Smashing new results on aspectual framing
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Teenie Matlock
Abstract
How do people describe events they have witnessed? What role does linguistic aspect play in this process? To provide answers to these questions, we conducted an experiment on aspectual framing. In our task, people were asked to view videotaped vehicular accidents and to describe what happened (perfective framing) or what was happening (imperfective framing). Our analyses of speech and gesture in retellings show that the form of aspect used in the question differentially influenced the way people conceptualized and described actions. Questions framed with imperfective aspect resulted in more motion verbs (e.g. driving), more reckless language (e.g. speeding), and more iconic gestures (e.g. path gesture away from the body to show travel direction) than did questions framed with perfective aspect. Our research contributes novel insights on aspect and the construal of events, and on the semantic potency of aspect in leading questions. The findings are consistent with core assumptions in cognitive linguistics, including the proposal that linguistic meaning, including grammatical meaning, is dynamic and grounded in perceptual and cognitive experience.
Abstract
How do people describe events they have witnessed? What role does linguistic aspect play in this process? To provide answers to these questions, we conducted an experiment on aspectual framing. In our task, people were asked to view videotaped vehicular accidents and to describe what happened (perfective framing) or what was happening (imperfective framing). Our analyses of speech and gesture in retellings show that the form of aspect used in the question differentially influenced the way people conceptualized and described actions. Questions framed with imperfective aspect resulted in more motion verbs (e.g. driving), more reckless language (e.g. speeding), and more iconic gestures (e.g. path gesture away from the body to show travel direction) than did questions framed with perfective aspect. Our research contributes novel insights on aspect and the construal of events, and on the semantic potency of aspect in leading questions. The findings are consistent with core assumptions in cognitive linguistics, including the proposal that linguistic meaning, including grammatical meaning, is dynamic and grounded in perceptual and cognitive experience.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
-
Introduction
- Theory and data in cognitive linguistics 1
- Frequencies, probabilities, and association measures in usage-/exemplar-based linguistics 15
- Reconstructing constructional semantics 49
- The historical development of the it -cleft 87
- Theory and data in diachronic Construction Grammar 115
- The semantics of definite expressions and the grammaticalization of THE 141
- Cognitive explanations, distributional evidence, and diachrony 185
- Word classes 211
- Smashing new results on aspectual framing 239
- Index 261
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
-
Introduction
- Theory and data in cognitive linguistics 1
- Frequencies, probabilities, and association measures in usage-/exemplar-based linguistics 15
- Reconstructing constructional semantics 49
- The historical development of the it -cleft 87
- Theory and data in diachronic Construction Grammar 115
- The semantics of definite expressions and the grammaticalization of THE 141
- Cognitive explanations, distributional evidence, and diachrony 185
- Word classes 211
- Smashing new results on aspectual framing 239
- Index 261
