A corpus-based, cross-linguistic approach to mental predicates and their complementation: Performativity and descriptivity vis-à-vis boundedness and picturability
-
Karolina Krawczak
,
Małgorzata Fabiszak
Abstract
This corpus-based study investigates the complementation patterns of mental predicates in a cross-linguistic context. More precisely, it examines five equivalent mental verbs from English, German, and Polish and analyzes whether their complements are cognitively construed in different ways in first-person uses of those verbs as opposed to third-person uses. Two types of complementation are considered: we contrast nominal complements with clausal complements. Based on the results of prior studies into Polish myśleć ‘think’ and wierzyć ‘believe’, we hypothesize that first-person singular occurrences of mental predicates will be more readily associated with clausal complements designating non-bounded and non-picturable objects. Conversely, third-person uses of the verbs are expected to be linked to nominal complements that denote bounded and picturable objects. The hypotheses are tested with bivariate and multivariate quantitative techniques. Our results have both descriptive and theoretical implications. Descriptively, we aim to identify the differences in construing the complement of mental predicates, depending on the grammatical person of the syntactic subject. Theoretically, we provide empirical evidence that is relevant for the long-recognized distinction between performativity and descriptivity of mental verbs.
Acknowledgments
We would like to express our gratitude to the two anonymous reviewers for their comments and suggestions. Our sincere thanks also extend to Hubert Cuyckens, the editor of Folia Linguistica, for his most constructive help. Any remaining shortcomings are our own.
References
Baayen, Harald. 2008. Analyzing linguistic data: A practical introduction to statistics using R. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.10.1017/CBO9780511801686Suche in Google Scholar
Benveniste, Emile. 1971. Subjectivity in language. In Emile Benveniste, Problems in general linguistics, 223–230. Coral Gables: University of Miami Press.Suche in Google Scholar
Bresnan, Joan, Anna Cueni, Tatiana Nikitina & Harald Baayen. 2007. Predicting the dative alternation. In Gerlof Bouma, Irene Kraemer & Joost Zwarts (eds.), Cognitive foundations of interpretation, 69–94. Amsterdam: Royal Netherlands Academy of Science.Suche in Google Scholar
Davies, Mark. 2008–2013. The Corpus of Contemporary American English: 450 million words, 1990–present. http://corpus.byu.edu/coca/.Suche in Google Scholar
Divjak, Dagmar. 2006. Ways of intending: A corpus-based Cognitive Linguistic approach to near-synonyms in Russian. In Stefan Th. Gries & Anatol Stefanowitsch (eds.), Corpora in Cognitive Linguistics: Corpus-based approaches to syntax and lexis, 19–56. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.Suche in Google Scholar
Divjak, Dagmar. 2010. Structuring the lexicon: A clustered model for near-synonymy. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton.10.1515/9783110220599Suche in Google Scholar
Divjak, Dagmar & Nick Fieller. 2014. Cluster analysis: Finding structure in linguistic data. In Dylan Glynn & Justyna Robinson (eds.), Corpus methods for semantics. Quantitative studies in polysemy and synonymy, 405–443. Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins.10.1075/hcp.43.16divSuche in Google Scholar
Divjak, Dagmar & Stefan Th. Gries. 2006. Ways of trying in Russian: Clustering behavioral profiles. Corpus Linguistics and Linguistic Theory 2(1). 23–60.10.1515/CLLT.2006.002Suche in Google Scholar
Divjak, Dagmar & Stefan Th. Gries. 2009. Corpus-based Cognitive Semantics: A contrastive study of phrasal verbs in English and Russian. In Barbara Lewandowska-Tomaszczyk & Katarzyna Dziwirek (eds.), Studies in cognitive corpus linguistics, 273–296. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang.Suche in Google Scholar
Fabiszak, Małgorzata, Anna Hebda, Iwona Kokorniak & Karolina Krawczak. 2014. The semasiological structure of Polish myśleć “to think”: A study in verb-prefix semantics. In Dylan Glynn & Justyna Robinson (eds.), Corpus methods for semantics. Quantitative studies in polysemy and synonymy, 223–251. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.10.1075/hcp.43.09fabSuche in Google Scholar
Fabiszak, Małgorzata, Anna Hebda & Barbara Konat. 2012. Dichotomy between private and public experience: The case of Polish wierzyć “believe”. In Christopher Hart (ed.), Online proceedings of UK-CLA meetings 1, 164–176. Hertfordshire: The UK Cognitive Linguistics Association. http://www.uk-cla.org.uk/proceedings/volume_1.Suche in Google Scholar
