Assessing the Development of Construal Operations in Corpora (with Michael Pleyer)

Michael Pleyer

English Department, Universität Heidelberg Heidelberg Graduate School for Humanities and Social Sciences [email protected] Stefan Hartmann

Deutsches Institut, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz [email protected]

Assessing the Development of Construal Operations in Corpora

Overview

1. How to define construal?

2. How does construal relate to constructions?

3. Is the concept of construal operationalizable in corpus linguistics?

4. If yes, how?

5. Where to go from here?

• “Linguistic meaning involves both conceptual content and the construal imposed on that content.” (Langacker 2008: 44)

• CONSTRUAL • structuring of conceptual content in a specific manner and from a

certain perspective (foregrounding, backgrounding, assigning salience)

• invocation and selection of cognitive domains that serve as the basis for the meaning of a construction/expression

Langacker 2008: 44

Conceptual Content & Construal

Taylor 2002

• Specificity

• Perspective

• Prominence

• Dynamicity

• Config. Structure

• Perspective

• Attention

• Force Dynamics

• Attention / salience

• Judgment / comparison

• Perspective / Situatedness

• Constitution / Gestalt

Typologies of Construal Operations:

Langacker 2007 Talmy 1988a,b, 2000 Croft & Cruse 2004

(cf. also Verhagen 2007; Evans & Green 2006)

Overview




4. If yes, how?


Construal and Constructions • Linguistic constructions reflect cognitive construal patterns and

conceptual categorizations • constructions can be seen as prompts for the dynamic construal of

conceptualizations and conceptual categories • linguistic constructions shape and perspectivise the

conceptualisations they evoke in specific ways

e.g. Ambridge & Lieven 2011; Beckner et al. 2009; Behrens 2009; Clark 2009; Diessel 2004; 2013; Ibbotson 2011; Lieven 2009; 2010; Tomasello 2003,2006; Tomasello & Lieven 2008

“What children eventually learn is a network of related constructions in which the same event is construed from different perspectives so that speakers can choose the construction that is most appropriate to realize their communicative intention in a particular situation” (Diessel 2013: 357)

*CHI: Mummy has broken these (Thomas-Corpus, 2-11-00)

Subject-Verb-Object-Construction (Transitive Connstruction)

*CHI: the ceiling got cracked. (Thomas-Corpus, 2-10-6)

Passive Construction

*CHI: these balloon is [*] broken (Thomas-Corpus, 2-11-00)

Subject-Copula-Complement-Construction

Construal & Constructions

Construal and Constructions

lexical/ contentful

grammatical/ procedural

conceptual content

construal

atomic and specific

complex and (mostly)

schematic

(cf. Traugott & Trousdale 2013; Croft 2001; Langacker 2008)

Construal and Constructions: Morphology • Morphology plays an important role in construing conceptual content • e.g. progressive -ing

(from Ibbotson, Lieven & Tomasello 2013)

Construal and Constructions: Morphology • Cook-Gumperz & Kyratzis (2001): In pretend play, progressive

constructions (e.g. I’m making soup or pretend I’m making food) are tied to children taking an involved viewpoint on the action in which they themselves are part of and engaged in the pretending activity.

• Ibbotson, Lieven & Tomasello (2013): In child-directed speech, progressive forms are used in situations in which the event described by the verb is just unfolding

*MOT: Thomas going to have a little sleep ? *CHI: yeah . *MOT: no . *MOT: aah . *CHI: 0 [=! pretends to snore] . *MOT: are you sleeping ? *MOT: is Thomas tired ?

*CHI: &m bye . %com: as he rolls away *MOT: bye+bye . *CHI: a@p this ? *MOT: it's you rolling round . *CHI: 0 [=! babbles] . *MOT: are you rolling ?

Thomas-Corpus (2-00-12)

Overview


2. How does construal relate to constructions


4. If yes, how?


sleeper

sleeper

teacher blender Golden Retriever

-er-Nominals

Drucker ‚printer‘

A case study: er-Nominals in Cognitive Grammar...

tr

tr tr

lm

lm lm

[V] [-er]

[V-er]

(Taylor 2002)

...and in Construction Morphology

[[x]V -ər]N

‘one who Vs’

PHON SYN

SEM

(Booij 2010)

Meibauer (1995, 1997), Meibauer et al. (2004): Acquisition of -er-nominals • Comprehension study: Ten test items with four pictures each (one

OBJECT, one PERSON) • 56 preschool children from 3;0-6;5

-er-Nominals

(from Meibauer et al. 1997: 175)

