Publications
Publication details [#45252]
Langacker, Ronald W. 2007. Constructing the meanings of personal pronouns. In Berg, Thomas, Günter Radden, Klaus-Michael Köpcke and Peter Siemund, eds. Aspects of Meaning Construction. John Benjamins. pp. 171–187.
Publication type
Article in book
Publication language
English
Keywords
Place, Publisher
John Benjamins
Annotation
The meanings of personal pronouns are described using basic notions of Cognitive Linguistics. Among these notions are subjective vs. objective construal, profiling, grounding, intersubjectivity, paths of mental access, and conceptual blending. Pronouns are situated with respect to other strategies of nominal grounding. It is explained how personal pronouns can be used impersonally, and the meaning of impersonalit is characterized. Special attention is devoted to I and you. Their abstracted conceptual meanings invoke very basic cognitive models pertaining to the ground, a speech event, and subject vs. object of conception. With these models as inputs, the pronouns’ meanings are constructed through successive levels of blending. The crucial factor is intersubjectivity.