Papers by Lorena Pérez Hernández
Most gender studies performed from a cognitive perspective focus on the description of metaphors ... more Most gender studies performed from a cognitive perspective focus on the description of metaphors underlying the conceptualization of men and women in different cultures. Little attention has been paid so far to gender-related aspects of the pragmatic uses of conceptual metaphors. This paper analyzes a corpus of opinion columns by two groups of contemporary Spanish and English journalists (male versus female journalists) with a view to identifying the pragmatic functions of the cognitive metaphors found in their discourse. Such metaphors have turned out to act as either mitigating or intensifying devices of the writers’ claims. From a gender perspective, a tendency has been observed for male journalists to use conceptual metaphors in order to intensify axiologically negative opinions or descriptions, while female journalists tend to make use of them for the mitigation of negative descriptions. In both cases, metaphor is also used for the creation of humor, but while male journalists do so by means of downgrading others, female journalists repeatedly play themselves down in an attempt to gain the readers’ sympathy through laughter. These general tendencies have been found to be largely modulated by culture-specific pragmatic factors (i. e. preference for indirectness) and maxims (i. e. Modesty and Approbation).
The present study looks into the largely unexplored territory of the cognitive underpinnings of ... more The present study looks into the largely unexplored territory of the cognitive underpinnings of semantic approximations in child language. The analysis of a corpus of 233 semantic approximations produced by 101 monolingual French speaking children from 1;8 to 4;2 years of age leads to a classification of a significant number of them as instances of a set of principle-governed cognitive operations, including metaphor and metonymy-based cognitive operations, and conceptual complexes, such as metaphtonymies and double metonymies.
The results shed light on cognitive operation preferences and their level of conceptual complexity at this stage of language development. Additionally, it points to the need to expand the inventory of functions traditionally assigned to these cognitive operations.
Language & Communication, 2001
Mendoza Iba´n˜ez). 1 Studies on metonymy in relation to grammar have focused mainly on the field ... more Mendoza Iba´n˜ez). 1 Studies on metonymy in relation to grammar have focused mainly on the field of modality (see Traugott and Ko¨nig, 1991;. With respect to the study of grammatical constraints on metonymy, see Waltereit (1999).
The present paper shows the results of a research project located at the University of La Rioja a... more The present paper shows the results of a research project located at the University of La Rioja and scheduled to be carried out during the academic year 2014-2015. The main objective is to explore the usefulness of the educational mobile application Celly© in the teaching of a specific theoretical concept (i.e. conceptual metaphor) to students of two different undergraduate degrees (i.e. English Studies and Oenology). The study gathers information on the degree of improvement in the application of the target theoretical concept to the analysis of a real discourse (in the case of English Studies students), as well as on increase of Oenology students' awareness of the relevance of conceptual metaphor for their professional discourse. In addition, this research offers relevant data on the degree of satisfaction, and perception of time performance which students associate with the use of the mobile application under scrutiny.
This article discusses some of the claims of the earlier and later versions of the Contemporary T... more This article discusses some of the claims of the earlier and later versions of the Contemporary Theory 5 of Metaphor (CTM) and addresses some of the criticism that has been leveled against it. It is argued that much of this criticism arises from common misconceptions as to the real claims made by the theory. However, CTM is still in need of further exploration and empirical support. In this connection, we identify some areas where research is still needed and supply our own developments. We argue for a more complex classification of metaphor types, which takes into account various complementary 10 taxonomic perspectives, including the nature of source and target and the genericity and complexity of the metaphoric operation. We also explore metaphor in relation to cognitive prominence and conceptual interaction issues. Finally, we deal with the problem of constraints on metaphor and make a proposal for three complementary kinds of constraint.
Scire: Representación y organización del conocimiento, 6(2): 79-97 , Jan 1, 2000
Análisis del concepto de primitivo semántico y de las diferentes metolodologías propuestas para s... more Análisis del concepto de primitivo semántico y de las diferentes metolodologías propuestas para su estudio, señaladamente las de Jackendorf y Wierzbicka. Se parte de un breve estado de la cuestión de la Semántica actual. Posteriormente se comentan algunos conceptos que han permitido ampliar el tema de los primitivos semánticos, tales como el de "dominio de referencia" formulado por Lakoff o los de "red" y "nudo" que defiende Langacker. Este último autor suscita un análisis mucho más amplio en el que se incluyen la enumeración de nuevos primitivos, denominados relacionales. Para finalizar se postula la necesidad de definir modelos genéricos de primitivos, ejemplificados a través de modelos cognitivos situacionales como los de realizar peticiones y el de control.
