Week 4: Image schemas

Cognitive discourse analysis

„There is no disembodied

logic” – Johnson 2005:24

What does that mean?

What does that mean?

• thinking depends on our body and its experiences with the world

• concepts are not abstract symbols, but rather products of bodily experience

image schemas are simple stories we learned about the relations between concepts

eg. container / containment

• a container typically holds an object

eg. container / containment

• a container typically holds an object

this bowl is filled with spinach

eg. container / containment

• something can be in a container or out of a container

most leaves are in the bowl but some have fallen out

eg. container / containment

• the container must be bigger than the object

the amount of spinach is too big to fit in this bowl

Image schemata are drawn schematically

image schemas are not just about objects, but also the logic that we use to understand them

these stories about objects and their behaviour teach us how the world works

containment

• when we learn about containers as things into which we can put other things…

containment

• when we learn about containers as things into which we can put other things…

• we also learn the concepts of IN and OUT

IN & OUT

the kitten fell asleep in the bowl

IN & OUT• the words „in” and „out”

are associated with the image schema of containment

• we can understand the sentence because we know how containment works - the bowl has to big enough to fit the kitten, the kitten is inside the bowl etc.

the kitten fell asleep in the bowl

image schemas help us understand how a situation works by giving us a variety of options for any given setting

• Out may be used in cases where a clearly defined trajector (TR) leaves a spatially bounded landmark (LM), as in:

(1a) Norman went out of the building.

(1b) Mary got out of the car.

(1c) Spot jumped out of the pen

Norman went out of the buildingthe trajector

„Norman” the landmark

building

• Out may also be used to indicate those cases where the trajector is a mass that spreads out, expanding the area of the containing landmark:

(2a) She poured the pepper out of the jar.

(2b) Roll out the carpet.

(2c) Send out the troops.

She poured the pepper out of the jar.the trajector

pepper the landmark

jar

• Out is also often used to describe motion along a linear path where the containing landmark is implied and not defined at all:

(3) The train started out for Chicago.

The train started out for Chicago.the trajector

train the landmark

?

We learn about containment and other image schemas as infants

click to watch this Polish boy learn about containment and the concepts of IN / OUT

What is the definition of image schemas?

• are recurrent patterns of bodily experience;

• are ‘image’-like in that they preserve the structure of the experience;

• operate dynamically in and across time;

• link sensorimotor experience to thought and language;

• are likely activation patterns in the brain;

• can serve as a basis for inference.

(Rohrer 2005)

image schemas

To understand what someone is saying about the body and its actions we use the same brain areas that are activated when we use our bodies to perform these actions.

image schemas rely on

experience

When we think about abstract concepts we use body-based image-schematic logic.

Because we know that you can take an object out of a container, we are able to understand that a country can „get out” of the EU.

our logic is based on how our

bodies work

What are image schemas for?

What are image schemas for?

„they make it possible for us to use the structure of sensory and motor operations to understand abstract concepts and to draw inferences about them”

(Johnson 2005: 24)

What are image schemas for?

they are „one of the embodied anchors of the entire conceptual system”

(Hampe 2005)

What is the evidence for the existence of image schemas?

• there are different meanings of the word „grasp” • „grasp the

cookie” (literal) • „grasp this idea”

(metaphorical)

image schemas exist in the brain

(Rohrer 2001)

• brain areas responsible for hand movement were activated when: • people moved their

hand to grasp something

• people heard sentences that contained both the literal and metaphoric uses of grasp

image schemas exist in the brain

(Rohrer 2001)

spatial motion image schemas

• Containment • Path • Source-Path-Goal • Blockage • Center-Periphery • Cycle • Cyclic Climax

force image schemas• Compulsion • Counterforce • Diversion • Removal of Restraint • Enablement • Attraction • Link • Scale

balance image schemas

• Axis Balance

• Point Balance

• Twin-Pan Balance

• Equilibrium

• Above

• Across

• Covering

• Contact

• Vertical Orientation

• Length (extended trajector)

spatial image schemas

transformational image schemas• Linear path from moving object

(one-dimensional trajector)

• Path to endpoint (endpoint focus)

• Path to object mass (path covering)

• Multiplex to mass (possibly the same as Johnson's undefined Mass-Count)

• Reflexive (both part-whole and temporally different reflexives)

• Rotation

other image schemas• Contact

• Surface

• Full-Empty

• Merging

• Matching

• Near-Far

• Mass-Count

• Iteration

• Object

• Splitting

• Part-Whole

• Superimposition

• Process

• Collection

Questionwhat kind of IS is the child likely learning?

1) https://youtu.be/8tTRDmdi18g

2) https://youtu.be/qBU_1E4HYSM

3) https://youtu.be/hSsvQwdQIJs

Question

what kind of IS is the child likely learning?

1) https://youtu.be/8tTRDmdi18g

2) https://youtu.be/hSsvQwdQIJs

Source-Path-Goal

Containment

End of week 4