Introduction

The speaker introduces himself and the purpose of the talk.

Speaker Introduction

• Professor Mark Turner is introduced as a special guest.

• He is an institute professor and professor of cognitive science at Case Western Reserve University.

• The talk will focus on the sources of human linguistic abilities, both phylogenetically and ontogenetically.

Honors and Publications

The speaker discusses some of his honors and publications.

Honors

• Professor Turner has received many honors over the years, including the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation's Only Least My Research Prize.

• He is also the winner of the Prix de Hanuman Villa La Litterature Khan says from the French Academy.

• He is the founding president of the Miry Field Institute for Cognition in the Arts.

Publications

• Professor Turner has authored or co-authored several books, including "The Literary Mind: The Origins of Thought and Language," "Clear and Simple as the Truth: Writing Classic Prose," and "More Than Cool Reason: A Field Guide to Poetic Metaphor."

Conceptual Blending

The speaker discusses conceptual blending as a central process in grammar, language, and communication.

Conceptual Blending

• Professor Turner developed the theory of conceptual blending with Gilles Fauconnier.

• It is a central process in grammar, language, and communication.

• It involves combining two or more mental spaces to create new meaning.

Grounding Language in General Cognition

The speaker discusses how cognitive linguistics aims to ground language in general cognition instead of language-specific cognition.

Grounding Language

• Cognitive linguistics aims to ground language in more general cognition instead of language-specific cognition.

• This is the first commitment of cognitive linguistics.

• Professor Turner will explore the sources of language phylogenetically and ontogenetically.

Human Linguistic Abilities

The speaker discusses human linguistic abilities and their source.

Human Linguistic Abilities

• Human linguistic abilities are off the charts compared to other communicative species.

• There is no robust animal model for human performance in communication.

• Professor Turner will explore the mental abilities that make it possible for humans to communicate.

Introduction

The speaker introduces the topic of language and how it is related to mental abilities. He talks about his previous work on language and mentions that he will focus on the role of blending in human linguistic ability.

Mental Abilities and Language

• Our species has mental abilities that allow us to use other capacities, including language.

• The speaker collaborated with a linguist named Beautiful Kanye for his work on language.

• Human beings are not at the top of the chain of being story as they are feeble in many ways compared to other species.

• The speaker claims that mental abilities make it possible for humans to have language.

Conceptual Integration as a Source for Human Linguistic Ability

• The speaker focuses on blending or conceptual integration as a source for human linguistic ability.

• Other researchers have looked at neurobiological substrates for blending, but the speaker believes there is still a long way to go in this area.

• Blending happens all over the neocortex and is not costly for cognitive modern human beings.

Communication Before Language

• Michael Tomasello gave a talk about communication before language, where he talked about how humans have social cognition that makes it possible for them to understand complicated uses of pointing.

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Introduction to Blending Theory

In this section, the speaker discusses how blending theory has become more widely accepted in linguistics. They mention that while it faced opposition when it first came out, many linguists have been sympathetic to it.

Blending Theory and Cognitive Linguistics

• The speaker notes that blending theory has become much more mainstream in linguistics.

• They review cognitive functional approaches to language and note that there are repeated presentations of processes of language that look much like blending.

• The most prominent and thorough of these theories is cognitive grammar, which has many analyses that are compatible with blending theory.

• Ronald Langacker's cognitive grammar says that such analyses presuppose general cognitive mechanisms not specific to language, and the chief one they presuppose is blending.

Personal Communication with Ronald Langacker

• The speaker shares a personal communication from Ronald Langacker where he agrees that component structures undergo conceptual integration to form a composite structure that is more than just the sum of its parts.

• Langacker notes that conceptual structures can be characterized in terms of mappings between mental spaces and composition amounts to bipolar blending.

Construction Grammar and Blending Theory

In this section, the speaker discusses how knowing a communicative system involves knowing a relational network of form-meaning pairs and how they blend. They also discuss what is needed to account for language.

Form-Meaning Pairs and Constructions

• Knowing a communicative system involves knowing a relational network of form-meaning pairs and how they blend.

• A limited number of constructions for meaning pairs can be used to create a tremendous number of constructions.

• The ability to use a limited number of constructions for meaning pairs is an all-important tipping point.

Introduction

In this section, the speaker introduces the concept of blending and how it is used to create meaning in language.

Blending for Meaning

• The speaker explains that blending is used to create meaning in language by combining different constructions into a performance or expression.

• Words, expressions, and constructions do not have inherent meanings. Instead, they prompt us to construct meaning based on our network of form-meaning pairs.

• There is a lot of variation in linguistic systems and performances across cultures. However, humans have highly flexible and creative mental abilities for creating new form-meaning pairs.

Development of Blending Ability

In this section, the speaker discusses the development of blending ability and how it has led to human singularities.

Double Scoped Blending

• The speaker explains that blending ability goes back as far as early mammals but there was a development in the blending ability on this Cline.

• Once you get to double scoped blending, you can precipitate a number of human singularities that scaffold each other such as language, tool use or social cognition.

