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rwḥ and Humanity in Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Job
רוח is vital to the Hebrew Bible’s understanding of God, the world, and humanity. However, the word defies easy categorisation or casual analysis, especially when referring to human beings and their experiences.
Integrating insights from several sub-fields of Cognitive Linguistics with detailed exegesis, this book examines each anthropological use of רוח in Proverbs, Job, and Ecclesiastes, demonstrating how even complicated words in difficult passages can be fruitfully understood. As well as furthering the application of contemporary linguistics to ancient texts, this study sheds new light on the Hebrew Bible’s understanding of humanity and their relationship to the world and to the divine.
Integrating insights from several sub-fields of Cognitive Linguistics with detailed exegesis, this book examines each anthropological use of רוח in Proverbs, Job, and Ecclesiastes, demonstrating how even complicated words in difficult passages can be fruitfully understood. As well as furthering the application of contemporary linguistics to ancient texts, this study sheds new light on the Hebrew Bible’s understanding of humanity and their relationship to the world and to the divine.
rwḥ and Humanity in Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Job
רוח is vital to the Hebrew Bible’s understanding of God, the world, and humanity. However, the word defies easy categorisation or casual analysis, especially when referring to human beings and their experiences.
Integrating insights from several sub-fields of Cognitive Linguistics with detailed exegesis, this book examines each anthropological use of רוח in Proverbs, Job, and Ecclesiastes, demonstrating how even complicated words in difficult passages can be fruitfully understood. As well as furthering the application of contemporary linguistics to ancient texts, this study sheds new light on the Hebrew Bible’s understanding of humanity and their relationship to the world and to the divine.
Integrating insights from several sub-fields of Cognitive Linguistics with detailed exegesis, this book examines each anthropological use of רוח in Proverbs, Job, and Ecclesiastes, demonstrating how even complicated words in difficult passages can be fruitfully understood. As well as furthering the application of contemporary linguistics to ancient texts, this study sheds new light on the Hebrew Bible’s understanding of humanity and their relationship to the world and to the divine.
This annotated commentary of Pêcheux’s materialist theory of discourse anticipates the formation of a real social science which supersedes the metaphysical meanings of the empirical ideologies ‘always-already-there’. Structures of Language presents Pêcheux’s theory in reference to Ferdinand de Saussure’s epistemological breakthrough that founded the science of linguistics: the theoretical separation of sound from meaning. Noam Chomsky’s generative grammar, John Searle’s philosophy of language, B.F. Skinner’s indwelling agents, J.L. Austin’s speech situations, Lacan’s symbolic order, and the influential theories of other linguistic researchers, are cited to explain the functioning of semantic ideology.
This annotated commentary of Pêcheux’s materialist theory of discourse anticipates the formation of a real social science which supersedes the metaphysical meanings of the empirical ideologies ‘always-already-there’. Structures of Language presents Pêcheux’s theory in reference to Ferdinand de Saussure’s epistemological breakthrough that founded the science of linguistics: the theoretical separation of sound from meaning. Noam Chomsky’s generative grammar, John Searle’s philosophy of language, B.F. Skinner’s indwelling agents, J.L. Austin’s speech situations, Lacan’s symbolic order, and the influential theories of other linguistic researchers, are cited to explain the functioning of semantic ideology.
Theory and Methodologies
The volume brings together contributions by scholars working in different theoretical frameworks interested in systematic explanation of language change and the interrelation between current linguistic theories and modern analytical tools and methodology; the integrative basis of all work included in the volume is the special focus on phenomena at the interface of semantics and syntax and the implications of corpus-based, quantitative analyses for researching diachrony.
The issues addressed in the 13 papers include the following: explanations of change in the interface of semantics and syntax; universal constraints and principles of language change (e.g., economy, reanalysis, analogy) and the possibility of predicting language change; constructional approaches to change and their relation to corpus-based research; language contact as an explanation of change and approaches to historical bilingualism and language contact, all on the basis of empirical corpus findings; the challenges of creating diachronic corpora and the question of how quantitative linguistics and diachronic corpora inform explanations of language change variation.
The issues addressed in the 13 papers include the following: explanations of change in the interface of semantics and syntax; universal constraints and principles of language change (e.g., economy, reanalysis, analogy) and the possibility of predicting language change; constructional approaches to change and their relation to corpus-based research; language contact as an explanation of change and approaches to historical bilingualism and language contact, all on the basis of empirical corpus findings; the challenges of creating diachronic corpora and the question of how quantitative linguistics and diachronic corpora inform explanations of language change variation.
Theory and Methodologies
The volume brings together contributions by scholars working in different theoretical frameworks interested in systematic explanation of language change and the interrelation between current linguistic theories and modern analytical tools and methodology; the integrative basis of all work included in the volume is the special focus on phenomena at the interface of semantics and syntax and the implications of corpus-based, quantitative analyses for researching diachrony.
The issues addressed in the 13 papers include the following: explanations of change in the interface of semantics and syntax; universal constraints and principles of language change (e.g., economy, reanalysis, analogy) and the possibility of predicting language change; constructional approaches to change and their relation to corpus-based research; language contact as an explanation of change and approaches to historical bilingualism and language contact, all on the basis of empirical corpus findings; the challenges of creating diachronic corpora and the question of how quantitative linguistics and diachronic corpora inform explanations of language change variation.