Meibauer (1995), Meibauer et al. (1997): Acquisition of -er-nominals

ung-Nominalization

• weakly productive nominalization pattern deriving nouns from verbs

• e.g. landen ‘to land’ > Landung ‘landing

• many lexicalized items

Lemma Freq

Zeitung ‘newspaper’ 71

Wohnung ‘flat’ 69

Richtung ‘direction’ 57

Anleitung ‘manual’ 49

Heizung ‘heating device’ 49

Achtung ‘attention’ 44

Packung ‘package’ 28

Ladung ‘load / charge’ 24

Kupplung ‘gearshift’ 22

Ordnung ‘order’ 20

Most frequent ung-nominals in CDS

Source: CHILDES (all German transcripts), MUT/MOT tier

ung-nominals in children’s speech

1;1

1-2

;5

2;6

-2;1

1

3;0

-3;5

3;6

-3;1

1

4;0

-4;5

4;6

-4;1

1

5;0

-5;5

5;6

-5;1

1

Zeitung

Heizung

Ladung

Anleitung

Richtung

Lüftung

Packung

Wohnung

deitung (Caroline, 1;9.14)

zeikung (Caroline, 2;1.28)

lesen (.) Zeitung (Leo, 2;0.13)

was is(t) eine Zeitung ? (Leo, 2;10.29)


1;1

1-2

;5

2;6

-2;1

1

3;0

-3;5

3;6

-3;1

1

4;0

-4;5

4;6

-4;1

1

5;0

-5;5

5;6

-5;1

1

Zeitung

Heizung

Ladung

Anleitung

Richtung

Lüftung

Packung

Wohnung

Leo [x 2] malt Lüftung (Leo, 2;3.0)

‚Leo paints ventilation‘

*CHI: das Fahrrad hat auch Lüftung . [+

diary] (Leo, 2;5.17)

%exp: das Fahrrad hat, im Gegensatz zu

einem anderen Fahrrad im Keller, keinen

Platten, sondern in beiden Reifen genug

Luft .


1;1

1-2

;5

2;6

-2;1

1

3;0

-3;5

3;6

-3;1

1

4;0

-4;5

4;6

-4;1

1

5;0

-5;5

5;6

-5;1

1


1;1

1-2

;5

2;6

-2;1

1

3;0

-3;5

3;6

-3;1

1

4;0

-4;5

4;6

-4;1

1

5;0

-5;5

5;6

-5;1

1

Wohnung

Achtung

Richtung

Zeitung

Heizung

Anleitung

Verpackung

Packung

Ausstellung

Mechthild hat ihre Stimmung verloren.

‚Mechthild has lost her voice‘ (Leo,

2;8.21)

*CHI: und da ist Fliege ss@o [x 9] .

*CHI: da wird immer tiefer .

*MUT: ss@o [x 9] .

*CHI: +< da wird immer tiefer . +< bis es

die La(n)dung gibt . (Leo, 2;10.14)


1;1

1-2

;5

2;6

-2;1

1

3;0

-3;5

3;6

-3;1

1

4;0

-4;5

4;6

-4;1

1

5;0

-5;5

5;6

-5;1

1

*CHI: eine einzige Ente . [+ diary]

%exp: als CHI eine einzelne Ente auf dem

Fluss sieht .

*CHI: ohne Spritzerung ! [+ diary]

%exp: als die Robbe ohne zu spritzen

wieder in das Wasser eintauchen .

(le020714) Leo, 02;07.14

Wohnung

Achtung

Richtung

Zeitung

Heizung

Anleitung

Verpackung

Packung

Ausstellung


1;1

1-2

;5

2;6

-2;1

1

3;0

-3;5

3;6

-3;1

1

4;0

-4;5

4;6

-4;1

1

5;0

-5;5

5;6

-5;1

1

*CHI: ne dis (.) seine Beschützung (.) guck

(.) . (Caroline, 2;9.29)

‚No, this is his protection. Look‘

Wohnung

Achtung

Richtung

Zeitung

Heizung

Anleitung

Verpackung

Packung

Ausstellung


1;1

1-2

;5

2;6

-2;1

1

3;0

-3;5

3;6

-3;1

1

4;0

-4;5

4;6

-4;1

1

5;0

-5;5

5;6

-5;1

1


1;1

1-2

;5

2;6

-2;1

1

3;0

-3;5

3;6

-3;1

1

4;0

-4;5

4;6

-4;1

1

5;0

-5;5

5;6

-5;1

1

Zeitung

Anleitung

Richtung

Wohnung

Fernbedienung

Achtung

Kupplung

Packung

Ausstellung

Heizung

*MUT: was is(t) das da ?

*CHI: das is(t) die Zumachen von was .

*CHI: das die Zumachung von meinen

Satellitenauto . (Leo, 3;8.20)


1;1

1-2

;5

2;6

-2;1

1

3;0

-3;5

3;6

-3;1

1

4;0

-4;5

4;6

-4;1

1

5;0

-5;5

5;6

-5;1

1

Zeitung

Anleitung

Richtung

Wohnung

Fernbedienung

Achtung

Kupplung

Packung

Ausstellung

Heizung

*CHI: da [//] hier mach ich

Bauklötzchen+Herstellung .