Figures of Thought

In this section, the speaker talks about figures of thought and how they are often misunderstood.

Nominalism vs Realism

• Human beings are nominalists existentially which means we think if we have a word for something that it exists.

• This kind of thinking can be dangerous because words are just labels and not theories or analyses.

Surface Differences

• Surface differences are just the tip of the iceberg and they cover only a small amount of data when we look at actual human performance.

• There is an integrated system behind all these different artifacts that results in all these different one, three or five point artifacts.

Categorical vs Analogical Thinking

• The speaker argues that categorical thinking and analogical thinking are not fundamentally different but rather use the same mental operations.

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Introduction

In this section, the speaker discusses the general ability of blending that is widely evidenced in all kinds of human fields.

Blending Theory

• The ability to blend allows us to make form-meaning pairs in language.

• Blending theory has become mainstream and is used in various fields such as cognitive science and linguistics.

• Blending is a unified mental ability that applies behind a number of different products that we often satisfy.

• Knowing the community system is knowing a relational network of form-meaning pairs and how they blend equipotential 'ti.

Language and Blending

In this section, the speaker talks about how blending plays an important role in language.

Blendable Language Forms

• Language is possible only if it allows a limited number of blendable language forms to cover a very large number of meaningful situations.

• You have to be able to make new form-meaning pairs through blending, which enables you to express new meaning without needing new constructions.

• A child can see something like wood being used by termites and not understand what's going on. But through blending, they can understand that wood is termite food.

Nominal Compounding

• Nominal compounding involves adding words together to create new meanings. For example, "termite food" combines two words into one phrase with a specific meaning.

• Language needs words like "food" or "house" that can apply to many different things even if it wasn't what you meant by it.

Blending in Language Learning

• Children can blend the meaning of a kitten with a lion and call it a "kitty." This shows how blending plays an important role in language learning.

• Blending allows us to combine things that are fundamentally in conflict, like food and wood, to create new meanings.

Blending in Language and Communication

In this section, the speaker discusses blending in language and communication. The ability to blend different forms and meanings is what makes language possible.

Equipotentiality

• Words acquire slightly different sets of distributions for TV news blended classic joint attention.

• Blending is what makes equipotentiality possible.

• Equipotentiality operates in linguistics, blending, and language communication.

• Anne Turner's 1996 article provides a fuller review of equipotentiality.

Blending for Abstract Concepts

• Other species have an inability to use forms they know to express vast ranges of new meaning that are not part of their normal environment.

• Human beings can blend constructions to come up with expressions constructs for abstract concepts.

• Yoga provides an example where breathing is causal, and there is a cause-effect relationship between motion/movement or breath/body parts' quality.

Blended Syntax

• Associated syntax or blended syntax allows you to load the truck with hay and understand that it means the truck is filled.

• Mistakes are frequently cases where various kinds of constructions were plausible for expressing what you wanted to say.

Nominal Compounds

• A nominal compound is itself a blend that puts together different kinds of forms into a new kind of form.

• Fillmore pointed out associated syntax or blended syntax in which you can load the hay on the truck or fill the truck with hay.

Conclusion

In this section, the speaker concludes by summarizing how blending makes language and communication possible.

Key Takeaways

• Blending operations are going on all the time, making language and communication possible.

• Blending allows for form-meaning pairs to be blended into constructions, giving rise to new forms and syntax.

• Mistakes are frequently cases where various kinds of constructions were plausible for expressing what you wanted to say.

Introduction to Blending Theory

In this section, the speaker introduces the concept of blending theory and its importance in understanding language.

What is Blending Theory?

• Blending theory is a way of understanding how people create new meanings by combining existing concepts.

• The speaker gives an example of how cars have become the "automotive Mona Lisa" and how blending theory can help us understand why this happens.

• Languages change over time, and blending theory helps us understand how new forms come about and stick around.

Dynamic Nature of Language

In this section, the speaker discusses the dynamic nature of language and why it's important to have a theory that accounts for change.

Change in Language

• A theory of language must account for change because that's what languages do.

• Blending theory allows us to understand language as a relational network where new constructions can be created by blending different inputs.

New Forms in Language

In this section, the speaker talks about how new forms are created in language through blending and other processes.

Clickability as a New Form

• The speaker gives an example of clickability as a new form made possible by blending different inputs.

• This form is used in online video tutorials to provide hot links that take users to other pages or resources.

• Clickability is an example of a new meaning pair that has never been used before.

Unification in Linguistics

In this section, the speaker discusses unification in linguistics and how it relates to blending theory.

Attribute Value Matrices

• Attribute value matrices are a way of unifying different constructions in language.

• Unification is the process of taking the most general graph that includes all of the information from both inputs.

• The cognitive basis for unification is not linguistic-specific but rather grounded in blending theory.

Directed Acyclic Graph Unification

In this section, the speaker talks about directed acyclic graph unification and its relationship to attribute value matrices.

Unifying Constructions

• Directed acyclic graphs can be used to unify different constructions in language.