The issues addressed in the 13 papers include the following: explanations of change in the interface of semantics and syntax; universal constraints and principles of language change (e.g., economy, reanalysis, analogy) and the possibility of predicting language change; constructional approaches to change and their relation to corpus-based research; language contact as an explanation of change and approaches to historical bilingualism and language contact, all on the basis of empirical corpus findings; the challenges of creating diachronic corpora and the question of how quantitative linguistics and diachronic corpora inform explanations of language change variation.
A Cross-Generational Study
What is the relationship between spatial and temporal representations in language and cognition? What is the role of culture in this relationship? I enter this discussion by offering a community-based, cross-generational study on the community of speakers of aṣ-Ṣāniʿ Arabic, members of a Negev Desert Bedouin tribe in Israel. The book presents the results of ten years of fieldwork, the linguistic and cognitive profiles of three generations, and first-hand narration of a century of history, from nomadism to sedentarism, between conservation, resilience, and change. Linguistic and cognitive representations change with lifestyle, culture, and relationships with nature and landscape. Language changes more rapidly than cognitive structures, and the relationship between spatial and temporal representations is complex and multifaceted.
A Cross-Generational Study
What is the relationship between spatial and temporal representations in language and cognition? What is the role of culture in this relationship? I enter this discussion by offering a community-based, cross-generational study on the community of speakers of aṣ-Ṣāniʿ Arabic, members of a Negev Desert Bedouin tribe in Israel. The book presents the results of ten years of fieldwork, the linguistic and cognitive profiles of three generations, and first-hand narration of a century of history, from nomadism to sedentarism, between conservation, resilience, and change. Linguistic and cognitive representations change with lifestyle, culture, and relationships with nature and landscape. Language changes more rapidly than cognitive structures, and the relationship between spatial and temporal representations is complex and multifaceted.
Analogical Interference in Constructionalization: The Emergence of the Hebrew Desiderative ba le-X Y
Abstract
This paper investigates the constructionalization of the Hebrew desiderative ba le-X Y (‘X feels like Y’; lit. ‘come.prs.m.sg to-X Y’), which exemplifies the less frequent pathway from motion to desire. Drawing on Diachronic Construction Grammar framework, we provide an account that considers both the construction’s ancestor and similar desiderative constructions existing at the time of emergence. Based on qualitative and quantitative analyses, we suggest ba le-X Y evolved via partial realization of a metaphoric construction conceptualizing experiencers as the goals of emotional forces, e.g. desires and urges. We further argue that this deviation in realization was modeled after a semantically similar, superficially resembling, desiderative construction which is more syntactically compacted. The motivation for this analogical interference is explained by the production and comprehension advantages of the resulting target construction. This paper then provides support for analogy-based interference effects in the formation of form-meaning pairings.
Abstract
This paper adopts a construction-grammar approach to multimodal meaning. We provide a detailed analysis of the Before-After-construction used frequently in advertisements, cartoons and Internet memes. We demonstrate that parts of its generic ‘caused-change’ meaning is compositional, and rendered independently from what is overtly expressed by concrete instances of the pattern. The latter hence build on an abstract multimodal construction whose form elements are paired idiosyncratically with meaning, just like linguistic constructions proper. We show that non-standard instances of the Before-After-construction represent deviations based on a systematized standard Before-After-construction. Finally, we argue that the Before-After-construction belongs to a broader inheritance hierarchy of two-image multimodal construction types, while also providing one amongst several options to convey caused-change. Altogether, we demonstrate that multimodal expressions instantiate similar properties as unimodal expressions both across form and meaning.
Abstract
The purpose of this study is to examine layperson perceptions of creativity associated with figurative language and language play. To do so, participants wrote attention-grabbing responses for two news stories and rated whether their responses were less, equally, or more creative when compared to preconstructed responses containing different combinations of metaphor and sarcasm. Participants’ answers were also analyzed for the presence of figurative language or language play. Results demonstrated participants were less likely to self-rate their answers as more creative when compared to preconstructed responses containing figurative language, but only for specific instances of metaphor and sarcasm. Moreover, participants who included figurative language or language play in their responses were significantly more likely to self-rate their answers as more creative. These results suggest layperson perceptions of creativity are influenced by figurative language and language play in a manner which supports scholarly understandings of the relationship between language and creativity.
Abstract
The paper explores the relationship between the linguistic and the conceptual system. The author argues for two main types of information that are vital for linguistically mediated communication. These are cognitive models and frames, and semantic parameters. Cognitive models and frames are rich coherent non-linguistic bodies of knowledge that are generally associated with open-class items. On the other hand, semantic parameters are bundles of schematic information that constitute part of the semantic pole of a symbolic unit and might be divided into conceptual and linguistic. The paper illustrates the two main types of information and seeks a unified account of their conceptual relations.
Abstract
As early as 1968, Fillmore suggested that deep cases could be sets “of universal, presumably innate, concepts” human beings form to describe reality. role archetypes highlight the “primal status and nonlinguistic origin” of Thematic roles. I argue that Thematic roles have their “nonlinguistic” origin in image schemas and link the image schemas with language structures. The thesis is based on my description of the object schema (), the definition of the image schema (), and major works on Thematic roles. The object schema is fundamental in that all physical objects are experienceable by the senses (, ). In contrast to relational schemas, it is also conceptually independent, while “[r]elations are conceptually dependent, i.e. one cannot conceptualize interconnections without conceptualizing the entities they interconnect” (). I posit that Thematic roles are a link between image schemas (mind) and language, constituting a stable scaffolding for various syntactic structures.