*MUT: wie werden Bauklötzchen denn

hergestellt ?

*CHI: 0 [% lautiert] erst kommen die

Bauklötzchen in einen Ofen .

*CHI: dann nochmal in einen Ofen .

*CHI: und dann in einen ganz heißen Ofen .

*MUT: ui@o [x 7] . (Leo, 03;10.13)


transitive base verb intransitive base verb


1;1

1-2

;5

2;6

-2;1

1

3;0

-3;5

3;6

-3;1

1

4;0

-4;5

4;6

-4;1

1

5;0

-5;5

5;6

-5;1

1

Zeitung

Anleitung

Richtung

Wohnung

Fernbedienung

Achtung

Kupplung

Packung

Ausstellung

Heizung

*CHI: da kam die Fee , und hat gesagt wenn

ihr so arm seid dürft ihr euch drei Wünsche

(.) wünschen , und die soll(e)n in die

Füllung geh(e)n . (Simone, 3;9.18)


1;1

1-2

;5

2;6

-2;1

1

3;0

-3;5

3;6

-3;1

1

4;0

-4;5

4;6

-4;1

1

5;0

-5;5

5;6

-5;1

1


1;1

1-2

;5

2;6

-2;1

1

3;0

-3;5

3;6

-3;1

1

4;0

-4;5

4;6

-4;1

1

5;0

-5;5

5;6

-5;1

1

Anleitung

Zeitung

Richtung

Kupplung

Wohnung

Packung

Achtung

Ordnung

Heizung

Zeichnung

*CHI: da .

*CHI: und hier will ich 'n Weg zur

Erschreckung mal zum Geist .

*CHI: zum einen Geist machen . (Leo,

04;03.08)

Overview




4. If yes, how?


Language is a complex adaptive system, whose global emergent structure arises out of the dynamic local interactions of a multiplicity of factors on different levels of analysis and on

different timescales (Beckner et al. 2009; Kirby 2012; Kirby et al. 2007, Steels 2011)

The Ontogenetic Timescale: Individual

Learning

The Glossogenetic Timescale: Social/Cultural

Transmission

The Phylogenetic Timescale: Biological

Evolution

Kirby 2012, Kirby & Hurford 2002

Construal Operations as Basis of Linguistic Innovation and Language Change

(Croft & Cruse’s “comparison”) Analogy

• “Structural analogy is the psychological mechanism that underlies the creation of novel forms in both language acquisition and diachronic change” (Diessel 2012: 1610)

classification of both forms and meanings Categorization

• dynamic form-concept-mapping

• Acquisition: “Discovery” of adult meanings; Change: pragmatic inferences

determines availability of construal options Entrenchment

• Frequent linguistic entities more deeply entrenched in memory deeply entrenched entities less likely to be regularized by analogy (e.g. Bybee 1985, Nübling 2000)

Where to go from here? • Drawing parallels to socio-cognitive development • Converging evidence from corpus and experimental data • More detailed understanding of the syntax-lexicon continuum (cf.

Pulvermüller et al. 2013) • How does construal relate to general cognitive capacities such as e.g.

perspective-taking, figure/ground alignment, etc.

Construal operations and their acquistion are based on general

cognitive processes

Sociopragmatic Processes

Cognitive Capacities

“If linguistic construal operations are truly cognitive, then they should be related to, or identical with, general cognitive processes that are

postulated by psychologists.” (Croft & Cruse 2004: 45 )

Pointing and Construal

Cooperative pointing thus creates different

conceptualizations or construals of things. These

presage the ability of linguistic creatures to place one and the same entity under alternative

different ‚descriptions‘ or ‚aspectual shapes‘. (Tomasello

2014: 57)

Development of Perspective

Understanding Animate Action

(looking)

Understanding Pursuit of

Goals (seeing)

Understanding

Choice of Plans (attending)

motivation to share psychological states

dyadic engagement

(shared emotions & behavior)

triadic engagement

(shared goals & perceptions)

collaborative engagement

(joint intentions & attention)

(from Tomasello et al. 2005: 689)

3 months 9 months 14 months

Level 0 Perspective-

Taking

Level 1 Perspective

Taking

Development of Perspective-Taking

Sharing perspectives

Experiential Perspective

Taking

(Flavell 1992, Moll & Meltzoff 2010, 2011, Moll & Kadipasaoglu 2013)

~12 months ~14-19 months

~24-30 months

~3 years ~4-5 years

Level 1A Perspective Taking

Level 1B Perspective Taking

Level 2 Perspective Taking

Level 2A Perspective

Taking

Level 2B Perspective

Taking

L1 Visual Perspective

Taking: Understanding

‘What

L2 Visual Perspective

Taking: Understanding

How

Confronting and Reflecting on Perspectives/

“Theory of Mind”

Thank you for your attention!

Assessing the Development of Construal Operations in Corpora (with Michael Pleyer)

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