Cog Ling in Brno 2014: From Function to Cognition
Cog Ling in Brno is a forum on Cognitive Linguistics organized by the Department of English and
American Studies at the Faculty of Arts of Masaryk University, Brno (Czech Republic). It aims to bring
together researchers interested in Cognitive Linguistics in Brno and is expected to become a regular
annual event and to expand to an international event within five years.
The Department has a strong research tradition in Functional Linguistics, with research
specializations in Information Structure, Sociolinguistics, Stylistics, Translation Studies, and Critical
Discourse Analysis. In 2013, we introduced Cognitive Linguistics into the curriculum with the generous
sponsorship from the European Social Fund and the Ministry of Education of the Czech Republic
(CZ.1.07/2.3.00/30.0037). In the past year, we have witnessed an emerging synergy between Functional
Linguistics and Cognitive Linguistics in the research team of the Department.
The point of this forum is exactly to showcase our current achievements in integrating CL into
our existing research threads. We have invited three internal members of the Department, one external
member (Japanese Program) and three outstanding students to share their ongoing projects and to
exchange ideas with people interested in CL in Brno and elsewhere. Everyone is cordially invited to
attend this event to share their ideas with us and to discuss how to further develop CL in Brno.
If interested, please kindly contact Wei-lun Lu (weilunlu@gmail.com) to register for attendance.
Date: 17 June 2014
Venue: G23 (Gorkeho 7)
9:50
10:00
10:10
10:30
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12:10
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Registration
Opening and welcome
Use of parallel texts as a new methodology
in viewpoint study
Subjecthood in Japanese
Pronouncing the Dreams by
Foregrounding the Rhemes
Mimsy borogoves, or, the craft of word
de/formation
Use of Parallel Corpora in Cognitive
Linguistics
Specialized Language and Cognitive
Linguistics
Revised approach to plus-minus parameter
of image-schema theory for phrasal verbs
with up and down
General Discussion
Speaker
-Jana Chamonikolasova
Wei-lun Lu
Chair
--Jana Ch.
Jiri Matela
Martin Drapela
Jana Ch.
Jana Ch.
Jiri Rambousek
Jana Ch.
Magdalena Honcova
WL
Ivana Kralikova
WL
Alena Holubcova
WL
All
Pronouncing the Dreams by Foregrounding the Rhemes
Martin Drapela
Although the study of information structure of language has always been firmly connected with
the scientific interests of the Prague School of Linguistics, especially in its Brno flavour widely
known under the designation Functional Sentence Perspective (FSP, represented primarily by
Firbas 1992), a connection between FSP and Cognitive Linguistics has, to my knowledge, never
been made, in explicit terms at least. As core literature on Cognitive Linguistics does expect the
existence of such a contact (for example Sperber-Wilson 1995: 202ff.), it feels tempting to offer
a tentative analysis of the operation of FSP in a text which is widely known as a masterpiece of
rhetoric, MLK's "I Have a Dream" speech. In the presentation I shall put forth a view that the
repetition occurring not only in the main and most often quoted phrase "I have a dream", but
throughout the speech may be looked upon as an informationally based phenomenon which
contributes to the final effect of the speech.
Revised approach to plus-minus parameter of image-schema theory for phrasal verbs
with up and down
Alena Holubcova
The presentation provides an overview of author’s own work on an investigation of use of
image-schema in the field of cognitive linguistics. In the work, a revised approach to the
phenomenon of the plus-minus parameter of image-schema theory for phrasal verbs with up
and down as introduced by Dr. Beate Hampe, is proposed on the basis of examination of the
empirical data collected from the British National Corpus (BNC). The main difference from Dr.
Hampe’s approach is the inclusion of the emotive environment in which the phrasal verbs occur
into the analysis of the parameter. The analysis is also set on a revised definition of positively
and negatively charged environment.
The methodology of this work lies in examining 250 tokens of phrasal verbs with up and
250 tokens of phrasal verbs with down, collected from BNC accessed through the sketch engine.
The definition of phrasal verbs for this work include the verb + non-verb component
(preposition, particle, or adverb) constructions. Another decisive element for the data
examination is the respective tokens’ adherence towards literal or metaphorical meaning in the
provided example sentences, as this adherence impacts the functionality of the plus-minus
parameter.
Use of Parallel Texts as a New Approach to Spatial Cognition:
The Case of English and Czech
Magdalena Honcova
In the context of Czech linguistics, employment of the usage-based models of spatial cognition
in a cross-linguistic investigation of prepositions remains notably scarce (Dušková 2006,
Římalová 2009). In order to fill this gap, I propose to provide a model analysis by applying
construction grammar (Langacker 1987, 1991; Croft 2001) to the case preposition down. Such
analysis will advance the description of a conceptual structuring system for space in Czech and
English. For this purpose, I suggest to use the first chapter of Alice in Wonderland.
Metaphor in Terminology:
The verb BLEED in the Domain of Machinery
Ivana Králiková
This works explores the grammatical and collocational behaviour of the verb BLEED
when used metaphorically in technical language, more precisely in the domain of machinery
(e.g. bleed brakes). While its transitive property is shared by other (non-technical) metaphorical
meanings of BLEED (e.g. bleed money), the use of certain grammatical structures, such as
imperative or semi-modals have to, need to, seem specific to BLEED in technical language.
Inspired by Hanks’s theory of cognitive profiles, the work explores the wider collocational
environment of BLEED in technical language. The verb frequently occurs within specific
discourses that account for the aforementioned grammatical structures: it is discussed as
a necessary measure or remedy for trouble, placed within a set of maintenance steps or shown
as consisting of steps itself, assessed in terms of quality and difficulty, etc.
Subjecthood in Japanese:
Why study 'subject' in the Japanese language and why from cognitive linguistics perspective
Jiří Matela
At my presentation, I will present the problem of the notion of 'subject' in the Japanese
language, introduce some previous analysis and the most problematic cases with focus on the
relationship between focal nominal complement of a predicative within a clause (marked with
the particle "ga") and the sentence topic (marked especially with the particle "wa"). I will try to
point out some problems with previous suggestions and I will suggest, why cognitive linguistics
(and specifically what ideas of it) seems to be a fruitful approach towards the solution.
Use of Parallel Texts as a New Methodology in Viewpoint Study
Wei-lun Lu
In this talk, I will first lay the groundwork by demonstrating how language is viewpointed in
essence, which is one of the central commitments in Cognitive Linguistics. After that I will show
how use of parallel texts, i.e. translations put alongside with their originals, can be utilized as
a new methodology that brings us insights by showing how some viewpointing effects,
especially mixing of points of view, are cross-linguistically untranslatable and thus totally
language-specific and conventionalized. This will bring us to the conclusion of how language
and its narrative convention are culturally evolved tools that allow human beings to achieve
certain cognitive and stylistic effects in radically conventional ways.
Mimsy borogoves, or, the craft of word de/formation
Jiri Rambousek
The talk presents some considerations – rather questions than answers – made on entering the
field of cognitive linguistics. I will ask, among other things, about the possibilities and limits of
drawing conclusions concerning the cognitive aspects of a linguistic activity, if these conclusions
can be based solely on its product (an utterance, piece of writing, etc.), whether observed
individually, or statistically in a corpus. The presentation will be based on a comparison of the
word-formation process of nonce words in Lewis Carroll’s Alice books and their translations into
Czech and Slovak. One possible point of view is also that of how the author and the translators
– consciously or unconsciously – present the problem of word-formation to the readers.