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| 1 | The paper discusses the compositional semantics of adjective-noun combinations like fake gun. Compositionality appears to be one of the most cognitively basic principles guiding semantic research. This study argues the claim of formal semantics that the meaning of an expression is a function of the meanings of its parts and of the way they are syntactically combined. The article adduces support for the claim that the meaning of the whole cannot be predicted from the meanings of the parts and the way they are put together. The investigation makes an attempt to find the relations between formally integrated linguistic structure and conceptually integrated structures. The adjective fake is seen as privative for which an instance of the adjective + noun combination is never an instance of the noun alone. Complexes with fake entail the negation of the noun modified by fake. The paper accounts for the meaning of adjective-noun combinations in terms of conceptual integration. Within the framework of mental spaces theory the adjective fake prompts for a specific complex mapping scheme and emerges a novel conceptual blend. In terms of conceptual blending the adjective fake calls for two input spaces with a disanalogy connector such that an element in one place is real, but in the other is not. The article highlights combinatorial possibilities of fake. Of particular concern is the issue that the appropriate use of fake requires the activation of an appropriate frame. Keywords: compositionality, adjective meaning, lexical semantics, emergent structure, blend, mental spaces, cognitive domain, complex concept | 1172 | ||||
| 2 | Introduction. The study focuses on news discourse and on its persuasive dimension in particular. News discourse has a number of standard strategies to promote the persuasive process for assertions. If propositions are to be accepted as true or plausible, there must be special means to enhance their appearance of truth and plausibility. Material and methods. The theoretical perspective of the paper is the critical epistemic discourse analysis proposed by T. A. van Dijk. The paper considers mental representation of the event nominated in British and American mass media as RUSSIAN SPY POISONING. Results and discussion. The study highlights the evasion strategy as a form of discourse-based mental influence in news discourse. From a pragmatic approach evasion is viewed as violation of one of the conversational maxims formulated by P. Grice which requires contributions to conversations to be truthful. The author claims that the aim of the evasion strategy in representing news is to discursively emphasize those properties of mental models that are consistent with the interests of the dominant social groups and discursively deemphasize those properties that are inconsistent with their interests. Consequently, evasion strategy results in partial, incomplete or biased understanding of the news story in the interests of a dominant social group. Evasion presupposes formulation of meanings in such a way that they are not merely understood but also accepted as the truth or at least as a possible truth. The article discusses strategic devices of evasion like hedging, referential vagueness, focus shift, selective use of evidential and epistemic markers, half truth. Conclusion. The author comes to the conclusion that evasion strategy contributes to the formation or reactivation of preferred mental models and may thus be used in manipulative discourse use. Keywords: evasion strategy, news discourse, vagueness, hedging, foregrounding, focus shift, manipulation | 1126 | ||||
| 3 | Introduction. The article focuses on the ways human beings conceptualize, structure and make sense of their physical and mental experience. Mental states of perception, imagination, belief, knowledge interact tightly with one another and this ontological nature is represented in the lexical semantics of the verbs see, imagine, believe, think, know. Thus, the main concern of the study is to highlight cognitive-semantic grounds of the semantic shifts of the imagine class verbs and to reveal syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic properties of the utterances arranged by these verbs. Material and methods. The research is based on the empirical data from available sources and corpora data. The research is conducted within the cognitive linguistics framework where a common view is that meaning has a cognitive nature. Results and discussion. The paper explores how lexical meanings get extended in a particular cognitive context. The findings of the study suggest that the verbs under consideration function as IMAGINERY VISION verbs and as epistemic verbs in the cognitive context BELIEF. The results obtained suggest that meanings of the imagine class verbs (supposition/evaluative judgment/wrong opinion) imply that related word “senses” may be part of a continuum of meanings rather than discrete entity. The research highlights polyphony as an important double-voiced dimension of the utterances with the imagine class verbs in the cognitive context BELIEF. Conclusion. The findings of the study prove that the meanings of the imagine class verbs occupy overlapping areas of semantic space. The results obtained may contribute to further studies of the word meaning theory. Keywords: mental state, proposition, propositional attitude, imagination, semantic derivation, evaluative judgment, supposition | 965 | ||||
| 4 | Introduction. The impact of the food practices on the environment and human health is an area that has been receiving much attention in media discourse. The paper views alternative food practices from a linguistic perspective. The study highlights nominative strategies in the construal of the positive image of the plant-based meat as a trendy meatless food product. The paper brings into focus the issue that plant-based eating can provide lower environmental impact. The paper considers the ways of shaping and interpreting the shift towards plant-based eating in English media discourse. Material and methods. The study discusses cognitive operations of categorization, conceptual integration, focus shift involved in positive image-building of meat alternatives as a relatively new product category. Results and discussion. Of central concern in the study is the issue of the environmental imperative that is incorporated in media discourse into promotion of meat-reduced or meatless products through highlighting its benefits for the environment. The study considers nominative aspects of categorizing meat substitutes as a novel food product. The paper discusses oxymoron nominations meatless meat, chicken-free chicken nuggets, non-meat burger in terms of conceptual integration. Conclusion. The author comes to the conclusion that oxymoron nominations like meatless meat, chicken-free chicken nuggets, non-meat burger are used in order to make the idea of reduced-meat consumption a more attractive option for consumers. The paper reveals the communicative function and pragmatic potential of the conceptual blend plant meat, meatless meat in shaping health and environmental benefits of a meat-free food style in media discourse. Keywords: alternative construal of the world, nominative strategy, conceptual integration, oxymoron, ecological imperative, food practices | 819 | ||||
| 5 | Introduction. The theoretical background of the research is a set of principles and assumptions of cognitive linguistics to the study of the meaning of a linguistic form in the context of other cognitive structures. The theoretical perspective of the paper is to consider semantic shifts of the verb find. The goal of the research is to highlight cognitive mechanisms underlying alternative construal of the situations conceptualized by the verb find and reveal cognitive strategies of verbal semantic derivation. Material and methods. The research is based on the empirical data from available sources and corpora data. The study is conducted within the framework of cognitive semantics where language meaning is viewed as knowledge structure. Results and discussion. The paper considers the phenomenon of lexical polysemy from a cognitive perspective. Of particular concern is the issue of semantic extension of the polysemantic verb find. The study brings into focus such parameters of the verbal meaning as taxonomic category of the verb, semantic roles of the participants and their referential status. It is argued that the change of any parameter causes semantic shifts of the lexical meaning of the verb find. The paper discusses two taxonomic categories of the verb find “achievements” and “happenings”. The author comes to the conclusion that the semantic difference between the constructions like Finally he found the wallet and He found a coin in the dust lies in the semantic component “+control”/“–control”. The study highlights semantic and syntactic features of the controlled and non-controlled situations conceptualized by the agentive meaning and non-agentive meaning of the verb find. Conclusion. The results of the research reveal that the change of the taxonomic category of the verb is a cognitive mechanism of verbal semantic derivation. The results obtained may be helpful for further study of productive semantic derivation processes in the framework of cognitive semantics. Keywords: сonceptualization, cognitive model, language meaning, polysemy, semantic derivation, controlled situation, non-controlled situation | 801 | ||||