Treść książki
Przejdź do opcji czytnikaPrzejdź do nawigacjiPrzejdź do informacjiPrzejdź do stopki
1.2.Teconceptofconcept
23
withregardtotheprecisionofclassicalcategorydefinitions.Oneofthequestions
addressedwaswhetherathree-leggeddogwasstilladogiffour-leggednesswas
oneofitsdefiningcharacteristics(Taylor1995).Dissatisfactionwiththetheory
wasadditionallyreinforcedbyagrowingawarenessthatfeaturelistingsandlor
componentialanalyseswerehaphazard,incompleteandinaccurate(Singleton1999).
Inbilingualismresearch,featurelistingsfoundtheirpracticalapplicationinde
Groot’s(1992)ConceptualFeatureModel.
1.2.2.Prototypes
Cognitivelinguisticsdoesnotdrawaclear-cutdemarcationlinebetweensemantic
andconceptualknowledge,either.Infact,itseeslanguageasalensforexamining
theconceptualdomain.Regardlessofthisbias,itbroadlydefinesaconceptasboth
apsychological(mental)representationofacategoryandanabstractioncontaining
everythinganindividualknowsaboutaparticularevent,phenomenon,objector
experience(Kövecses2006).Drawingonthisframework,Pavlenko(2005:435)
furtherexplainsthatconcepts“afectindividuals’immediateperception,attention
andrecallandallowmembersofspecificculturegroupstoconductidentification,
comprehension,inferencingandcategorizationalongthesamelines.”
Anissuethathasreceivedalotofattentionfromcognitiveandlike-minded
linguistsistheinternalstructureofconcepts,which,asstatedabove,goesway
beyondlanguage-basedcharacterizations.Oneoftheadoptedsolutionsisthat
conceptualknowledgeisincorporatedintoprototypesandframes(Fillmore1975;
Kövecses2006;Taylor1995).Accordingly,toinstantiateacategory,anentitymust
representthecategory’sconceptualcore(Taylor1995)andamalgamatecategory
features.Tesearenolongerrequiredtobenecessaryorsufcient.Anentitywith
thehighestnumberofattributesconstitutestheprototype(CrofandCruse2004).
Inasense,prototypetheoryisregardedasanalternativetoclassicalsemantics,as
itattemptstoprovideanaccountofhowconceptualattributesdeterminecategory
membership.
Anotherpossibilitymentionedbyresearchersalignedtothisframeworkis
thatconceptsarecomposedofexemplars,i.e.actualmemoriesofentitiesand
phenomenaencounteredinlife.Teexemplarsarelinkedtoacategorynamein
theformofmemories,regardlessoftheirnumber(Saeed2003).Whatismore,since
thereisnoabstractionacrosstheexemplars,categorizationisaccomplishedby
meansofcomparisonwithalloftherelevantmemories(Verbeemenetal.2007:539).
Bycontrast,CrofandCruse(2004)believethatanexemplarisanidealcategory.
Teyalsostressthatsimilarity-basedcategorizationseemsbetterabletorepresent
situation,whenjudgedinaspecificcontext,theboundaryisalwayssharp.Acategoryboundaryis
definedasademarcationlinebetweentheinsideandoutsideofthecategory.