed for things that “matter” in a
community.
Concept: general and abstract idea, as opposed to percept
Collection: Categories are types.
Equivalence: Assessment of similarity of experiences
Experience: “We see things not as they are but as we are.” (Kant)
Meaningfulness and relevance:
“Language without meaning is meaningless.” (Jakobson)
Community: Collective experience
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Recategorization: X and Y alike construction
(Panther & Thornburg 2012)
(1) A car-free family resort offering a warm welcome,
summer and winter alike.
(2) Doctors and citizens alike are concerned about the
consequences of health-care reform.
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Cognition:
Inference and conversational implicature
Conversational implicatures are inferences drawn by
the hearer in order to recover the speaker’s intended
meaning of an utterance.
Sarah: “I've been asked to get married hundreds of times.”
Miriam (surprised): ”Really?! By whom?”
Sarah: “My parents.”
Sarah’s statement invites the implicature that she has been
asked to get married by hundreds of men. Her reply cancels
this implicature.
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23
Bodily Experience and Cognition
Action
Perception
Emotion
COGNITION
Social/Communicative
Interaction
Reasoning, inferencing, etc.
Categorizing, ecology
Framing, cognitive modelling, etc.
Associative thinking (conceptual me tonymy)
Analogizing (conceptual metaphor)
Conceptual blending (integration)
Perspectivizing
Culture
Bodily experience
Language
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24
Bodily Experience and Cognition:
Impact of bodily experience on cognition
“This is Descartes' error: the abyssal separation between body
and mind, between the sizable, dimensioned, mechanically
operated, infinitely divisible body stuff, on the one hand, and
the unsizable, undimensional, un-pushpullable, nondivisible
mind stuff. Body and brain form an indissociable organism.”
(Damasio)
UNDERSTANDING IS GRASPING: grasp
a complex idea
IDEAS ARE FOOD: She gave us some brain food.
They swallowed whatever garbage he gave them.
Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed and
some few to be chewed and digested. (Bacon)
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25
Bodily Experience and Cognition:
Impact of cognition on bodily experience
Cultural prohibition against the use of language referring to
bodily functions: Taboo words are avoided and euphemisms
used instead:
Where can I wash my hands?
We have a relationship.
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26
Perception and Cognition
Action
Perception
Emotion
COGNITION
Social/Communicative
Interaction
Reasoning, inferencing, etc.
Categorizing, ecology
Framing, cognitive modelling, etc.
Associative thinking (conceptual me tonymy)
Analogizing (conceptual metaphor)
Conceptual blending (integration)
Perspectivizing
Culture
Bodily experience
Language
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27
Perception and Cognition
Müller-Lyer illusion
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28
Perception and Cognition:
Impact of perception on cognition
KNOWING IS SEEING
I see the solution to the problem. ‘know’
I see your point. ‘understand’
APPEARANCE FOR INFERRED REALITY
John looks sad. ‘Judging from his appearance, I infer that
John is sad’
You sound disappointed. ‘Judging from your tone of voice,
I infer that you are disappointed’
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29
Perception and Cognition:
Impact of cognition on perception
“We see things not as they are but as we are.” (Kant)
Objects perceived (tokens) become meaningful by assigning
them to a type, as in: That’s a poisonous snake.
Cognition enables us to divide a perceived scene into
Figure and Ground.
Figure 2.4.
Figure and ground
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30
The Canadian flag
Two angry men with their foreheads pressed together:
Jack and Jacques
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31
Culture and Cognition:
Impact of culture on cognition
Metaphor: ANGER IS HEAT
Variant a) English and Chinese: ANGER IS FIRE
Variant b)
English: ANGER IS A HOT FLUID IN A CONTAINER
as in You make my blood boil.
Chinese: ANGER IS HOT GAS IN A CONTAINER
as in ‘He’s ballooned with gas’, i.e. ‘inflated with anger’
Philosophical theory of yin-yang: fluids (yin) are categorized
with cold, while gas (yang) is categorized with heat because
heat is understood as a necessary condition for the occurrence
of gas. (Yu 1998: 55)
Motivation
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Language and Cognition
Action
Perception
Emotion
COGNITION
Social/Communicative
Interaction
Reasoning, inferencing, etc.
Categorizing, ecology
Framing, cognitive modelling, etc.
Associative thinking (conceptual me tonymy)
Analogizing (conceptual metaphor)
Conceptual blending (integration)
Perspectivizing
Culture
Bodily experience
Language
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33
Language and cognition:
Impact of language on cognition
“Language is the formative organ of thought.”
