The encyclopaedic view of meaning

In this chapter we explore the thesis that meaning is encyclopaedic in nature. This thesis, which we introduced in Chapter 5, is one of the central assumptions of cognitive semantics. The thesis has two parts associated with it. The first part holds that semantic structure (the meaning associated with linguistic units like words) provides access to a large inventory of structured knowledge (the conceptual system). According to this view, word meaning cannot be understood independently of the vast repository of encyclopaedic knowledge to which it is linked. The second part of the thesis holds that this encyclopaedic knowledge is grounded in human interaction with others (social experience) and the world around us (physical experience). We will look in detail at the two parts of this thesis, and at the end of the chapter we also briefly consider the view that encyclopaedic knowledge, accessed via language, pro vides simulations of perceptual experience. This relates to recent research in cognitive psychology that suggests that knowledge is represented in the mind as perceptual symbols.

In order to investigate the nature of encyclopaedic knowledge, we explore two theories of semantics that have given rise to this approach to meaning. These are (1) the theory of Frame Semantics, developed in the 1970s and 1980s by Charles Fillmore; and (2) the theory of domains, developed by Ronald Langacker (1987). In fact, these two theories were originally developed for different purposes: Fillmore’s theory derived from his research on Case Grammar in the 1960s, and continued to be developed in association with his (and others’) work on Construction Grammar (see Part III). Langacker’s theory of domains provides part of the semantic basis for his theory of Cognitive Grammar (also discussed in Part III). However, despite these different starting points, both theories address related phenomena. For this reason, we suggest that together they form the basis for a theory of encyclopaedic semantics. We will see that Langacker argues that basic domains, knowledge structures derived from pre-conceptual sensory-perceptual experience, form the basis of more complex abstract domains which correspond to the semantic frames proposed by Fillmore. Together, these two types of knowledge structure make up encyclopaedic knowledge. Indeed, this perspective is presupposed by much current work on word meaning and conceptual structure in cognitive semantics.

At this point, it is worth explaining why this chapter focuses on encyclopaedic knowledge, while a later chapter (Chapter 10) focuses on word meaning. After all, when we introduced the idea of encyclopaedic knowledge in Chapter 5, we illustrated it with the proposition that words provide a ‘point of access’ to this system of knowledge, and indeed we will have quite a bit to say about word meaning in this chapter. However, the focus of this chapter is to explore in detail the system of conceptual knowledge that lies behind lexical concepts and their associated linguistic units, while the focus of Chapter 10 is to explore in detail the nature and organisation of those lexical concepts themselves.

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مواضيع ذات صلة

Problems with the dictionary view

The dictionary view

Dictionaries versus encyclopaedias

Embodiment and conceptual structure summary

Schematic systems

Semantic structure

Conceptual structure

Image schemas and abstract thought

Properties of image schemas

What is an image schema?

Image schemas

Embodiment and conceptual structure