Illocutionary constructions in English: Cognitive motivation and linguistic realization

Based on the assumption that heavily entrenched grammatical constructions that convey specific forms of pragmatic meaning, the present research explores the cognitive motivation and constraints of illocution. Resting upon a thorough corpus analysis, it describes the cognitive models underlying the syntactic realizations of the basic categories of directive, commissive and expressive speech acts in English

Grounded in the Lexical Constructional Model (LCM), a usage-based meaning construction model of language of recent design, this research argues that illocutionary meaning either results from filling in constructional variables such as X in the Can You XVP? construction or from affording access to abstract situational cognitive models through the metonymic activation of relevant elements of their structure. One such model is the Cost-Benefit Cognitive Model, which is incorporated into the description of pragmatic meaning and presented as lying at the core of the conventionalization process of illocutionary constructions. The inferential path based on the instantiation of the Cost-Benefit Cognitive Model determines the activation of speech act values that may become conventionalized within a linguistic community. The study determines the applicability of the analytical tools developed by the LCM for illocutionary description. The illocutionary acts selected are those proposed by the Cost-Benefit Cognitive Model as exploiting cultural principles of interaction.

Auteur

Nuria Del Campo has recently obtained her PhD in Linguistics under the supervision of Professors Francisco José Ruiz de Mendoza and Lorena Pérez at the University of La Rioja. Her research concentrates on the cognitively oriented constructional approach to illocutionary meaning. She has authored papers in national and international journals and has participated in numerous conferences on Pragmatics and Cognitive Linguistics.

Contenu

Contents: A cognitive approach to illocution - The speech act of ordering - The speech act of requesting - The speech act of advising - The speech act of offering - The speech act of promising - The speech act of threatening - The speech act of congratulating - The speech act of thanking - The speech act of apologizing - The speech act of pardoning - The speech act of condoling - The speech act of boasting.