Perceptual Oppositions: Methodology

This article is devoted to the perceptual metaphorical opposition, which is a pair of opposite concepts that reflect the phenomena of objective reality, their parameters and properties used by the language community in metaphorical terms to evaluate the intelligible spheres of human life. The author describes the methodology of studying the evaluation semantics of perceptual opposition. Modeling is used as the main linguistic tool: it allows to study the object relying on an abstract simplified scheme that demonstrates a complex mentally comprehensible process. In accordance with the objectives of the article, the author presents two models that simplify the perception of a complex evaluation process. The external model helps to delineate the circle of perceptual metaphorical oppositions that develop evaluation within their secondary semantics. A semantic principle is the basis of the construction of this model: it takes into account the functional-prototypical features of the property on which the opposition is based and the way the sign is perceived as reflected in the mechanism of evaluation activity. The internal model reveals the mechanisms of semantic processes responsible for the emergence of evaluation in the content of oppositions and includes submodels that reflect the features of metaphorization and the emergence of evaluative meanings. While constructing the internal model, the key method that subordinates all the others is the analysis of the compatibility of language representatives of the opposition, which helps to reveal which cognitive information about the subject essence is laid in compatibility and how it characterizes the experience and knowledge of a person. The compatibility analysis is complemented by Lakoff and Johnson's metaphorical method based on two structures of knowledge - the “source” and the “goal” - interacting in the process of metaphorization. Moreover, the notion of a prototypical situation (the cognitive model of the situation, in which perceptual and conceptual components are singled out) is important for constructing the second model. Comparing the semantic models of each opposition, the author distributes all the analyzed perceptual metaphorical oppositions into three groups, each of which demonstrates a similar mechanism of development of the evaluative meaning of linguistic units of oppositions - archetypal, functional and experimental. In archetypal oppositions, evaluation is based on ancient views of people, unrecognized within modern language community, and manifests itself in several areas. As an example, the opposition ‘clean - dirty' is considered. In functional oppositions, the functional use of space by the object (subject) is the main one for the development of evaluative semantics, e.g., the ‘deep - surface' opposition. For experiential oppositions, it is important in metaphorization to feel the taste comfort or discomfort when the subject interacts with the perceived object, which conveys complex relationships of participants in the perceptive situation. The work of such oppositions is shown by the example of the ‘sweet - bitter' contrast.

Keywords

Authors

References