Key Concepts in Semantics and Cognitive Linguistics

1. Icons, Indices, and Symbols

Icon: A sign that imitates or resembles what it represents (e.g., a photograph of a cat).
Index: A sign with a causal or contiguous relation to its referent (e.g., smoke as an index of fire).
Symbol: A sign with an arbitrary and conventional relation to its meaning (e.g., a red flag signifying danger).

2. Three Types of Closed Class Words

Prepositions: These indicate spatial, temporal, or causal relations (e.g., in, behind, after).
Determiners: These specify a reference or a particular instance (e.g., the, this, my).
Conjunctions: These connect blocks of meaning, adding or contrasting information (e.g., and, but, or).

3. Defining Cognitive Science

Cognitive Science: A multidisciplinary field that combines linguistics, cognitive psychology, neuroscience, anthropology, Artificial Intelligence (AI), and philosophy to understand the nature of cognition.

4. Shortcomings of Binary Semantic Features

• Many words are not easily analyzed using this method.
• The subjectivity of the analyst can influence results.
• “Residues” of meaning are often left uncaptured.
• It is difficult to reach a consensus on what counts as a semantic feature.
• They fail to capture imagistic information, such as shape.

5. The Notion of Ad-Hoc Categories

Ad-hoc categories: These are temporary and context-specific groupings created “on the spot” to achieve a concrete goal. While they possess a prototypical structure (with central and peripheral members), they are not stored in long-term memory (e.g., “things to take on a one-week beach trip”).

6. Word Learning and the Gavagai Problem

The term Gavagai! (Quine) illustrates the indeterminacy of translation and meaning acquisition. When someone points at a rabbit and exclaims “Gavagai!”, the word could mean “rabbit,” “undetached rabbit part,” or “look, it’s running.” This demonstrates that context alone does not determine exact meaning.

7. Polysemy vs. Homonymy

Polysemy: One word with multiple related meanings.
Examples: Bright (luminous / intelligent); Mouth (body part / river opening); Box (a container / to fight/box).
Homonymy: Words that share the same form but have unrelated meanings.
Examples: Bat (animal / baseball equipment); Match (a game / a stick for starting fires); Pen (writing instrument / animal enclosure).

8. Lakoff’s View on Cognitive Metaphor

According to George Lakoff, the main function of cognitive metaphor is to structure abstract domains (the target domain) by mapping them onto more concrete and structured domains (the source domain). This allows humans to understand and reason about abstract concepts through concrete physical experiences.

9. Understanding Image-Schemas

Image-schemas: These are basic abstract structures derived from bodily experience and interaction with the physical world (e.g., the Container schema: inside/outside). They serve as a vital bridge between sensory experience and conceptual metaphors.

10. Primary Metaphors and Examples

Primary metaphors: These arise from recurrent correlations in everyday experience between two distinct domains.
Examples: More is Up (derived from stacking objects); Affection is Warmth (derived from physical contact and hugs).

11. Defining Key Semantic Roles

Experiencer: An entity that experiences a psychological state without direct control over it (e.g., Jane in “Jane fears storms”).
Content: The information or proposition that is perceived (e.g., the secret in “know the secret”).
Theme: An entity that moves or is located in space (e.g., the cat in “the cat is lost”).
Stimulus: The entity that provokes a psychological response (e.g., storms in “be afraid of storms”).

12. Semantic Role Analysis and Jackendoff’s Tiers

a. I moved the cup with my right arm.
Action tier: Agent (I) – Patient (cup) – Instrument (arm)
Spatial tier: Theme (cup)

b. I always put the keys on this table.
Action tier: Agent (I) – Patient (keys)
Spatial tier: Theme (keys) – Goal (table)

c. Jane gave me a letter from John.
Action tier: Agent (Jane) – Beneficiary (me) – Patient (letter)
Spatial tier: Source (John) – Theme (letter) – Goal (me)

d. John is afraid of hurricanes.
Experiencer (John) – Stimulus (hurricanes)

e. I drive to work from home.
Agent (I) – Source (home) – Goal (work)

f. I saw the whole accident from my house with a telescope.
Experiencer (I) – Content (accident) – Source (house) – Instrument (telescope)

13. Hedges and Hedging Constructions

Hedges: These are expressions that indicate the degree of membership within a prototypical category or provide an approximation of meaning (e.g., kind of, sort of, technically speaking).

14. Classification of Speech Acts

• a. I don't think I can go on like this → Expressive
• b. Bill Gates has a lot of money → Assertive
• c. I apologize for not having called you before → Expressive
• d. I'm gonna love you like nobody's loved you → Commissive
• e. Write down the answer which you think is correct → Directive
• f. You shouldn't call your mother so early → Directive
• g. Angelina Jolie is married to Brad Pitt → Assertive
• h. I hate questions with ambiguous answers → Expressive
• i. You are now man and wife → Declarative
• j. I'll kill you if you tell your mother! → Commissive