Geeraerts, DirkStefan GrondelaersPeter Bakema. 1994. The structure of lexical variation: Meaning, naming, and context. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.10.1515/9783110873061Suche in Google Scholar
Geeraerts, Dirk, Stefan Grondelaers & Dirk Speelman. 1999. Convergentie en Divergentie in de Nederlandse Woordenschat. Amsterdam: Meertens Instituut.Suche in Google Scholar
Glynn, Dylan. 2007. Mapping meaning: Toward a usage-based methodology in Cognitive Semantics. Leuven: University of Leuven (KU Leuven) dissertation.Suche in Google Scholar
Glynn, Dylan. 2010a. Synonymy, lexical fields and grammatical constructions: A study in usage-based Cognitive Semantics. In Hans-Jörg Schmid & Susanne Handl (eds.), Cognitive foundations of linguistic usage-patterns: Empirical studies, 89–118. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton.10.1515/9783110216035.89Suche in Google Scholar
Glynn, Dylan. 2010b. Testing the hypothesis: Objectivity and verification in usage-based Cognitive Semantics. In Dylan Glynn & Kerstin Fischer (eds.), Quantitative Cognitive Semantics: Corpus-driven approaches, 239–270. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton.10.1515/9783110226423.239Suche in Google Scholar
Glynn, Dylan. 2014a. Correspondence analysis: Exploring data and identifying patterns. In Dylan Glynn & Justyna Robinson (eds.), Corpus methods for semantics: Quantitative studies in polysemy and synonymy, 443–485. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.10.1075/hcp.43.17glySuche in Google Scholar
Glynn, Dylan. 2014b. The many uses of run: Corpus methods and socio-cognitive semantics. In Dylan Glynn & Justyna Robinson (eds.), Corpus methods for semantics: Quantitative studies in polysemy and synonymy, 117–144. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.10.1075/hcp.43.05glySuche in Google Scholar
Glynn, Dylan. 2014c. Techniques and tools: Corpus methods and statistics for semantics. In Dylan Glynn & Justyna Robinson (eds.), Corpus methods for semantics: Quantitative studies in polysemy and synonymy, 307–341. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.10.1075/hcp.43.12glySuche in Google Scholar
Glynn, Dylan & Kerstin Fischer (eds.). 2010. Quantitative methods in Cognitive Semantics: Corpus-driven approaches. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton.10.1515/9783110226423Suche in Google Scholar
Glynn, Dylan & Justyna Robinson (eds.). 2014. Corpus methods for semantics: Quantitative studies in polysemy and synonymy. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.10.1075/hcp.43Suche in Google Scholar
Goldberg, Adele. 2006. Constructions at work: The nature of generalization in language. Oxford: Oxford University Press.10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199268511.001.0001Suche in Google Scholar
Gries, Stefan Th. 1999. Particle movement: A cognitive and functional approach. Cognitive Linguistics 10(2). 105–145.10.1515/cogl.1999.005Suche in Google Scholar
Gries, Stefan Th. 2003. Multifactorial analysis in Corpus Linguistics: A study of particle placement. London: Continuum Press.Suche in Google Scholar
Gries, Stefan Th. 2006. Corpus-based methods and Cognitive Semantics: The many senses of to run. In Stefan Th. Gries & Anatol Stefanowitsch (eds.), Corpora in Cognitive Linguistics: Corpus-based approaches to syntax and lexis, 57–99. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.10.1515/9783110197709Suche in Google Scholar
Gries, Stefan Th. 2014. Frequency tables: Tests, effect sizes, and explorations. In Dylan Glynn & Justyna Robinson (eds.), Corpus methods for semantics: Quantitative studies in polysemy and synonymy, 365–390. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.10.1075/hcp.43.14griSuche in Google Scholar
Gries, Stefan Th. & Dagmar Divjak. 2009. Behavioral profiles: A corpus-based approach to cognitive semantic analysis. In Vyvyan Evans & Stephanie Pourcel (eds.), New directions in Cognitive Linguistics, 57–75. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.10.1075/hcp.24.07griSuche in Google Scholar
Gries, Stefan Th. & Anatol Stefanowitsch (eds.). 2006. Corpora in Cognitive Linguistics: Corpus-based approaches to syntax and lexis. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.10.1515/9783110197709Suche in Google Scholar
Heylen, Kris. 2005. A quantitative corpus study of German word order variation. In Stephan Kepser & Marga Reis (eds.), Linguistic evidence: Empirical, theoretical and computational perspectives, 241–264. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.10.1515/9783110197549.241Suche in Google Scholar
Hosmer, David W. & Stanley Lemeshow. 2000. Applied logistic regression. New York: John Wiley & Sons.10.1002/0471722146Suche in Google Scholar
