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Spatial Cognition and the Semantics of Prepositions in English, Polish and Russian

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Spatial Cognition and the Semantics of Prepositions in English, Polish and Russian Slavistische Beiträge ∙ Band 237 (eBook - Digi20-Retro) Alan J. Cienki Spatial Cognition and the Semantics of Prepositions in English, Polish and Russian Verlag Otto Sagner München ∙ Berlin ∙ Washington D.C. Digitalisiert im Rahmen der Kooperation mit dem DFG-Projekt „Digi20“ der Bayerischen Staatsbibliothek, München. OCR-Bearbeitung und Erstellung des eBooks durch den Verlag Otto Sagner: http://verlag.kubon-sagner.de © bei Verlag Otto Sagner. Eine Verwertung oder Weitergabe der Texte und Abbildungen, insbesondere durch Vervielfältigung, ist ohne vorherige schriftliche Genehmigung des Verlages unzulässig. «Verlag Otto Sagner» ist ein Imprint der Kubon & Sagner GmbH. Alan J. Cienki - 9783954792047 Downloaded from PubFactory at 01/10/2019 03:53:55AM via free access S l a v is t ic h e B e it r ä g e BEGRÜNDET VON ALOIS SCHMAUS HERAUSGEGEBEN VON HEINRICH KUNSTMANN PETER REHDER • JOSEF SCHRENK REDAKTION PETER REHDER Band 237 VERLAG OTTO SAGNER Alan J. Cienki - 9783954792047 Downloaded from PubFactory at 01/10/2019 03:53:55AM MÜNCHEN via free access ALAN J. CIENKI SPATIAL COGNITION AND THE SEMANTICS OF PREPOSITIONS IN ENGLISH, POLISH, AND RUSSIAN VERLAG OTTO SAGNER • MÜNCHENAlan J. Cienki - 9783954792047 Downloaded from PubFactory at 01/10/2019 03:53:55AM 1989 via free access ISBN 3-87690-421-8 ©Verlag Otto Sagner, MünchenAlan 1989 J. Cienki - 9783954792047 Downloaded from PubFactory at 01/10/2019 03:53:55AM Abteilung der Firma Kubon & Sagner, Münchenvia free access Preface and Acknowledgments .Sose say that knowledge it toaething tbit you never hive־ Some say that knowledge it somethin( sitting in your lap. 1 a u tt admit. Just when I think Г а king. Just vhen I think everything's toin great. ... 1 just begin.* *Sat in Your Lap־ .Kate Bush — This work represents a somewhat revised version of the doctoral dissertation I completed in the Department of Slavic Languages at Brown University in May. 1988. I chose the topic for my dissertation at a point ▼hen I had studied both Russian and Polish for a number of years. In many cases, as students of Slavic languages know, knowledge of one Slavic language can be very helpful in learning a second one. Other times, however, the apparently arbitrary differences in the usage of constructions that seem so similar in the two languages can be very frustrating. A case in point is the use ־of cognate prepositions in the different Slavic languages. I decided to study the seman tics of certain prepositions to see if there is any way to discern whether the differences are principled in any way, or whether they are in fact arbitrary. If the cognate prepo- sitions do still have the same meanings, why do such differences in usage arise in lhe different Slavic languages? This led me to also study the use of prepositions in English which serve as trans- lation equivalents of those in Slavic, and to question how we select one preposition over another in a given context: Then does one say a duck is ia or од the water? After re- aiizing that the physical situation in the real world alone does not provide the answer to this question. I was relieved to come across the cognitive approach to semantics in the book $ea*úűcs*adCognitìoo (Jackendoff: 1983). This changed the theoretical ap- proach of my dissertation. The exposition of my analysis was also influenced to a large degree by Herskovits (1982.1986). With the current blossoming of cognitive semantics, it seems new works on the topic are appearing at an overwhelmingAlan J.pace. Cienki - 9783954792047Some that Downloaded from PubFactory at 01/10/2019 03:53:55AM via free access were published at a tune when I was already well into my study (such as Lakoff: 1987 and Johnson: 1987) would surely have had a more profound effect on my method of analysis had I been writing the dissertation at a later date. It is my pleasure to acknowledge those who have helped be bring this work to its present form. My dissertation committee, consisting of Henry Kucera (my adviser). Robert Mathiesen, and Victor Terras (one of my first teachers of Polish), provided many helpful comments on an earlier draft. I profited from discussions with Adam Weinsberg of Warsaw Univ. early in my research, with Ray Jackendoff as I began to develop my analysis, and I gained a great deal of theoretical insight in a seminar on recent semantic theory conducted by Cynthia Welsh in the spring of 1988 at Brown. I am indebted to my native informants in the three languages under study, among them: Anna Dreger-Mlodoźeniec. Bożena Mądra-Shallcross. Irina Mirsky-Zayas. Vlad Zayas. Eva Gorska, Valeria Sajez. Nancy Smith. Alana Thorpe, and Paul Tolbert. I would like to thank Barbara Dooley for her moral support, especially