cognitive operations in thought and language

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1、Chapter2Cognitiveoperationsinthoughtandlanguage2.0Overview2.1Construals2.2Mentalspaces2.3Inferences2.4Summary2.0OverviewAnumberofcognitiveoperationsdeterminethewaylanguageisused.Thischapterwillpresentthreetypesofcognitiveoperations:theconstrualofone’sthoughtsinspeaking,thebuildingofment

2、alspacesincommunication,andthedrawingofinferencesbythehearer.Construalsareoperationsthathelpselecttheappropriatestructuralpossibilityamongvariousalternatives.Construalsarestrikinglysimilartoprinciplesofperceptualorganisa-tion.Mentalspacesarepackagesofinformationthatarebuiltandevokedinth

3、ecurrentdiscourse.Mentalspacesdrawuponourwiderencyclopaedicknowledgeaboutthingsintheworld.Inferencesarecognitiveoperationsinwhichconclusionsaredrawnfromasetofpremises.Thehearer’sinferentialprocessinarrivingatthemeaningofanutteranceisknownasconversationalimplicature.2.1ConstrualsButmenma

4、yconstruethings,aftertheirfashion,Cleanfromthepurposeofthethingsthemselves.(Shakespeare,JuliusCaesar)Thereis,asarule,morethanonewayofthinkingofaparticularsceneanddescribingitinlanguage.Inchoosingoneconceptualorlinguisticalternativeratherthananother,thespeaker“construes”herthoughtsinaspe

5、cificway.Thisiswhatismeantbythenotionof22CognitiveEnglishGrammarconstrual.Construalsarecognitiveoperationswhichareoftenstrikinglysimilartoprin-ciplesofvisualperception.Forexample,Imaydescribethecontentsofabottleofwhiskyasbeinghalffullorhalfempty.Indescribingitashalffull,Iamlookingatthedr

6、inkthatis(still)leftinthebottle,andindescribingitashalfempty,Iamthinkingofthedrinkthatisgone.Thedescriptionsclearlydifferwithrespecttotheperspectiveadopted:fromtheperspectiveofafullbottleorfromtheperspectiveofanemptybottle.Adoptingaparticularperspectiveisoneofmanypossibleconstrualoperati

7、ons.Herewewilllookatninedimen-sionsofconstrualthatarerelevantingrammar.Thefirstsixrelatetoviewingoperations:(i)viewingframe,(ii)generalityvsspecificity,(iii)viewpoint,(iv)objectivityvssubjectivity,(v)mentalscanning,and(vi)fictivemotion;thelatterthreerelatetoprominence:(vii)windowi