Mappings in Thought and Language

Gilles Fauconnier

Cambridge University Press, Jun 13, 1997 - Language Arts & Disciplines - 205 pages

Meaning in everyday thought and language is constructed at lightning speed. We are not conscious of the staggering complexity of the cognitive operations that drive our simplest behavior. This 1997 book examines a central component of meaning construction: the mappings that link mental spaces. A deep result of the research is that the same principles operate at the highest levels of scientific, artistic, and literary thought, and at the lower levels of elementary understanding and sentence meaning. Some key cognitive operations are analogical mappings, conceptual integration and blending, discourse management, induction and recursion. The analyses are based on a rich array of attested data in ordinary language, humor, action and design, science, and narratives. Phenomena that receive attention include counterfactuals; time, tense, and mood; opacity; metaphor; fictive motion; grammatical constructions; quantification over cognitive domains.

Contents

• Mappings: 1
• 1 The Importance and Relevance of Meaning Construction: 2
• 2 Goals and Techniques: 5
• 22 Some Examples: 13
• 221 Counterfactuals: 14
• 222 Analogy Metaphor and Conceptual Systems: 18
• Common Expressions That Depend on Complex Mappings: 25
• MentalSpace Connections: 34
• 2 Space Building: 37
• 22 Some Grammatical Devices for Cognitive Construction: 40
• 23 Examples: 42
• 232 Achilles and the Tortoise: 44
• 3 A New Look at Classic Notions: 48
• Base Viewpoint Focus and Access: 49
• 32 Referential Opacity: 51
• 33 Scope of Indefinites: 59
• 34 Presupposition Projection: 60
• 35 Grammar and Meaning: 64
• 4 Truth Reference and Pragmatics: 66
• 42 Truth and Reference: 67
• 43 Pragmatics: 70
• Tense and Mood: 72
• 1 Tense: 73
• 12 Sequence of Tense: 83
• 13 Verbs of Speech: 88
• 14 Epistemic Distance: 93
• 2 Mood: 95
• Analogical Counterfactuals: 99
• 1 Analogy: 102
• 12 Induced Schemas: 103
• 14 Fluidity and Reanalysis: 104
• Counterfactuals and Frames: 106
• 3 Spreading and Cancellation: 113
• 4 Fictitious Elements and Truth Conditions: 120
• 42 The Missing Tree: 126
• 5 Mixing Frames and Blending Spaces: 127
• Conclusion: 130
• Matching: 131
• 2 Domain Operators: 138
• 21 The Heir to the Throne: 140
• 22 Widespread Rhinoceri: 143
• 23 Spies and Beautiful Women: 145
• 3 Metametaphorical Conditionals: 146
• Blends: 149
• 2 Counterfactual Blends: 158
• 3 Blends in Scientific Thought: 165
• 32 When Failed Reductio Leads to Discovery: 166
• 4 Blending and Metaphor: 168
• 5 Blends in Action and Design: 171
• 6 Blending and Grammar: 172
• 7 Fictive Motion: 177
• 8 Creativity in Everyday Life: 181
• 9 Principles of Integration: 185
• Conclusion: 187
• References: 193
• Index: 203

Bibliographic information

• Title: Mappings in Thought and Language; Mappings in Thought and Language, Gilles Fauconnier
• Author: Gilles Fauconnier
• Edition: illustrated, reprint
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 1997
• ISBN: 0521599539, 9780521599535
• Length: 205 pages
• Subjects: Language Arts & Disciplines / Linguistics / Psycholinguistics / General; Language Arts & Disciplines / Linguistics / Psycholinguistics / Language Acquisition; Psychology / Cognitive Psychology & Cognition; Psychology / Developmental / Child; Psychology / Developmental / General; Psychology / General; Psychology / Neuropsychology