as I undertook the task of writing while in Berlin: John Caemmerer for developing the font for Slavic Ian- guages with Latin alphabets: Frank McLellan for use of the graphics software; Ginny Gallogly for her constant help: Nancy Smith for proofreading the entire manuscript: and all of my grad student-friends in the Brown Slavic Department for their encour- agement, which sustained me throughout my final year of thesis writing. The research for the dissertation was supported in part by a combined grant from the International Research and Exchanges Board (IREX) and the U.S. Dept, of Edu- cation Fulbright Hays Program for study in Warsaw. Poland in 1985-86. The work was further supported by a grant from the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) to study at the Osteuropa-Institut of the Freie Universität Berlin (West Berlin) in 1986-87. Completion of the written work was supported by a Dissertation Fellowship from the Joint Committee on Soviet Studies of the Social Science Research Council and the Ameri- Alan J. Cienki - 9783954792047 Downloaded from PubFactory at 01/10/2019 03:53:55AM can Council of Learned Societies with funds provided by the U.S. Department of State.via free access 00061086 Contents Preface and Acknowledgments C hapter I: Introduction .—.............................................. .......................................... 1 1.1 Preliminaries........................................................................................................... 1 1.1.1 The d a ta .......................................................................................................... 1 1.12 The scope of the study....................................................................................2 12 Trends of previous semantic studies of spatial prepositions ................................4 12.1 Descriptivist approach...................................................................................4 122 Markedness analysis.......................................................................................6 12.3 Componential analysis................................................................................. 10 1.2.4 Cognitive approach.......................................................................................12 1.3 Insufficiencies of the standard approaches........................................................13 1.3-1 Geometric descriptions................................................................................. 14 1.32 Divergence from the simple relations........................................................15 1 3 3 Unexpected dependence on context.............................................................15 1.3.4 Unexplained restrictions............................................................................. 15 1.3.5 Arbitrariness................................................................................................16 1.3.6 Inability to handle frizziness in word m eanings ....................................... 16 1.3.7 Whati3Hnorm1T?.........................................................................................17 1.3 8 Additional constraints.................................................................................. 18 I.3.9 Contextualized senses....................................................................................19 1.4 Hypotheses to be considered................................................................................. 19 1.4.1 The projected world......................................................................................19 1.4 2 Semantic conditions and the Conceptual Structure Hypothesis ................23 1.4.3 Use types.......................................................................................................25 C hapter 2: The fra m e w o rk .........................................................................................26 2.1 Geometric descriptions ...... !..................................................................................26 2.1.1 Schemat ization..............................................................................................26 2.12 Some examples..............................................................................................28 2.1.2.1 Interior............................................................................................ 28 2.12.2 Approximation to a point/line/surface......... ...............................29 2.12.3 Partitioning of objects .................................................................... 30 2.1.3 The disjunctiveness of schemas .................................................................. 31 Alan J. Cienki - 9783954792047 Downloaded from PubFactory at 01/10/2019 03:53:55AM via free access 00061086 22 Semantic Conditions.............................................................................................
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