CONCEPTUAL SPACE “WORLDVIEW AND WORLD PERCEPTION” AS A SOURCE OF MEANING IN EVALUATIVE CATEGORIZATION PROCESS OF MENTIFACTS

CONCEPTUAL SPACE “WORLDVIEW AND WORLD PERCEPTION” AS A SOURCE OF MEANING IN EVALUATIVE CATEGORIZATION PROCESS OF MENTIFACTS

Author:  L.V. Laenko, D.A. Popova

Affiliation:  Voronezh State University

Abstract:  The problem of evaluative categorization has been a challenging one. In the present study, we extended the linguo-cognitive approach to evaluative categorization to mentifacts – mental entities – nominating products of human intellectual activity.
Through both semantic and conceptual analysis we examined English attributive phrases containing names of 25 most evaluated mentifacts with the evaluation frequency of 20 % or more. The meaning of the attribute in such collocations was derived from the conceptual space “worldview and world perception”, and the overall evaluative sense of the phrase was formed by means of the cognitive mechanism of conceptual integration.
Our results showed that characteristics of mentifacts relevant to a man in the process of evaluation for each evaluative category are their inferiority and supernatural character; correspondence with the common sense, existing norms, traditions, and ideology; possibility of mentifacts’ activation by a man in his further activities, and man’s commitment to the mentifact in any circumstances. These results provide new insight into how such abstract substances as products of intellectual activity may be categorized by a representative of the English linguoculture.

Keywords:  mentifact, attribute, evaluative categorization, conceptual blending, metaphor.

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Acknowledgments:  This publication has been made possible by a grant from Voronezh University Young Linguists Support Foundation (The Sternins Foundation).

For citation:  Laenko, L. V., & Popova, D. A. (2018). Conceptual space “Worldview and World Perception” as a source of meaning in evaluative categorization process of mentifacts. Voprosy Kognitivnoy Lingvistiki, 1, 24-29. (In Russ.).

Pages:  24-29