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Someexperimentaltechniquesinthestudyofhorizontalandverticalaspects...
Insum,construaloperationsareattentional,astheyadjustthecognitive
prominenceofentitiesinconceptualization.Linguisticcodinginvolvesamyriad
ofchoicesoflanguageformtoproviderelevantcluestothelistener,orreader
regardingthedetailsoftheconceptualization,bothhorizontallyandvertically,in
thesensedescribedabove.Thenextsectionwillfocusoneventsandnarratives.
3.Eventsandnarratives
TheworkingdefinitionofeventinthispaperfollowsZacksandTversky’s
(2001:7)useofthisterm,asa“segmentoftimeatagivenlocationperceivedby
anobservertohaveabeginningandend”.Itfollowsfromthedefinitionthatthe
mainparticipantsofaneventremaininthesameposition,orchangetheirlocation
inspaceastimepasses.Thus,theparticipants’evolutionthroughtimeiscritical
forunderstandingeventcategories.Theboundariesofcategoriescoincidewith
themaximaofchangeofnumerouscharacteristics,suchasmovement,location,
activity,character,orbodypart.Thetemporalextentthataneventencompasses
consistsofthemostsalientprofile,andabase(examplestofollow).Thebase
servesthefunctionoftheimplied,obvious,butunfocusedbackgroundagainst
whichasalientsub-partbecomesmostactiveinaconceptualization.Letus
considerafewsentencestoillustratethisidea.
(5)
(6)
(7)
(8)
Shechangedthenappy.
Shecuddledthebaby.
Hefellasleep.
Heburped.
(adaptedfromRaddenandDirven2007).
Alltheaboveexamplesentencesillustrateso-calledboundedevents,whose
construalinvolvesrelativelycleartemporalboundaries.Inaddition,(5)profiles
theendstate(i.e.thebabyhasanewnappy),(6)focusesonthewholeprocessof
cuddlingwithanunderstandingthatitmusthavebegunsometimeago,lasted,and
finished,butwithoutconsideringthesubsequentphases,butasawhole,whereas
(7)placesthefocusofattentiononthemomentatwhichapersonstartedsleeping,
sotosay.Last,example(8)ispunctual,andthetemporalprofileisveryshort.
Similarexamplesentencescanillustrateunboundedevents,i.e.ones
thatrefertothesametemporalextentsconnectedwiththeverbalcategories:
CHANGENAPPY
,CUDDLEBABY
,FALLASLEEP,andBURP,butconstrued
asifsomeonewaslookingmostintenselyathowtheeventsareevolving,and
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