assignments%20&%20solutions.pdf

Cognitive Exploration of

Language and Linguistics

2nd Revised Edition, 2004

Assignments and Solutions

Edited by René Dirven and MarjolijnVerspoor

In cooperation with

Dirk Geeraerts, Ralf Pörings, Günter Radden, Wilbert Spooren, John

Taylor, Anna Wierzbicka and Margaret Winters

www.benjamins.com

C OGNITIVE E XPLORATION OF L ANGUAGE AND L INGUISTICS

Chapter 1. The cognitive basis of language: Language

and thought

Assignments (p. 23)

Assignment 1.1.

What types of sign are involved in the following cases?

(a) inverted triangle as a road sign

(b) sign depicting falling rocks

(d) frozen window panes of a car

(e) speedometer in car

(f) burglar alarm going off

(g) baby crying

(h) dog wagging its tail

(i) animal drawings in cave dwellings

(j) a wedding ring

(k) a clenched fist in the air

(l) a ring in the nose (human)

Solution 1.1.

(a) Symbolic , as it is a convention that this road sign is a warning

sign.

(b) Iconic , as it is an image of falling rocks, a warning of potential

danger.

(d) Indexical , for it “points” directly at cold; natural effects are al-

ways indexical for their causes.

(e) Symbolic , as it is a convention that the angle of the needle

and/or the numbers stand for a specific speed.

(f) Indexical , because the alarm goes off when there is a person in

the vicinity; the noise of the alarm points directly to the fact that

there is someone present.

(g) Indexical , because the crying of the baby refers directly to some

(basic) need of the baby’s.

(h) Indexical , as it “points” directly to the fact that the dog is good-

tempered.

(i) Iconic , as they are images resembling animals.

(j) Symbolic , as it is only a convention.

(k) Indexical , as a clenched fist is a physical expression of anger;

especially when combined with a facial expression of anger;

But symbolic , e.g. as symbol for a Socialist Party: a clenched fist

in itself does not necessarily mean “Socialist action”; it is also an

accepted conventional sign to show you disagree with something

or someone.

A SSIGNMENTS AND SOLUTIONS 3

(l) Symbolic , because its wearer wants to express a certain attitude.

Solution 1.2.

(a) Iconic principle of quantity , to be more specific: reduplication .

It suggests the frequency of the earth’s trembling.

(b) Iconicprincipleof quantity : the repetition suggests a huge num-

ber

events take place is important. You should not drink before you

drive.

(d) Iconic principle of quantity , to be more specific: reduplication .

It indicates a plural, i.e. ‘more than one’.

(e) Iconic principle of sequential order : the sequence in which

events take place is important. You should see Naples before you

die.

(f) The principle of quantity : the repetition suggests that the

speaker is sincere. The quantity of language forms is also meant

to convey an increasing respect for the hearer.

Assignment 1.3.

In what ways do the indexical principles, egocentricity and anthropo-

centricity, play a role in the ordering of the following irreversible pairs of

words?

(a) come and go, this and that, here and there

(b) women and wine, king and country, people and places

(d) friend or foe, win or lose, live or die

Solution 1.3.

(a) Egocentricity : whatever is moving towards the speaker or what-

ever is closer to the speaker comes before that which is moving

away from the speaker.

Assignment 1.2.

In what way are the following expressions iconic? (sequential order, dis-

tance, quantity)

(a) The Krio word for ‘earthquake’ is shaky - shaky .

(b) Department store ad: We have rails and rails and rails of famous

fashion.

(d) Japanese ie ‘house’, ieie ‘houses’

(e) See Naples and die.

(f) I swear by Almighty God that what I am about to say is the truth,

the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

C OGNITIVE E XPLORATION OF L ANGUAGE AND L INGUISTICS

(b) Anthropocentricity : people come before other things.

(d) Egocentricity : the positive concepts come first because humans

like to keep ‘good things’ close to them and ‘bad things’ far

away from them. (Anthropocentricity, because it is very general

to prefer positive things to negative ones).

Assignment 1.4.

Sentence (a) is more likely to occur than (b), which does not make much

sense at first sight. Which indexical principle is not respected in (b)? If

(b) were to occur, what would it mean?

(a) The results of the study depart from our expectation.

(b) ??Our expectation departs from the results of the study.

(c)

Solution 1.4.

Egocentricity: Due to our egocentric view, our expectations, i.e. we serve

as natural reference points. (b) sounds odd because the results of the

study are taken as the reference point. Sentence (b), if it were used,

would mean something like: “our expectation was different, and the re-

sult may be the wrong one.”

Assignment 1.5.

The expressions in italics are peripheral members of their particular

grammatical category such as noun, adjective, adverb, etc. Why?

(a) The approach has to be simple and low cost .

(b) This is the very man.

Solution 1.5.

All the words printed in italics are peripheral members of their particular

grammatical category as they are very unrepresentative of the category.

This is because they normally belong to another category and very rarely

appear in the category they do now.

(a) Low cost is not an adjective but a noun phrase, which here is

used as an adjective.

(b) Very is an adverb, but here it is used as an adjective.

Assignment 1.6.

In English, the same form may sometimes be a member of up to five dif-

ferent word classes. Specify the word class of round in each of the fol-

lowing examples.

(a) My friend is coming round the corner.

(b) That was the first round table I saw.

A SSIGNMENTS AND SOLUTIONS 5

(d) Let’s round off with an exercise.

(e) After school we can play a round of golf.

Solution 1.6.

(a) preposition (just like “out of the dark”)

(b) adjective (just like “a nice person”)

(d) verb (just like “let’s finish this”)

(e) noun (just like “a game of golf”)

Chapter 2: What’s in a word? Lexicology

Assignments (p. 46)

Assignment 2.1.

From the large number of senses and contexts for the word head DCE

( Dictionary of Contemporary English, Longman) mentions over sixty.

We offer a small selection here:

(a) the top part of the body which has your eyes, mouth, brain, etc.

(b) themind: My head was full of strange thoughts .

(d) the leader or person in charge of a group: We asked the head for

permission .

(e) the top or front of something: Write your name at the head of

each page .

(f) calm: Keep one’s head cool .

(g) (for) each person: We paid ten pounds a head for the meal .

Using Table 4 in this chapter as an example, explain what the processes

of meaning extensions are for “head” and point out which of these mean-

ings are metaphors and which are metonymies.

Solution 2.1.

(a) The prototypical sense of head .

(b) Metonymy : the head as a container stands for the contained, i.e.

the thoughts inside (the brain).

seen as the seat of intellect (and understanding) just like the heart

is seen as the seat of emotions. Also the book stands metonymi-

cally for what is contained in it, i.e. the contents of the book. In

other words: the contents of the book goes over my level of un-

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