Are Abstract Concepts Like Dinosaur Feathers?
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Are Abstract Concepts Like Dinosaur Feathers? Anna Jelec Wydawnictwo Naukowe UAM ARE ABSTRACT CONCEPTS LIKE DINOSAUR FEATHERS? 1 2 ADAM MICKIEWICZ UNIVERSITY IN POZNAŃ SERIA FILOLOGIA ANGIELSKA NR 43 Anna JeleC ARE ABSTRACT CONCEPTS LIKE DINOSAUR FEATHERS? Conceptual Metaphor Theory and conCeptualisation strategies in gesture of blind and visually impaired CHildren POZNAŃ 2014 3 ABSTRACT. JeleC Anna, Are Abstract Concepts Like Dinosaur Feathers? Conceptual Metaphor Theory and the conceptualisation strategies in gesture of blind and visually impaired children. WydawniCtwo Naukowe Uniwersytetu im. Adama Mickiewicza (Adam Mickiewicz University Press). Poz- nań 2014. Seria Filologia Angielska nr 43. Pp. 150. ISBN 978-83-232-2769-4. ISSN 0554-8144. Text in English with a summary in Polish. The human nervous system evolved for the control of complex physical actions. Yet, we are far from understanding tHe human capacity for Complex abstract thougHt. One tHeory suggests tHat botH abstract and ConCrete tHinking is based on a single perCeptual meCHanism grounded in physical experience. Asking the question posed by psychologist Daniel Casasanto whether “abstract Concepts are like dinosaur feathers” we investigate tHe evolutionary proCesses tHat allowed Humans to deal witH abstract pHenomena by putting tHem in ConCrete terms. After all, we frequently resort to analogies, similes or metaphors wHen describing tHe intangible. We may say “put tHat into words” as if words were Containers into wHiCH tHougHt Can be stored. ConCeptual MetapHor THeory goes a step furtHer by saying tHat not only do we speak about abstract concepts in physical terms, but we tHink about them in this manner as well. However, the theory itself has been vigorously criticised beCause its prinCipal tHeses are considered im- possible to falsify. THe autHor of tHis book proposes a new perspeCtive on tHe ConCeptual role of metapHors. Filled witH tHeoretiCal analyses and empiriCal researCH on tHe speeCH and ges- ture of seeing, blind and visually impaired CHildren, tHis book demonstrates tHat tHe basis for abstract tHought may well lie in pHysiCal experienCe. Anna JeleC, Uniwersytet im. Adama MiCkiewiCza w Poznaniu, Wydział Anglistyki, Zakład Językoznawstwa Kognitywnego, al. NiepodległośCi 4, 61-874 Poznań, Poland Recenzent/Reviewer: dr hab. Ariadna Strugielska © Anna JeleC 2014 THis edition © Uniwersytet im. Adama MiCkiewiCza w Poznaniu, Wydawnictwo Naukowe UAM, Poznań 2014 THis projeCt Has been finanCed by a researCH grant from tHe PolisH National Science Centre (NCN) on the grounds of decision DEC-2011/01/N/HS6/04050. Wydano na podstawie maszynopisu gwarantowanego ISBN 978-83-232-2769-4 ISSN 0554-8144 4 Contents ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................................ 9 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................... 11 CHAPTER 1 CONCEPTUAL METAPHOR THEORY: A GAME CHANGER FOR COGNI- TIVE SCIENCE .................................................................................................................... 15 1. What is a metaphor? ................................................................................................. 16 2. A Closer look at the literal vs. figurative language distinction ............................ 18 3. Metaphors we live by ............................................................................................... 22 3.1. The question of conCreteness ............................................................................ 26 4. Typology of conCeptual metapHors ........................................................................ 28 5. ConCeptual Metaphor Theory and its criticism .................................................... 29 5.1. Unconstrained conCeptual mappings .............................................................. 30 5.2. Falsifiability and prediCtive power .................................................................. 31 5.3. Sources of evidenCe ........................................................................................... 33 5.4. Clarity .................................................................................................................. 34 6. Alternatives to CMT ................................................................................................. 34 6.1. Five models of metapHor .................................................................................. 35 7. Putting CMT in the framework of Cognitive scienCe .............................................. 37 CHAPTER 2 WHAT’S IN A CONCEPT? THEORIES OF MENTAL REPRESENTATION .......... 38 1. Classical and embodied accounts: toward a comprehensive approacH to mental representation. .............................................................................................. 38 1.1. Language, memory and representation structure ......................................... 41 1.2. Categorisation and conCeptualisation ............................................................. 44 2. Prototype tHeory: an aCCurate account of representation? .................................. 47 3. PraCtical value of cognitive models ........................................................................ 48 4. Neurolinguistic studies: finding ConCepts in tHe brain ........................................ 51 5. ConCeptual structure and the brain ........................................................................ 53 5.1. Are some ConCepts amodal? ............................................................................. 55 5.2. Abstract and conCrete conCepts in the brain. The conCreteness effect ........ 56 6. Are abstract conCepts like dinosaur feathers? ....................................................... 58 7. Conclusion ................................................................................................................. 61 5 CHAPTER 3 INTRODUCING OBJECTIFICATION THEORY ......................................................... 62 1. What is objectification? ............................................................................................ 63 2. Explanatory value of objectification Theory .......................................................... 64 3. ConCeptual metaphor – an objectifiCation based typology ................................. 67 3.1. Metonymy based metaphor ............................................................................. 68 3.2. ConCrete-to-abstract metaphor ........................................................................ 68 3.3. Abstract-to-abstract metaphors ........................................................................ 69 4. WHy we objeCtify. SourCe domains, abstraCt ConCepts and tHe dinosaur feathers question. ...................................................................................................... 70 5. Questions for Objectification Theory ..................................................................... 72 5.1. The ultimate sourCe domain ............................................................................. 72 5.2. Internal consistency ........................................................................................... 73 6. Is CMT better off alone? ........................................................................................... 74 7. Conclusion ................................................................................................................. 75 CHAPTER 4 OBJECTIFICATION AS AN EMERGENT FEATURE OF CONCEPTUAL META- PHORIZATION ................................................................................................................... 76 1. What are neural networks for? Connectionist models in Cognitive scienCe ...... 77 2. EmergenCe of meaning ............................................................................................. 79 2.1. ConCepts and prototypes .................................................................................. 80 2.2. Feature emergence ............................................................................................. 80 3. ObjectifiCation as an emergent feature ................................................................... 81 4. Going beyond the objeCt-ConCept ............................................................................ 82 5. ObjectifiCation effects in conCept understanding .................................................. 83 6. Conclusions ............................................................................................................... 87 CHAPTER 5 CONCEPTUAL METAPHOR, OBJECTIFICATION AND GESTURE ..................... 88 1. The importance of gesture studies for cognitive scienCe ..................................... 89 2. What is gesture? ........................................................................................................ 90 3. Types of gesture – Kendon’s Continuum ............................................................... 91 4. Spontaneous and deliberate gestures ..................................................................... 94 5. Conventionality and discourse funCtion ................................................................ 94 6. Language and gesture: Complementary modalities or separate systems? ........ 95 7. Investigating conCeptual metaphor through gesture ........................................... 97 8. ConCrete and abstract concepts in gesture ............................................................ 99 9. Szwedek’s