This article revisits the notion of indirect speech acts (ISA) in the light of a weak formulation... more This article revisits the notion of indirect speech acts (ISA) in the light of a weak formulation of the classical Literal Force Hypothesis. It is argued that ISAs are actually instances of unspecified illocutions, which allows for the positing of a conventionalization cline in their realization. Under these assumptions, we revise current theories of ISAs and make a number of proposals to overcome their limitations: (1) (Multiple source)-in-target metonymies and illocutionary ICMs are postulated to account for the motivation and rich conceptual fabric of illocutionary categories, respectively; and (2) a more flexible model of illocutionary constructions is sketched in terms of base configurations and specification links in order to explain the multi-faceted nature of illocutionary performance.
Internationally recognized brands are an increasingly essential asset for present-day companies. ... more Internationally recognized brands are an increasingly essential asset for present-day companies. This paper takes a cognitive perspective on the semantics of commercial brands (and their related logos), and explores the role of image schemas in endowing them with a cross-culturally significant core meaning. Two surveys were carried out among speakers of four different languages (i.e., English, Spanish, Chinese, and Arabic) in relation to the logos of several car categories (minis, family cars, 4 × 4s, and sports cars) and a limited set of image schemas (CONTAINER, FORCE, and ATTRIBUTE). The analysis of the results reveals a consistent correlation between the participants’ semantic interpretation of the car brands, and the basic meanings deriving from the image schemas included in their logos. The outcome of the surveys also points to the existence of potential constraints on the universal reach of image-schematic-based communication. These limitations emerge either from the combination of image schemas with additional idealized cultural models, or from the use of specific richer configurations of the image-schematic visual cues at work. In this connection, the present study explores the inventory of visual configurations available for the representation of the image schemas under scrutiny, assesses their universal significance, and raises awareness about differences in the cross-cultural communicative effectiveness of the various layouts of a given image-schematic cue.
Applied Linguistics, 32/4: 369–388, Jan 1, 2011
This article aims to fill a gap in current studies on the semantics of branding. Through the anal... more This article aims to fill a gap in current studies on the semantics of branding. Through the analysis of a number of well-known international brand names, we provide ample evidence supporting the claim that a finite set of cognitive operations, such as those of domain reduction and expansion, mitigation, and strengthening, among others, can account for the drawing of inferences on the basis of the cue provided by the brand name. Such conceptual mechanisms are often randomly and unconsciously used in the process of building a new brand name. Nevertheless, this article argues that their systematic use results in (i) an increase in the degree of suggestiveness and semantic richness of the brand name, (ii) a lower risk of generating negative associations and connotations, and (iii) higher cognitive economy in the interpretation of brand names on the part of the potential consumer. In doing so, these cognitive operations arise as powerful tools for the task of creating safe and successful brand names.
Increasingly global markets impose strains on the branding industry for the design of trademarks ... more Increasingly global markets impose strains on the branding industry for the design of trademarks with a worldwide appeal. This paper explores the potential benefits of the exploitation of embodied schemata for this purpose. A corpus of international automobile brands is analyzed in search of the image schemas at work in the conceptualization of different car categories (i.e. minis, family cars, sports cars, and off-road 4 × 4s). Our findings evince that, together with other well-known strategies (i.e. sound symbolism), multimodal image schemas can be added to the inventory of branding tools which help to imbue brands with a globally comprehensible semantics. In the context of branding, it is also attested that the structure of the general schemas is fleshed out through their interaction with the most salient attributes of the target product/service named by a particular brand, rather than in relation to other contextual or cultural facts.
This paper explores the compatibility of a group of speech predicates (i.e. speech verbs used to ... more This paper explores the compatibility of a group of speech predicates (i.e. speech verbs used to saying something for a particular purpose or with a specific result) with six constructional patterns (i.e. transitive construction, that-construction, motion construction, caused-motion construction, way construction, and resultative construction). In so doing, the present corpus-based research offers additional evidence in support of the hypothesis that constructional compatibility is semantically and pragmatically grounded. It is further argued that lexico-constructional compatibility can be either blocked or licensed by the different internal and external constraints at work in each concrete subsumption process. Finally, we point to the need of distinguishing between central and more peripheral instances of the same grammatical construction.
In most cases, peripheral members will be shown to be metonymic extensions, thus providing yet another case in favor of metonymic links as a relevant type of inheritance link in the configuration of constructional families.
