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Title:
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MInd, Metaphor, and Prefix: Evidence for prototype category structure in NHG ver-
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Author:
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Julie Belz
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Email:
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click here to access email
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Homepage:
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http://www.personal.psu.edu/faculty/j/a/jab63/homepage.html
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Degree Awarded:
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University of California, Berkeley
, Department of German
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Degree Date:
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1997
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Linguistic Subfield(s):
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Semantics
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Subject Language(s):
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German, Standard
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Director(s):
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Irmengard Rauch
Thomas Shannon
George Lakoff
Eve Sweetser
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Abstract:
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This dissertation investigates the semantic categorial structure of the inseparable verbal prefix NHG ver-. Prefix semantics has been a murky area of investigation in several regards. First, the extreme semantic ambiguity of prefixes in general complicates the enterprise of detailed sense description. Second, researchers disagree on the number and types of criteria employed in establishing senses. Third, the nature of the similarities and differences between the relation of the prefix to the base and the prefixed derivative to the unprefixed base is poorly understood. Most importantly, sense-relatedness is frequently side-stepped in the pursuit of the former three issues. A semantic analysis of a prefix typically consists of a 'list' of the various senses with appropriate examples, but no attempt is made to relate or motivate the given senses to one another.
Recent advances in cognitive linguistics, prototype theory, and contemporary metaphor theory have enabled analysts in the field of lexical semantics to shift the emphasis of their investigations from a feature-based exploration of semantic set contrasts across lexemes, where category membership is defined in terms of necessary and sufficient features, to morpheme-internal analyses of multiple meaning-to-form mappings. If we assume classical categories, then we must adopt a homonymy approach to the semantic ambiguity of NHG ver-, where seemingly disparate senses such as 'displacement' (e.g. NHG versetzen 'to move') and 'contact' (e.g. NHG verbinden 'to bind') represent semantically separate but phonologically identical prefixes, since there would be no single matrix of features which could uniquely define these divergent NHG ver-senses. This approach serves to increase arbitrariness in the lexicon: 'diverse' meanings are symbolized by the same form without any apparent semantic relations among them.
In this dissertation, I assume prototype categories in order to motivate the various senses of NHG ver-, where category membership is defined in terms of family resemblance to a prototypical member. This approach reduces the arbitrariness of the lexicon; the initial sound-meaning pairing between NHG ver- and its core sense may be arbitrary, but the category of extensions is cognitively motivated by the same types of mechanisms which have been shown to structure non-linguistic categories.
Conceptual metaphor is one of the embodied, cognitively-grounded mechanisms which provides motivation and explanation for sense-relatedness. The variety of 'literal' senses associated with NHG ver- is broad; the pervasiveness of 'metaphorical' NHG ver-senses is even greater. Yet, the issue of relatedness between 'literal' and 'metaphorical' NHG ver-senses has not been systematically explored. On the basis of a self-collected and transcribed corpus of 1,031 spoken NHG ver-utterances (cf. appendix 1) as well as reference and literary sources, I propose an image schematic semantics for NHG ver- in the form of a polysemy network of related meanings. Both semantically divergent 'literal' senses and the vast array of metaphorical senses are shown to be motivated by the same unified image schema. The image schema of the prefix represents the primary semantic contribution to the prefixed derivative, while the semantic contribution of the (putative) base stands in metonymic relation to the contribution of the prefix. Furthermore, there are regular and systematic correlations between the derivational morphology of the derivative base and components of the image schema. Certain changes between the argument structure of the verbal base and the argument structure of the prefixed derivative are shown to be consistent with the image schematic semantics of the prefix. A preliminary look at empirical fieldwork results which may speak to the psychological underpinnings of images schemas in general is presented.
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