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In:Motivation in Language: A cognitive perspective
Edited by Grzegorz Drożdż and Barbara Taraszka-Drożdż
[Human Cognitive Processing 83] 2027
► pp. 121–135

Chapter 5
Panchronic inferences as cognitive motivation of language

Selected ‘happy’ adjectives in a historical perspective

 | UMCSLublin
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Abstract
The three major ‘happy’ adjectives in English are researched (ēadig, (ge)sælig, happy) in terms of their historical developments having been motivated panchronically with specific cognitive inferences. It is assumed that language constitutes a record of the collective experience of linguistic communities, thus its history reflects changing states of social consciousness and attests to the cognitive tensions encoded in the relationship between linguistic form and linguistic content. It is concluded that the reason why the original Old English forms, i.e. ēadig and (ge)sælig, happened to be replaced with happy has to do with that they stopped corresponding to the conceptualization of being happy that they once matched up with, happiness embracing abundance brought about by a fortunate coincidence, an arising opportunity, a lucky chance.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.From ‘prosperous’ to ‘blessed’ and ‘silly’, and back
    to ‘prosperous’ again
  • 3.Concluding remarks
  • Notes
  • References
References (46)
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