The present article is a contribution to the understanding of non-inferential illocutionary meani... more The present article is a contribution to the understanding of non-inferential illocutionary meaning production. The theoretical framework, which is compatible with constructionist approaches to language such as Goldberg’s (1995, 2006) Construction Grammar, is the Lexical Constructional Model or LCM (Ruiz de Mendoza and Mairal, 2008a; Mairal and Ruiz de Mendoza, 2009). In dealing with speech act meaning, the LCM has so far proposed the following meaning construction mechanisms: (i) cued inferencing based on the metonymic access of high-level situational models or speech act scenarios; (ii) illocutionary constructions, such as Can You X, please? for requests; (iii) lexical descriptions, which are the equivalent of classical performative predicates; (iv) argument structure constructions, like the manipulative subjective-transitive construction (e.g. I want you out by lunchtime). In the present article, we improve the existing proposal by exploring in what way the elements of speech act scenarios can be made part of lexical structure, thus enriching the description of lexical templates for speech act predicates (e.g. order, beg, threaten) on the basis of Pustejovsky’s (1995) notion of qualia structure. In so doing, we show that such descriptions allow the analyst to account for the constraining factors on the syntactic behavior of speech act predicates in terms of lexical-constructional integration at the argument structure level (e.g. the use of a speech act predicate in the caused-motion construction). This account also allows us to study complementary ways of producing conventional speech act meaning through the use of other lexical and constructional resources such as the to be to construction for ordering and the constructional configuration You Are Going To X plus expressions of immediateness.
The resulting account makes explicit links between lexical structure and high-level situational cognitive models. It also enhances the role of (non-inferential) lexical and constructional devices in conveying illocutionary meaning.
This paper analyzes a collection of Rioja wine names, looking into the pragmatic and conceptual m... more This paper analyzes a collection of Rioja wine names, looking into the pragmatic and conceptual mechanisms underlying their semantic configuration.
It provides some insights into their linguistic adequacy and effectiveness, and offers a preliminary assessment on the strengths and weaknesses of Rioja wine trademarks. The branding of Rioja wines has traditionally been carried out by wine producers themselves. This trend, however, seems to be changing as wine companies increasingly turn to professional branding services. A systematic application of the pragmatic and conceptual strategies isolated in this study results in a rich pool of lexical extensions. It is argued that a careful choice of the initial inventory of key notions as well as of the source concepts used in metonymic and metaphoric extensions would help to minimize the generation of negative connotations. To the same end, branding experts should also take into consideration a number of pragmatic maxims and cultural models.
Journal of Pragmatics, 2002
In this paper we attempt to develop the still programmatic but insightful proposal made by Thornb... more In this paper we attempt to develop the still programmatic but insightful proposal made by Thornburg and Panther (1997) and Panther and Thornburg (1998), according to which the identification of the intended meaning (or illocutionary force) of indirect requests (and by extension of indirect speech acts in general) is based on conceptual metonymies operating on the grounds of the different components of illocutionary scenarios. We build into Panther and Thornburg's account other aspects of indirect directives which they have not considered yet. Thus we examine issues such as the semantic motivation of indirect directives, the prototypicality degrees of the constructions used to convey them, their instantiation potential, their image-schematic basis, and the cognitive motivation of some of their features in discourse. We argue that calculating the illocutionary force of an utterance is ultimately a matter of conceptual interaction between propositional, image-schematic, metonymic, and metaphorical idealized cognitive models or ICMs.
This paper presents the results of an analysis of a group of English verbs of speech.
The study ... more This paper presents the results of an analysis of a group of English verbs of speech.
The study has been carried out within the theoretical framework provided by the Lexical-Constructional Model as developed by Ruiz de Mendoza and Mairal (2007a, 2007b, 2008a, 2008b), and Mairal and Ruiz de Mendoza (2009) which offers a bridge between projectionist theories of language such as Role and Reference Grammar (Van Valin, 1997, 2005) and constructional theories such as those put forward by Goldberg (1995) and Michaelis (2003). The syntactic and semantic idiosyncrasy of the verbs of speech under scrutiny is captured by means of lexical templates, which are subsumed into the higher-level constructional templates for the caused motion and caused motion with way constructions (Goldberg, 1995, 2006; Levin, 1993). A number of internal and external constraints based on semantic, cognitive, and pragmatic aspects of the meaning of the verbs have been shown to determine the degree of compatibility that exists between different sub categories of verbs of speech and the two aforementioned constructions.
This article explores the constraints that underlie the functioning of motion verbs expressing mo... more This article explores the constraints that underlie the functioning of motion verbs expressing movement in a particular way (e.g. skulk, scamper). Our study has been carried out in accordance with the postulates of the Lexical Constructional Model (LCM), as put forward by Ruiz de Mendoza and Mairal (2006). The LCM accounts for the relationship between lexical and syntactic meaning by merging into one unified approach relevant theoretical and methodological assumptions from both functional projectionist theories such as Role and Reference Grammar, on the one hand, and constructional models of linguistic description, on the other. Such a combined framework allows us to offer a comprehensive characterization of the verbs under scrutiny, including (1) syntactically relevant information (logical structure), (2) semantic content (lexical template) and (3) those cognitive and pragmatic constraints which may license, restrict or block the fusion of lexical templates into higher-level constructional patterns.
