Acessibilidade / Reportar erro
• Rev. bras. linguist. apl. 5 (2) • 2005 • https://doi.org/10.1590/S1984-63982005000200002   copy

Applying cognitive linguistics to pedagogical grammar: the english prepositions of verticality

Authorship SCIMAGO INSTITUTIONS RANKINGS

Abstracts

In this paper, we illustrate the merit of applying insights from Cognitive Linguistics to pedagogical grammar. We do so by examining English prepositions, long assumed to be one of the most difficult areas of acquisition for second language learners. The approach to the semantics of English prepositions we present is that developed in Evans and Tyler (2004a, b, In prep.) and Tyler and Evans (2001a, 2003). This account offers the following insights: 1) the concepts encoded by prepositions are image-schematic in nature and thus have an embodied basis. In other words, prepositions are not appropriately modelled as constituting linguistic propositions or semantic feature bundles (the received view in formal linguistics); 2) an English preposition encodes an abstract mental idealization of a spatial relation, derived from more specific spatial scenes. This forms the primary meaning component of a semantic network; 3) the idealized spatial relation also encodes a functional element, which derives from the way spatial relations are salient and relevant for human function and interaction with the physical environment; and 4) the additional senses in the semantic network have been extended in systematic, constrained ways. We discuss two key principles of extension: ways of viewing a spatial scene and experiential correlation. We demonstrate the usefulness of a Cognitive Linguistics approach by examining a few aspects of the lexicalization patterns exhibited by in and the four English prepositions of verticality, over, above, under and below. These prepositions provide good evidence that prepositional meanings are extended from the spatial to abstract domains in ways that are regular and constrained. We conclude that a Cognitive Linguistics approach to prepositions provides a more accurate, systematic account that, in turn, offers the basis for a more coherent, learnable presentation of this hitherto seemingly arbitrary aspect of English grammar.

Neste artigo ilustramos o mérito da aplicação de conceitos da Lingüística Cognitiva ao ensino de gramática de L2. Analisamos as preposições do inglês, que são, há muito tempo, reconhecidas como uma área de dificuldade para aprendizes de inglês. A proposta de semântica preposicional que apresentamos é aquela desenvolvida em Evans e Tyler (2004a, b, em preparação) e Tyler e Evans (2001a, 2003). Tal proposta oferece os seguintes achados: 1) os conceitos codificados por preposições têm natureza imagético-esquemática e têm uma base corpórea. Ou seja, as preposições não são adequadamente modeladas como constituintes de proposições lingüísticas ou matrizes de traços semânticos ( a visão corrente da lingüística formal); 2) uma preposição do inglês codifica uma idealização mental abstrata de uma relação espacial, derivada de cenas espaciais mais específicas; 3) a relação espacial idealizada também codifica um elemento funcional, que deriva da maneira através da qual relações espaciais são salientes e relevantes para o funcionamento humano e interação com o ambiente físico; 4) os sentidos adicionais na rede semântica são expandidos de maneira sistemática e constritiva. Nós discutimos dois princípios de extensão chaves: maneiras de focar uma cena espacial e a correlação experiencial. Demonstramos a aplicabilidade da Lingüística Cognitiva através do exame de alguns padrões de lexicalização mostrados pela preposição in e das quatro preposições inglesas de verticalidade: over, above, under e below. Estas preposições apresentam boas evidências de que sentidos preposicionais são expandidos de um domínio espacial para domínios mais abstratos de forma sistemática e restritiva. Concluímos que um estudo de preposições à luz da Lingüística Cognitiva oferece explicações mais acuradas e sistemáticas que, por sua vez, possibilitam bases para uma apresentação mais coerente e acessível ao aprendiz deste aspecto aparentemente tão arbitrário da gramática da língua inglesa.