Krawczak, Karolina & Iwona Kokorniak. 2012. A corpus-driven quantitative approach to the construal of Polish “think”. Poznań Studies in Contemproary Linguistics 48(3). 439–472.10.1515/psicl-2012-0021Suche in Google Scholar
Langacker, Ronald W. 1999. Grammar and conceptualization. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.10.1515/9783110800524Suche in Google Scholar
Langacker, Ronald W. 2009. Investigations in Cognitive Grammar. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.10.1515/9783110214369Suche in Google Scholar
Nuyts, Jan. 2001. Epistemic modality, language, and conceptualization. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.10.1075/hcp.5Suche in Google Scholar
Pęzik, Piotr. 2012. Wyszukiwarka PELCRA dla danych NKJP [PELCRA search engine for the NKJP data]. In Adam Przepiórkowski, Mirosław Bańko, Rafał Górski & Barbara Lewandowska-Tomaszczyk (eds.), Narodowy Korpus Języka Polskiego [The National Corpus of the Polish language], 253–273. Warszawa: PWN.Suche in Google Scholar
Radden, Günter & René Dirven. 2007. Cognitive English grammar. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.10.1075/clip.2Suche in Google Scholar
Speelman, Dirk. 2014. Logistic regression: A confirmatory technique for comparisons in corpus linguistics. In Dylan Glynn & Justyna Robinson (eds.), Corpus methods for semantics: Quantitative studies in polysemy and synonymy, 487–533. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.10.1075/hcp.43.18speSuche in Google Scholar
Talmy, Leonard. 2000. Toward a Cognitive Semantics. Vol 1: Concept structuring systems. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.10.7551/mitpress/6847.001.0001Suche in Google Scholar
Vendler, Zeno. 1957. Verbs and times. The Philosophical Review 66(2). 143–160.10.7591/9781501743726-005Suche in Google Scholar
Verhagen, Arie. 2005. Constructions of intersubjectivity: Discourse, syntax, and cognition. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Suche in Google Scholar
©2016 by De Gruyter Mouton
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Frontmatter
- Usage-based cognitive-functional linguistics: From theory to method and back again
- The cognitive plausibility of statistical classification models: Comparing textual and behavioral evidence
- The usage and spread of sentence-internal capitalization in Early New High German: A multifactorial approach
- Quantifying polysemy: Corpus methodology for prototype theory
- A cognitive-constructionist approach to Spanish creo Ø and creo yo ‘[I] think’
- A corpus-based, cross-linguistic approach to mental predicates and their complementation: Performativity and descriptivity vis-à-vis boundedness and picturability
- Why we need a token-based typology: A case study of analytic and lexical causatives in fifteen European languages
- Constructional contamination: How does it work and how do we measure it?
- Regular FoL papers
- Mutual intelligibility of spoken Maltese, Libyan Arabic, and Tunisian Arabic functionally tested: A pilot study
- Intermediate information status for non-nominal constituents: Evidence from Spanish secondary predicates in adversatives
- Lower domain language shift in Taiwan: The case of Southern Min
- Book Reviews
- Crespo-Fernández, Eliecer: Sex in language: Euphemistic and dysphemistic metaphors in internet forums
- Sonnenhauser, Barbara and Patrizia Noel Aziz Hanna: Vocative! Addressing between system and performance
- Erratum
- Erratum
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Frontmatter
- Usage-based cognitive-functional linguistics: From theory to method and back again
- The cognitive plausibility of statistical classification models: Comparing textual and behavioral evidence
- The usage and spread of sentence-internal capitalization in Early New High German: A multifactorial approach
- Quantifying polysemy: Corpus methodology for prototype theory
- A cognitive-constructionist approach to Spanish creo Ø and creo yo ‘[I] think’
- A corpus-based, cross-linguistic approach to mental predicates and their complementation: Performativity and descriptivity vis-à-vis boundedness and picturability
- Why we need a token-based typology: A case study of analytic and lexical causatives in fifteen European languages
- Constructional contamination: How does it work and how do we measure it?
- Regular FoL papers
- Mutual intelligibility of spoken Maltese, Libyan Arabic, and Tunisian Arabic functionally tested: A pilot study
- Intermediate information status for non-nominal constituents: Evidence from Spanish secondary predicates in adversatives
- Lower domain language shift in Taiwan: The case of Southern Min
- Book Reviews
- Crespo-Fernández, Eliecer: Sex in language: Euphemistic and dysphemistic metaphors in internet forums
- Sonnenhauser, Barbara and Patrizia Noel Aziz Hanna: Vocative! Addressing between system and performance
- Erratum
- Erratum