Among those Italian nouns which display irregularities in their plural forms, there are also the ... more Among those Italian nouns which display irregularities in their plural forms, there are also the so-called 'nomi sovrabbondanti ' (cf. Dardano & Trifone, 1992), which have a double plural: a masculine plural in -i and a feminine plural in -a. Interestingly enough, this type of morphological marking serves as a cue to activate metonymic or metaphoric meanings. In this paper, we further explore the kind of metaphoric and metonymic meanings which are associated to them in order to ascertain some generalisations about their use in contemporary Italian. In addition, our analysis of the cognitive mappings underlying the use of Italian 'nomi sovrabbondanti' comes to provide ample evidence of the conceptual basis of morphological phenomena, an area of study which has been to date largely neglected.
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Papers by Lorena Pérez Hernández
The results shed light on cognitive operation preferences and their level of conceptual complexity at this stage of language development. Additionally, it points to the need to expand the inventory of functions traditionally assigned to these cognitive operations.
In most cases, peripheral members will be shown to be metonymic extensions, thus providing yet another case in favor of metonymic links as a relevant type of inheritance link in the configuration of constructional families.
The resulting account makes explicit links between lexical structure and high-level situational cognitive models. It also enhances the role of (non-inferential) lexical and constructional devices in conveying illocutionary meaning.
It provides some insights into their linguistic adequacy and effectiveness, and offers a preliminary assessment on the strengths and weaknesses of Rioja wine trademarks. The branding of Rioja wines has traditionally been carried out by wine producers themselves. This trend, however, seems to be changing as wine companies increasingly turn to professional branding services. A systematic application of the pragmatic and conceptual strategies isolated in this study results in a rich pool of lexical extensions. It is argued that a careful choice of the initial inventory of key notions as well as of the source concepts used in metonymic and metaphoric extensions would help to minimize the generation of negative connotations. To the same end, branding experts should also take into consideration a number of pragmatic maxims and cultural models.
The study has been carried out within the theoretical framework provided by the Lexical-Constructional Model as developed by Ruiz de Mendoza and Mairal (2007a, 2007b, 2008a, 2008b), and Mairal and Ruiz de Mendoza (2009) which offers a bridge between projectionist theories of language such as Role and Reference Grammar (Van Valin, 1997, 2005) and constructional theories such as those put forward by Goldberg (1995) and Michaelis (2003). The syntactic and semantic idiosyncrasy of the verbs of speech under scrutiny is captured by means of lexical templates, which are subsumed into the higher-level constructional templates for the caused motion and caused motion with way constructions (Goldberg, 1995, 2006; Levin, 1993). A number of internal and external constraints based on semantic, cognitive, and pragmatic aspects of the meaning of the verbs have been shown to determine the degree of compatibility that exists between different sub categories of verbs of speech and the two aforementioned constructions.
The results shed light on cognitive operation preferences and their level of conceptual complexity at this stage of language development. Additionally, it points to the need to expand the inventory of functions traditionally assigned to these cognitive operations.
In most cases, peripheral members will be shown to be metonymic extensions, thus providing yet another case in favor of metonymic links as a relevant type of inheritance link in the configuration of constructional families.
The resulting account makes explicit links between lexical structure and high-level situational cognitive models. It also enhances the role of (non-inferential) lexical and constructional devices in conveying illocutionary meaning.
It provides some insights into their linguistic adequacy and effectiveness, and offers a preliminary assessment on the strengths and weaknesses of Rioja wine trademarks. The branding of Rioja wines has traditionally been carried out by wine producers themselves. This trend, however, seems to be changing as wine companies increasingly turn to professional branding services. A systematic application of the pragmatic and conceptual strategies isolated in this study results in a rich pool of lexical extensions. It is argued that a careful choice of the initial inventory of key notions as well as of the source concepts used in metonymic and metaphoric extensions would help to minimize the generation of negative connotations. To the same end, branding experts should also take into consideration a number of pragmatic maxims and cultural models.
The study has been carried out within the theoretical framework provided by the Lexical-Constructional Model as developed by Ruiz de Mendoza and Mairal (2007a, 2007b, 2008a, 2008b), and Mairal and Ruiz de Mendoza (2009) which offers a bridge between projectionist theories of language such as Role and Reference Grammar (Van Valin, 1997, 2005) and constructional theories such as those put forward by Goldberg (1995) and Michaelis (2003). The syntactic and semantic idiosyncrasy of the verbs of speech under scrutiny is captured by means of lexical templates, which are subsumed into the higher-level constructional templates for the caused motion and caused motion with way constructions (Goldberg, 1995, 2006; Levin, 1993). A number of internal and external constraints based on semantic, cognitive, and pragmatic aspects of the meaning of the verbs have been shown to determine the degree of compatibility that exists between different sub categories of verbs of speech and the two aforementioned constructions.