Applying Cognitive Linguistics to Pedagogical Grammar: The English Prepositions of Verticality

Vyvyan EvansI; Andrea TylerII

IDepartment of Linguistics and English Language, Arts B, University of Sussex, Brighton, BN1 9QN, UK, University of Sussex, Brighton, UK, E-mail: vyv.evans@sussex.ac.uk

IIDepartment of Linguistics, Box 571051, Georgetown University, 37th and O Streets, NW, Washington, D.C. 20057-1051, USA, Georgetoun University, Washington, D.C., USA, E-mail: tyleran@georgetown.edu

RESUMO

Neste artigo ilustramos o mérito da aplicação de conceitos da Lingüística Cognitiva ao ensino de gramática de L2. Analisamos as preposições do inglês, que são, há muito tempo, reconhecidas como uma área de dificuldade para aprendizes de inglês. A proposta de semântica preposicional que apresentamos é aquela desenvolvida em Evans e Tyler (2004a, b, em preparação) e Tyler e Evans (2001a, 2003). Tal proposta oferece os seguintes achados: 1) os conceitos codificados por preposições têm natureza imagético-esquemática e têm uma base corpórea. Ou seja, as preposições não são adequadamente modeladas como constituintes de proposições lingüísticas ou matrizes de traços semânticos ( a visão corrente da lingüística formal); 2) uma preposição do inglês codifica uma idealização mental abstrata de uma relação espacial, derivada de cenas espaciais mais específicas; 3) a relação espacial idealizada também codifica um elemento funcional, que deriva da maneira através da qual relações espaciais são salientes e relevantes para o funcionamento humano e interação com o ambiente físico; 4) os sentidos adicionais na rede semântica são expandidos de maneira sistemática e constritiva. Nós discutimos dois princípios de extensão chaves: maneiras de focar uma cena espacial e a correlação experiencial.

Demonstramos a aplicabilidade da Lingüística Cognitiva através do exame de alguns padrões de lexicalização mostrados pela preposição in e das quatro preposições inglesas de verticalidade: over, above, under e below. Estas preposições apresentam boas evidências de que sentidos preposicionais são expandidos de um domínio espacial para domínios mais abstratos de forma sistemática e restritiva. Concluímos que um estudo de preposições à luz da Lingüística Cognitiva oferece explicações mais acuradas e sistemáticas que, por sua vez, possibilitam bases para uma apresentação mais coerente e acessível ao aprendiz deste aspecto aparentemente tão arbitrário da gramática da língua inglesa.

ABSTRACT

In this paper, we illustrate the merit of applying insights from Cognitive Linguistics to pedagogical grammar. We do so by examining English prepositions, long assumed to be one of the most difficult areas of acquisition for second language learners. The approach to the semantics of English prepositions we present is that developed in Evans and Tyler (2004a, b, In prep.) and Tyler and Evans (2001a, 2003). This account offers the following insights: 1) the concepts encoded by prepositions are image-schematic in nature and thus have an embodied basis. In other words, prepositions are not appropriately modelled as constituting linguistic propositions or semantic feature bundles (the received view in formal linguistics); 2) an English preposition encodes an abstract mental idealization of a spatial relation, derived from more specific spatial scenes. This forms the primary meaning component of a semantic network; 3) the idealized spatial relation also encodes a functional element, which derives from the way spatial relations are salient and relevant for human function and interaction with the physical environment; and 4) the additional senses in the semantic network have been extended in systematic, constrained ways. We discuss two key principles of extension: ways of viewing a spatial scene and experiential correlation.

We demonstrate the usefulness of a Cognitive Linguistics approach by examining a few aspects of the lexicalization patterns exhibited by in and the four English prepositions of verticality, over, above, under and below. These prepositions provide good evidence that prepositional meanings are extended from the spatial to abstract domains in ways that are regular and constrained. We conclude that a Cognitive Linguistics approach to prepositions provides a more accurate, systematic account that, in turn, offers the basis for a more coherent, learnable presentation of this hitherto seemingly arbitrary aspect of English grammar.

Texto completo do artigo disponível apenas em PDF.

Article full text available only in PDF format.