(Wilhelm von Humboldt, 1830-35)
“The limits of my language are the limits of my mind.
All I know is what I have words for.”
(Ludwig Wittgenstein)
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Whorfian effects: Grammatical gender
(Lera Boroditsky)
‘key’
German der Schlüssel evokes “male” attributes:
‘hard’, ‘heavy’, ‘jagged’, ‘metal’, ‘serrated’, ‘useful’
Spanish la llave evokes “female attributes:
‘golden’, ‘intricate’, ‘little’, ‘lovely’, ‘shiny’, ‘tiny’
‘bridge’
German die Brücke evokes “female” attributes:
‘beautiful’, ‘elegant’, ‘fragile’, ‘peaceful’, ‘slender’, ‘pretty’
Spanish el puente evokes “male” attributes:
‘big’, ‘dangerous’, ‘long’, ‘strong’, ‘sturdy’, ‘towering’
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35
die Rialto-Brücke
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36
el puente de la torre de Londres
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37
Herta Müller, Nobel prize winner
Reporter: Sometimes you use the feminine gender with words
that have the masculine gender in German.
Herta Müller: Yes, this is because certain words in Romanian
have a different gender. Winter in Romanian is a woman, and
without being aware of it, I have made it into a woman. And I
also know that I meant the Romanian winter. That’s crazy
about language. The word gives us a view of something. The
rose in Romanian is masculine, also the lily; they give us a
different view.
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38
Language and cognition:
Basic semiotic relations of a sign
SOURCE
TARGET
CONTENT
CONTENT
CONTENT
FORM
FORM
FORM
TARGET
SOURCE
CONTENT
motivating FORM
FORM
motivating CONTENT
arbitrary relation
Motivation
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Content motivating form: Iconicity
Imagic iconicity applies
to a sign that resembles
its conceived referent.
Pictograms:
Onomatopoeia (imitative iconicity)
Latin cuculus > OFr. coucoul (> cokold > Engl. cuckold)
> OFr. coucou > Engl. cuckoo
Cuckoo superseded Old English gēac, which lost its
onomatopoeic quality through sound change, and did not
undergo the regular sound change of /u/ to /Λ/.
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40
Words for the cuckoo
Afrikaans:
Albanian:
Catalan:
Croatian:
Danish:
Dutch:
English:
Estonian:
Finnish:
French:
German:
Hebrew:
24/03/2016
koekoek
ku ku
cucut, cucut
ku-ku
kuk-kuk
koekoek
cuckoo
kuku kuku
kukkuu
coucou
kuckuck
kuku
Japanese:
Italian:
Korean:
Norwegian:
Portuguese:
Russian:
Slovene:
Spanish:
Swedish:
Turkish:
Ukrainian:
Vietnamese:
Motivation
kakkou kakkou
cucú, cucú, cucú
ppu-kkook-ppu-kkook
koko
cucu cucu
ku-ku
ku-ku
cúcu cúcu
koko
guguk, guguk
ku-ku, ku-ku
cuc-cu
41
Imagic iconicity:
Kanji characters (ideograms)
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42
Kanji characters for ‘Nihon’
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43
Kanji characters for ‘Tokyo’
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44
Form motivating content: Isomorphism
Sameness of form signals sameness of meaning:
phonesthemes, e.g. /sp/: spit, spank, spam
stress pattern (Taylor 2004)
Hamburg-er, Frankfurt-er, London-er, villag-er
[’hæm,bə:gə] has the same stress pattern as dog-lover,
man-hater, horse-breeding, etc.
reanalyzed as ham-burger  cheese-burger, etc.
Motivation
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Phonesthemes:
bang as in Bang goes the weekend (Taylor)
Many monosyllabic words with the vowel /æ/ designate a
noisy impact and/or sudden movement:
slam, slap, crack, clap, flap, crash, bash, spank, smack
Several words commencing in /b/ are associated with a
sudden event:
boo, beat, bat, batter, bump, binge, bingo
A number of words ending in a nasal are associated with
sound or movement:
sing, ring, ping, fling, sling, dong, gong, hum, boom
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Content  Content  Content/Form: Compounds
Example: ‘screwdriver’  ‘screw’ + ‘drive’ + INSTR  screwdriver
TARGET
SOURCE
SOURCE
CONTENT
‘ICM’
1
C1
F1
3
C3
C2
F2
F3
2
TARGET
CONTENT
FORM1+2+3
1: motivated conceptual relation 2: motivated form-form relation
3: motivated semiotic relation
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