Script-based approach towards taxis connectors
-
Irina Kobozeva
Abstract
The paper shows the role of scripts in explaining the use of taxis connectors of immediate anteriority such as as soon as, once in English. Taxis connectors (conjunctions and syntactic phrasemes) such as after, as soon as, before have been studied in linguistic typology as the means of expressing taxis relation between situations, i.e. anteriority, simultaneity and posteriority with their variations, e.g. immediate (contact) vs. distant anteriority. The same sequence of events may be presented either as an asymmetrical structure with subordination or as a symmetrical coordinate structure. In both cases speakers have multiple choices between different patterns of expressing one and the same taxis relation. We argue that one of the influential factors of this choice is the factor of scripts. In the vein of V. Raskin’s Script-Based Semantic Theory, we show that the natural usage of immediate anteriority connectors presupposes: 1) that the time interval between component events, denoted by connected clauses, is not fixed as ‘zero’ in the corresponding script; 2) that the subordinate clause of immediate anteriority has the informational status of “given”, and that one of the main sources of such a status is a script activated earlier in discourse, the script that contains as its part the event denoted by the clause. We also show how the deviation from the standard usage may be used to achieve special semantic effects.
Abstract
The paper shows the role of scripts in explaining the use of taxis connectors of immediate anteriority such as as soon as, once in English. Taxis connectors (conjunctions and syntactic phrasemes) such as after, as soon as, before have been studied in linguistic typology as the means of expressing taxis relation between situations, i.e. anteriority, simultaneity and posteriority with their variations, e.g. immediate (contact) vs. distant anteriority. The same sequence of events may be presented either as an asymmetrical structure with subordination or as a symmetrical coordinate structure. In both cases speakers have multiple choices between different patterns of expressing one and the same taxis relation. We argue that one of the influential factors of this choice is the factor of scripts. In the vein of V. Raskin’s Script-Based Semantic Theory, we show that the natural usage of immediate anteriority connectors presupposes: 1) that the time interval between component events, denoted by connected clauses, is not fixed as ‘zero’ in the corresponding script; 2) that the subordinate clause of immediate anteriority has the informational status of “given”, and that one of the main sources of such a status is a script activated earlier in discourse, the script that contains as its part the event denoted by the clause. We also show how the deviation from the standard usage may be used to achieve special semantic effects.
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Preface V
- Contents VII
- Introduction 1
-
Part 1: Script-based semantics
- Scripts, frames, and other semantic objects 11
- Script-based approach towards taxis connectors 43
- Ontological and grammatical constraints on metaphor productivity 55
- Meaning amalgamation, phrasal stress, and earning money 77
-
Part 2: Humor
- Knowledge about humor 93
- Domains of humor: Challenges from psychology 115
- Victor Raskin’s overlooked analysis of political jokes 139
- Joke construction and joke structure 167
- ‘Stop kidding, I’m serious’: Failed humor in French conversations 191
-
Part 3: Ontological semantics
- Scripts in the Ontological Semantic Theory of Humor 229
- Which fuzzy logic operations are most appropriate for ontological semantics: Theoretical explanation of empirical observations 257
- Decoding intricacies of human nature from social network communications 269
-
Part 4: Other applications
- A creative approach for linguistic funny business: Using linguistic paradigms and taxonomies 281
- Tourism after the Arab Spring in Tunisia: An analysis of advertising campaigns 305
- Names Index 315
- Subject Index 321
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Preface V
- Contents VII
- Introduction 1
-
Part 1: Script-based semantics
- Scripts, frames, and other semantic objects 11
- Script-based approach towards taxis connectors 43
- Ontological and grammatical constraints on metaphor productivity 55
- Meaning amalgamation, phrasal stress, and earning money 77
-
Part 2: Humor
- Knowledge about humor 93
- Domains of humor: Challenges from psychology 115
- Victor Raskin’s overlooked analysis of political jokes 139
- Joke construction and joke structure 167
- ‘Stop kidding, I’m serious’: Failed humor in French conversations 191
-
Part 3: Ontological semantics
- Scripts in the Ontological Semantic Theory of Humor 229
- Which fuzzy logic operations are most appropriate for ontological semantics: Theoretical explanation of empirical observations 257
- Decoding intricacies of human nature from social network communications 269
-
Part 4: Other applications
- A creative approach for linguistic funny business: Using linguistic paradigms and taxonomies 281
- Tourism after the Arab Spring in Tunisia: An analysis of advertising campaigns 305
- Names Index 315
- Subject Index 321