  • BLOOMFIELD, Leonard. Language New York: Holt, Reinehart and Winston, 1933.
  • BOWERMAN, Melissa. Learning How to Structure Spaces for Language: A Crosslinguistic Perspective. In: BLOOM, P. et al. (Ed.). Language and Space. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1996. p. 385-436.
  • BRUGMAN, Claudia. The Story of Over: Polysemy, Semantics and the Structure of the Lexicon. New York: Garland, 1988.
  • CELCE-MURCIA, Marianne; LARSEN-FREEMAN, Diane. The Grammar Book: An ESL/EFL Teacher's Course. Rowley, MA: Newbury House, 1998.
  • CHOMSKY, Noam. The Minimalist Program. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1995.
  • CIENKI, Alan. STRAIGHT: An Image Schema and its Metaphorical Extensions. Cognitive Linguistics, v. 9, n. 2, p. 107-150, 1998.
  • DEWELL, Robert. Over Again: Image-schema Transformations in Semantic Analysis. Cognitive Linguistics, v. 5, n. 4, p. 451-480, 1994.
  • DIRVEN, René. Dividing Up Physical and Mental Space into Conceptual Categories by Means of English Prepositions. In: ZELINSKY-WIBBELT, C. (Ed.). The Semantics of Prepositions Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, 1993. p. 73-98.
  • EVANS, Vyvyan. The Structure of Time: Language, Meaning and Temporal Cognition. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 2004.
  • EVANS, Vyvyan. The Meaning of Time: Polysemy, the Lexicon and Conceptual Structure. Journal of Linguistics, v. 41, p. 33-75, 1995.
  • EVANS, Vyvyan; Green, Melanie. (In press for 2006) Cognitive Linguistics: An Introduction. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
  • EVANS, Vyvyan; TYLER, Andrea. Spatial Experience, Lexical Structure and Motivation: The Case of In. In: RADDEN, G.; PANTHER, K. (Ed.). Studies in Linguistic Motivation Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, 2004a. p. 157-192.
  • EVANS, Vyvyan; TYLER, Andrea. Rethinking English "Prepositions of Movement": The Case of To and Through. In: Cuyckens, H.; Mulder, W. de; Mortelmans, T. (Ed.). Adpositions of Movement. Belgian Journal of Linguistics, 18. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 2004b. p. 247-270.
  • EVANS, Vyvyan; TYLER, Andrea. (In Prep) Language and Space. To be published by John Benjamins.
  • FRANK, Marcella. Modern English: A Practical reference Guide. Englewood Cliffs, NJ.: Prentice-Hall, 1972.
  • GOLDBERG, Adele. Constructions: A Construction Grammar Approach to Argument Structure. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1995.
  • HAWKINS, Bruce. The Category MEDIUM. In: RUDZKA-OSTYN, B. (Ed.). Topics in Cognitive Linguistics Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 1988. p. 231-270.
  • HERSKOVITS, Anette. Language and Spatial Cognition: An Interdisciplinary Study. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986.
  • HERSKOVITS, Anette. Spatial Expressions and the Plasticity of Meaning. In: Rudzka-Ostyn, B. (Ed.). Topics in Cognitive Linguistics Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 1988. p. 271-298.
  • JOHNSON, Mark. The Body in the Mind: The Bodily Basis of Reason, Thought and Imagination. Chicago: Chicago University Press, 1987.
  • LAKOFF, George. Women, Fire and Dangerous Things: What Categories Reveal about the Mind. Chicago: Chicago University Press, 1987.
  • LAKOFF, George; JOHNSON, Mark. Metaphors We Live By Chicago: Chicago University Press, 1980.
  • LAKOFF, George; JOHNSON, Mark. Philosophy in the Flesh. New York: Basic Books, 1999.
  • LANGACKER, Ronald. Foundations of Cognitive Grammar, vol. 1. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1987.
  • LANGACKER, Ronald. Foundations of Cognitive Grammar, vol. 2. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1991a.
  • LANGACKER, Ronald. Concept, Image and Symbol: The Cognitive Basis of Grammar. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, 1991b.
