Counterfactual Conditional Clauses, Mental Spaces, and Metonymy in the Context of Conceptual Integration Theory Cover Image

Protučinjenične uvjetne rečenice, mentalni prostori i metonimija u kontekstu teorije konceptualne integracije
Counterfactual Conditional Clauses, Mental Spaces, and Metonymy in the Context of Conceptual Integration Theory

Author(s): Goran Tanacković Faletar, Branimir Belaj
Subject(s): Language and Literature Studies
Published by: Hrvatsko filološko društvo
Keywords: counterfactuals; mental spaces; metonymy; metaphor; conceptual integration theory; cognitive linguistics

Summary/Abstract: This paper sets out to analyze the semantic aspect of Croatian counterfactual expressions in the context of Conceptual Integration Theory (CIT) as a theory that most elegantly and most thoroughly explains their meaning and their logic. On the corpus of Croatian counterfactuals and in the light of the automatic nature of the process of conceptual integration we also examine the cognitive-conceptual status of the four types of mental spaces anmd their elements: the input spaces, the generic space and the projection space (the blend). On the basis of the differences obtained between the four types of mental spaces, we divide them into background, highlighted and focal mental spaces. In the context of the analysis of Croatian counterfactuals, we further discuss the place and manner of interpretation, most frequently, of metonymy type WHOLE FOR PART and propose the introduction of a fifth mental space where some expressions of this metonimic type would be interpreted, namely the pre-input space.

  • Issue Year: 32/2006
  • Issue No: 62
  • Page Range: 151-181
  • Page Count: 31
  • Language: Croatian