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difficulttounderstand,intermsofananimalfamiliartoeverycowherd,whose
behaviourisobviousandcomprehensible.
Thebasisformetonymicandmetaphoricconceptualisationcomesfromexperience
andeachlinguisticcommunitybuildsaconsistentnetofconceptsthatfacilitatethinking
abouttheworld.Themorethespeaker’sexperienceisremotefromthehearer’s,themore
difficultismutualunderstandingandtheexperienceoftheÇgvedicpoetsisveryremote
fromours.Notwithstandingotherfactors,theyprobablywouldfeelasimilarcognitive
dissonanceaswedowhenwelearnthat‘cow’referstomilkortothedawn,ifthey
heardexpressionslike‘Boy,thewheelsareturningnow!’,‘I’malittlerustytoday’,
‘Mymindwastickingovermuchmorebriskly’41,whichreflectourconceptualisation
ofthemindintermsofamachine–anobjecttotallyalientothem.
Thetheoryofconceptualblendingallowsustograspthenatureofmorecomplex
expressionssuchasstanzaswhichjuxtaposeandcombinethedescriptionsofvarious
processes.Theseexpressionscreateblendstheinputspacesofwhicharelinkedby
therelationofAnalogywhichisimpliedbycommonnatureandthescenarioof
thedefiningevents42.AsFauconnierandTurner(2003:99)argue,therelationof
AnalogyisusuallycompressedintheemergentspaceintotherelationsofIdentity
andUniqueness.Inotherwordselementsthataretreatedintheinputspacesas
analogous,intheemergentspacebecomeidenticalorthesame.Thisisthecasein
manyÇgvedicblends.Butaswesee,inmanyothercases,itisratherthesimultaneity
ofprocesseswhichisexpressedintheemergentspaceoritisjustimpossibleto
finallydefinetherelationbetweenelements.Insuchsituations,therelationshipof
IdentityorUniquenessisnotstatedasanontological,objectivefactbutisonly
impliedbytheÇgvedicpoetsandthefinaldecisionhowtointerpretitisleftto
therecipient.CreationofconceptualblendsallowedtheÇgvedicpoetstoopenthe
waytosecretknowledgeaboutrealityand,atthesametime,tokeepsecretthelinks
betweenitsvariousspheres.
InmyinvestigationoftheRVIwillapplymaintheconceptsofcognitivelinguistics
andanalysethetextaccordingtotheassumptionsofthisdiscipline.Theapproach,
whichpostulateslinksbetweenthoughtandlanguageandproposesmethodsfortheir
investigation,enlargesourunderstandingoftheRV
.Italsoprovidesuswithatheory
oftheconceptualmechanismslyingbehindsuchcognitiveprocessesasanalogyand
associationwhichincaseoftheRVoftenleadtoidentificationsofvarious,evenvery
remoteobjectsandevents,attheconceptualandlinguisticlevel.However,Ishould
mentionthatconceptualmetonymies,metaphorsandblendsarediscussedinthis
bookonlytotheextentnecessaryforthereconstructionofmetaphysicalassumptions;
theirfullreconstructionstillawaitsadetailedexploration43.Iammostlyinterested
inhowgeneralandabstractthoughtemergesfromitsexperientialgroundandhow
wecanreconstructthefierycoreofÇgvedicmetaphysics.
41
ExamplescomefromSmith1985:72,Kövecses2002:122.Formetaphoricconceptualisation
ofmindinEuropeanphilosophy,cf.Lakoff,Johnson1999:235ff.
42
Forvitalrelationwhichlinkinputspacesofblends,seeabove,section1.1.5.
43
ForthesurveyofmainÇgvedicmetaphorsandmetonymies,seeAppendices1,2.
43