  • LINDER, Susan. A lexico-semantic Analysis of English Verb-Particle Constructions with Out and Up Ph.D Thesis, Dept. of Linguistics, UC San Diego, 1982.
  • LINDSTROMBERG, Seth. English Prepositions Explained. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 1998.
  • MANDLER, Jean. How to Build a Baby: On the Development of an Accessible Representational System. Cognitive Development, v. 3, p. 113-136, 1988.
  • MANDLER, Jean. How to Build a Baby: II. Conceptual Primitives. Psychological Review, v. 99, n. 4, p. 587-604, 1992.
  • MANDLER, Jean. Preverbal Representations and Language. In: BLOOM, P. et al. (Ed.). Language and Space, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1996. p. 365-384.
  • MANDLER, Jean. The Foundations of Mind: Origins of Conceptual Thought. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004.
  • NUYTS, Jan; PEDERSON, Eric (Ed.). Language and Conceptualization Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997.
  • PEDERSON, Eric; DANZIGER, Eve; WILKINS, David; LEVINSON, Stephen; HITA, Sorato; SENFT, Gunter. Semantic Typology and Spatial Conceptualization. Language, v. 74, n. 3, p. 557-589, 1998.
  • SPERBER, Daniel; WILSON, Dierdre. Relevance: Communication and Cognition. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1986.
  • SVOROU, Soteria. The Grammar of Space. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 1994.
  • SWEETSER, Eve. Role and Individual Interpretations of Change Predicates. In: NUYTS, J.; PEDERSON, E. (Ed.). Language and Conceptualization Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997. p. 116-136.
  • TALMY, Leonard. The Relation of Grammar to Cognition. In: RUDZKA-OSTYN, B. (Ed.). Topics in Cognitive Linguistics Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 1988. p. 165-205.
  • TALMY, Leonard. Toward a Cognitive Semantics Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2000.
  • TURNER, Mark. Reading Minds. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1991.
  • TYLER, Andrea; VYVYAN, Evans. Reconsidering Prepositional Polysemy Networks: The Case of Over. Language, v. 77, n. 4, p. 724-765. Reprinted in B. Nerlich, L. Todd, V. Herman and D.D. Clarke (eds.) 2003. Polysemy: Flexible Patterns of Meaning in Mind and Language, 95-160. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, 2001a.
  • TYLER, Andrea; VYVYAN, Evans. The Relation Between Experience, Conceptual Structure and Meaning: Non-temporal Uses of Tense and Language Teaching. In: Pütz, M.; Niemeier, S.; Dirven, R. (Ed.). Applied Cognitive Linguistics I: Theory and Language Acquisition. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, 2001b. p. 63-108.
  • TYLER, Andrea; VYVYAN, Evans. The Semantics of English Prepositions: Spatial Scenes, Embodied Meaning and Cognition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003.
  • TYLER, Andrea; VYVYAN, Evans. Applying Cognitive Linguistics to Pedagogical Grammar: The Case of Over. In: Achard, M.; Niemeier, S. (Ed.). Cognitive Linguistics, Second Language Acquisition, and Foreign Language Teaching Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, 2004. p. 257-280.
  • TYLER, Andrea; VYVYAN, Evans. (In prep.) Applying Cognitive Linguistics: A New Paradigm for Language Teachers. (Book Manuscript)

Publication Dates

  • Publication in this collection
    28 Jan 2013
  • Date of issue
    2005
Creative Common - by-nc 4.0
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Faculdade de Letras - Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais - Faculdade de Letras, Av. Antônio Carlos, 6627 4º. Andar/4036, 31270-901 Belo Horizonte/ MG/ Brasil, Tel.: (55 31) 3409-6044, Fax: (55 31) 3409-5120 - Belo Horizonte - MG - Brazil
E-mail: rblasecretaria@gmail.com
Acompanhe os números deste periódico no seu leitor de RSS