Radial categories franklin delacruz

Radial Categoriesand Polysemy

Franklin de la Cruz M.

Radial Category

A RADIAL CATEGORY is a conceptual category in which the range of concepts are organised relative

to a central or prototypical concept

Evans and Green 2006

A radial category is a classification of things ordinarily understood in terms of some clearly

imagined subcategory, called a prototype. There is some reason to think that most if not

all of our ordinary concepts are about categories like this.

Garret Jann 2004

Carachteristics:

The Semantic network of the radial category is structured around a

CORE MEANING

The lexical item has VARIABILITY (fortis/lenis) --> Specialized meaning

COUNTERFACTUALITY

Its meaning is Non-predictable from rules but motivated by

CONVENTIONS

The meaning is stored in the semantic memory Sometimes the lexical item presents overextension

So RADIALITY is a type of linguistic and conceptual category property

Lexical items are conceptual categories: a word represents a category of distinct yet related meanings that exhibit

typicality effects.

Lakoff: the lexical item represents radial categories.

It is structured with respect to a composite prototype, and the various category members are related to the prototype by convention rather than being 'generated' by predictable

rules.

Evans and Green 2006

The Suffix -ablesolvablelikeable

washablereadable

“-able” is typically attached to a verb to produce the corresponding adjective:

"able to be verbed"

this is known as the

CORE MEANING

Solvable means able to be solvedWashable means able to be washed

But…

Lee David 2001

Readable means able to be read?

It means that a piece of written information is easy or interesting to read --> this is the VARIABILITY which gives raise to a

Specialized meaning

Compare:

very solvablevery readable

very readable makes little sense if "readable" means "able to be read"

SEE:

COMPARABLEPAYABLE

Lee David 2001

Specialised meaning is another example of foregrounding

frame 1------------------------- verb

frame 2------------------------- able

Relation between F1 and F2 generates a mechanism to build (new) meanings

Lee David 2001

Polysemy is the phenomenon whereby a lexical item is commonly associated with two or more meanings that appear to be related in some way

SEE

The picture is over the sofa ---------ABOVE

the ball landed over the the wall ---------ON THE OTHER SIDE

the car drove over the bridge ---------ACROSS

Over exhibits polysemy

Evans and Green 2006

Polysemy and homonymy

Homonymy: two different words that happen to share the same form in sound (homophones)

and /or in writing (homographs)

Example:

bank--------- financial institution: italian, banca 'money changer's table'

bank--------- of a river: Old Icelandic for "hill“Evans and Green 2006

According to some views, polysemy emerges from monosemy (Ruhl 1989; Pustejovsky 1995):

A single abstract meaning from which other senses are derived on the basis of context, speaker intention, recognition of the intention by the hearer and so on.

This may be true when over has a spatial sense but:

Jane has a strange power over him ------- over means control

Is this over a distinct word, an homonym?

Or a single abstract underlying sense licenses both, the spacial and the non-spacial sense???monosemy???

Evans and Green 2006

RADIAL CATEGORY MODEL OF POLYSEMY

Claudia Brugman (1981) Brugman and Lakoff (1988) Lakoff (1987)

They claim that over is stored as a category of distinct polysemous senses rather than a single abstract monosemous sense

Over constitutes a conceptual category of distinct but related (polysemous) senses

These senses as part of a single category, they can be judged as more prototypical (central) or less prototypical (peripheral)

While the prototypical ABOVE sense of over relates to a spatial configuration, the CONTROL sense does not --- it is derived

metaphoricallyEvans and Green 2006

PAST TENSE

-ed (CORE MEANING) means a period of time prior to the present moment of utterance

but:

1 If John likes Mary, he will help her --> the speaker is unsure whether Jhon likes Mary

2 If John liked Mary, he would help her --> speaker is sure Jhon does not like Mary

--> counterfactuality

The difference conveyed between 1 and 2 is not related to the core meaning of "liked", this is "time" but between a contrast between a real and an unreal condition.

This diference is related to the dimension of factuality rather than time

Lee David 2001

WILL/WOULD

I will talk to him

I would talk to him

By locating a situation in a past time, the speaker locates it in a conceptual space that is distinc from

the present and is this property that relates it to conterfactual situation

Lee David 2001

SEE:

If John Knew Mary last year, he didn't tell me

If John had known Mary last year, he would have told me

Lee David 2001

It's time we left!

Possible event of leaving in the near future

Cunterfactuality is the property (some words posses) of making a contrast between

facts and events and

hypotetical facts and events

Politenes

I wonder ---present (factual) state--- if you would help?

I wonder ---present state--- ed --past state/ counterfactual-- if you would help?

The difference is not related to time--> the reference to the past existence of a mental state does not

preclude the possibility that it continues up to the present.

This extension in the period of time of the events is characteristic of politenes or indirectedness.

Lee David 2001

SEE:

Will you close the door? --> hypothetical future state "in a future I imagine you close the door"

Would you close de door? -->counterfactual

Can you close the door? -->counterfactual

Could you close the door? --> counterfactual

The contrast does not involve a difference of time, but politeness

Lee David 2001

Attribute radiality

Adjectives

Example: strong core meaning: physical strength

A strong man / horse

But:

a strong argument /claim/ beer/ smell

Observation: An entity possessed of physical strength is one that has the potential to impinge on its surroundings, overpower other entities or to move objects that are not easily moved

Lee David 2001

Mental awareness Biological perceptual experience

strong

SEE:a strong cup of tea /coffe/ beer / wine

“The tea was so strong you could stand your spoon in it”

+strenght+density

strong taste / smel / light

but:

a strong noise???

A strong woman (is someone who has the potential to endure hardship)

A strong man (man are naturaly stronger than women)

A strong woman (fortis)

A strong man (lenis)

Lee David 2001

Example: good

a good child/ boy/ dog/ book/ pen

See:

A good dog

Here good means: it behaves as we expect it to behave: obedient, friendly, loyal, well-behaved

But:

A good cat/ goldfish

A good door/ window

Lee David 2001

PROCESS RADIALITYEXAMPLE:TURN

CORE MEANING:

the rotation of an entity about and axis:

the wheels are turning

Mary turned the doorknob

But:

He turned from Mary to John

The car turned into the high street

John turned back (opposite direction)

She turned up at the party

the liquid turned red

John's face turned quite green

Lee David 2001

THING RADIALITY

In nouns, radiality is pervasive

see children

“Dog” is any four legged animal

“daddy” is any adult male -------------> overextension

"I didn't know that cows laid eggs"

Radial category: over

Conclusion

Since the semantic networks associated to words and morphemes on the basis of

perceived similarities, new phenomena can be assimilated to existing categories

References Evans V. & Green M. 2006. Cognitive Linguistics, an Introduction.

Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers. London.

Garret, Jan. 2005. Oppression as a Radial Category and the Search for a Definition. Consulted in: http://www.wku.edu/~jan.garrett/320/oppressn.htm

Lee, David. 2001.Cognitive Linguistics, an Introduction. Oxford University Press. New York.

http://www.linguistics.ucsb.edu/faculty/cumming/ling50/radial_categories.htm