zompist bboard

The latest CD ("Gize Mizan") by Ethiopian pop singer Hamelmal Abate. Love those syncopated 12/8 rhythms.

John - many thanks for taking the time to write and post these mini-essays. I've found them very thought-provoking, and already have plans for incorporating some of the ideas into Gevey (though I'm not going to rush anything).Rik You're welcome. I look forward to one day reading about the changes o...

I found this excellent article on image schemas I thought I'd share with y'all.

And here's another one that analyzes the Polish preposition "po" and presents lots of graphic representations of various image schemas.

Lesson 11: Mental Spaces 11.0 Illustrating the Problem Remember the ?If I were you I?d hate me/myself? problem way back at the beginning of this thread? Well, it?s time to analyze what?s going on. Consider the following sentences: 1a) *The girl with blue eyes has green eyes. 1b) In that photo, the ...

Dingbats: Since I don't pretend to speak for Dr. Fillmore or for the team associated with FrameNet, I can only offer you my own perspective on the matter. I myself am not certain as to what the distinction between "core" and "non-core" elements in the FrameNet listings are, as they certainly do NOT ...

John, I have a question regarding Ithkuil: when you were thinking out all the different roots, did you have to think of exactly what frame they had? Like, when mapping out "to cut" (or whatever the Ithkuil equivalent is) did you define there and then that "to cut" is, for example: INSTRUMENT MANNER...

Just thought that I'd throw in that I'm doing some very non-mainstream (= makes sense) literary analysis and have stumbled across some ideas tangent with cognitive linguistics, which is making me want to buy a more formal book on it. Of course the work isn't explicitly grammatical, but there are st...

Lesson 10: Categorization and Prototypes 10.0 Background Evidence from cognitive psychology pioneered by Eleanor Rosch in the early 1970s and continuing to the present shows that human categorization does not function based on criteria as classical set theory (and Chomskian linguistics) would assum...

FWIW, Fillmore's idea of frames is very close to that of Marvin Minsky. I don't have copies of the relevant papers and Googling is tedious, but so far as I can see Minsky originated the term in 1975 (in "A Framework for Representing Knowledge"), while Fillmore's key work is from 1977 ("Scenes-and-f...

Additional Considerations for Conlangers Our next lesson will be on prototypes and prototype theory, followed by a look at Fauconnier's theory of Mental Spaces. However, while we're on the topic of what considerations conlangers should give to all this cognitive stuff when designing a conlang, anot...

Lesson No. 9: More on Frames & Implications for Conlanging I don't understand completely how you would use frames in a good way in a conlang. Could you give an example of a con-frame? An excellent example of the implications of frame semantics is given by Lakoff and Johnson involving the word ?gun....

Lesson No. 8: Frames If you were asked to define the word ?eat? most of us would offer some variation of a simple ?dictionary? type of definition such as ?ingest food.? However, the word ?eat?, in addition to having a simple ?definition? is associated with a semantic frame , a subconscious schemati...

One question though: You said that you can't say "She's on the car" because a car is too small, compared to a bus/boat/train/plane. What about a small boat? A boat that's even smaller than a car? You can still say "She's on the boat" when it's a small boat, or can't you? Good question. My guess wou...

Chapter 7: Conceptual Metaphors and Implications for Conlanging 7.0 Background on Metaphor Most people think of metaphor (as do most linguists other than cognitive linguists) as a consciously applied rhetorical device, as in He must have wings on his feet to get here so fast! As such, metaphor prio...

Lesson 6: Explanations I?ll spend this lesson explaining some of the ?puzzlers? I left you with in previous lessons (since no one seems to want to offer their own attempts to explain). Remember these? 1a) I put my foot in(to) the stirrup . 1b) ?? I put my finger in(to) the ring . 2a) ?? I put the s...

The positive thing with these lessons is that I'm learning a lot from it. :) The negative thing is that it's so complex I'll probably not be able to incorporate it into my conlang... I think that once we get into Metaphor and Frames, you will find it easier going and will see more opportunities for...

Lesson 5: Image Schemas 5.1 The Problem of Lexical Encoding of Spatial Concepts Consider the English word ?out.? Its basic concept is spatial in nature, specifically the idea of either static or dynamic exteriority, i.e., ?being or moving to the outside of something." So why does its usage extend t...

Lesson 4: More on Spatial Relationships and a Preview of Image Schemas 4.0 Recap We saw in Lesson No. 3 above that the choice of using one preposition over another in English is not necessarily based on the objective properties of the observed situation, but rather on the way in with the situation?...

Regarding the "best example" issue which is the basis of prototype theory and seems to be driving the above discussion: Cognitive linguistics also provides for another type of categorization scheme called "radial categories" (Lakoff's terminology) or "family resemblances" (term used by other authors...

Lesson 3: Space, Landmarks, and Trajector s 3.1 Spatial Conceptualization Consider the physical nature of one?s actions when inserting a foot into a stirrup in preparation to ride a horse. Compare this to the physical nature of one?s actions when preparing to wear a ring on one?s finger. Both actio...

You studied under Langacker. . . now that's impressive! Sorry, but I wasn't clear in my previous post. Although Langacker was teaching cognitive grammar back in the late 1970s while I was studying linguistics (I believed he called it "Space Grammar" back then), I never studied under him, as I was a...

LESSON 1: Introduction 1.0 Preface The one I will be mostly relying upon for my material is David Lee?s Cognitive Linguistics: An Introduction , which is less technical and, IMO, more coherently presented but also more elementary than the more comprehensive Cambridge Series book by Croft and Cruse ...

Lesson No. 2: Construal, Iconicity and Perspective 2.1 Construal Traditional generative grammar generally considers the following two sentences to be semantically equivalent, their differences explicable solely on the basis of the application of formal syntactical rules (e.g., deriving one from the...

9) a. John ran up a big hill. b. John ran up a big bill. 10) a. Up a big hill John ran. b. *Up a big bill John ran. ...your assignment for tonight is to come up with an example or two in line with 9) and 10). Not exactly illustrating the same principle, but still within the larger vein of "why isn'...

LESSON 1: Introduction 1.0 Preface I will try to present this material as simply as possible, as I am only trying to provide an understanding of basic concepts rather than extreme detail. Those who find their appetites whetted can then proceed to explore more detailed material on their own. Several...