Publications
Publication details [#3534]
Clausner, Timothy C. and William Croft. 1999. Domains and image schemas. Cognitive Linguistics 10 (1) : 1–31. 31 pp.
Publication type
Article in journal
Publication language
English
Keywords
Abstract
Despite differing theoretical views within cognitive semantics there appears to be a consensus on certain fundamental theoretical constructs: (i) The basic semantic unit is a mental concept; (ii) concepts cannot be understood independent of the domain in which they are embedded; (iii) conceptual structures represent a construal of experience, that is, an active mental operation; and (iv) concept categories involve prototypes and are organized by (at least) taxonomic relations. Although 'concepts', 'domains', 'construal' and 'category structure' go by different names, the basic constructs are essentially the same across researchers in cognitive linguistics. We examine a fifth theoretical construct, 'image schemas' (recurring basic conceptual structures), and argue that image schemas are a subtype of domain. We begin with the theory of domains proposed by Langacker, which is similar to Fillmore's theory of frame semantics. Langacker distinguishes two types of domains, locational and configurational; we argue that it is concepts in domains that are locational or configurational, not the domains themselves. We then analyze image schemas and show how they function like domains, in which are found both locational and configurational concepts.
(Timothy Clausner and William Croft)