• Merge in minimalist theory is a notation variant of directed acyclic graph unification.

• The cognitive basis for stipulating that we can do this kind of unification is grounded in blending theory.

Introduction to Cognitive Grammar and Blending Theory

In this section, the speaker introduces cognitive grammar and blending theory as a program. He explains that while natural language processing systems are useful, they are poor theories of human linguistic ability. The speaker then discusses how cognitive grammar has many analyses that are sympathetic to blending theory.

Cognitive Grammar and Blending Theory

• Matrix unification and merge are good for natural language processing systems.

• Computational natural language processing systems lack selective projection, emergent property, and change phenomena found in blending theory.

• Cognitive grammar has many analyses that are sympathetic to blending theory.

• Chapter nine of "The Way We Think" gives a blending theory analysis of the origin of language.

Blending Theory as a Program

• Blending theory is in its infancy compared to other analyses like metaphor.

• Blending things mentally has foundational importance in various fields such as art, music, religion, cognition, mathematical insight, scientific discovery, language fashion gesture.

• What we need is a science of how it works: constitutive principles; optimality constraints; patterns of compression; techniques of blending compatible frame structures; emergent structure not cut or paste from inputs.

• Analogy: Newtonian mechanics needed science behind it despite being known before.

Science and Language Evolution

In this section, Mark Turner discusses the evolution of language and how it can be understood through general mental operations that are not exclusively linguistic.

The Evolution of Language

• Turner believes that science will move forward by looking at general mental operations that are not exclusively linguistic.

• He argues that these mental operations could have been exploited to make it possible for human beings to have the singularity of language phylogenetically.

• Turner's analysis in "The Origin of Ideas" suggests that theory of mind at the human level is not a separate modular system but rather double scope blending hits.

• Joint attention and classic joint attention are indispensable for human learning.

Blended Classic Joint Attention

In this section, Turner answers a question about his development of blended classic joint attention and how it overcomes issues related to shared joint minds.

Overcoming Issues with Shared Joint Minds

• Turner's development of blended classic joint attention overcomes issues related to considering shared joint minds.

• While other species can have some conceptions of other minds, they do not work in the same way as humans due to our advanced social cognition.

• Classic joint attention is an input to yet bigger blending networks which allows us to express things about scenes differently than we would with just classic joint attention.

Epistolary Present

In this section, Francois Rastier's concept of epistolary present is discussed.

Understanding Epistolary Present

• Francois Rastier's concept of epistolary present is analyzed by Francois Recanati.

• The epistolary present refers to the way in which a letter can create a sense of presence and immediacy for the reader, even though it was written in the past.

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Double Scope Blending and Mental Spaces

In this section, the speaker discusses double scope blending and mental spaces in response to a question from Aida. They also recommend a book by Sweetzer on mental spaces and grammar.

Sweetzer's Book on Mental Spaces

• The speaker recommends Sweetzer's book "Mental Spaces" as a great resource for understanding mental spaces and grammar.

• They mention that Sweetzer has made major theoretical contributions to the argument that blending theory is indispensable for language abilities.

Double Scope Blending

• The speaker introduces the concept of double scope blending, which is related to how humans are the most imitative species.

• They explain that double scope blending involves combining two different frames or scenarios into one blended space.

• The speaker suggests that double scope blending is an important aspect of human cognition and language use.

Inclusive Language and Contested Concepts

In this section, the speaker discusses inclusive language and contested concepts in response to a question about whether the word "mother" is normative.

Category Matter Can Be Changed Throughout Languages and Cultures

• The speaker agrees with the idea that category matter can be changed throughout languages and cultures in order to reach inclusiveness.

• They emphasize that science must look at everything, even if it may be unpleasant or offensive in some way.

Using Constructions in Different Ways

• The speaker explains that contested concepts can be dealt with by trying to persuade people to use constructions in a certain way as opposed to other kinds of constructions.

• They note that who you are and what your context is will make a big difference in what kind of voice you can have in these discussions.

Understanding vs. Belief

• The speaker distinguishes between understanding and belief, noting that just because someone understands something doesn't mean they believe in it.

• They suggest that for anthropologists and linguists, it will always be a struggle to indicate that people who speak differently are not a different species.

Abortion Rhetoric and Mental Operations

In this section, the speaker discusses abortion rhetoric and mental operations in response to a question about the tendency to think that opponents in the abortion debate have a different way of thinking.

Analyzing Argumentation and Mental Operations

• The speaker references Shana Coulson's analysis of argumentation and mental operations from different sides of the abortion debate.

• They note that there is a tendency to think that opponents have a different brain or way of thinking, but this is not necessarily true.

Contested Concepts

• The speaker suggests that contested concepts can be difficult to deal with, but it's important to try to understand them from all perspectives.

• They emphasize the importance of recognizing that people who speak differently are not a different species.

The Role of Colors in Conceptual Mixing

This section discusses the role of colors in blending and conceptual mixing, particularly in relation to human perception and understanding.

Color Constancy and Embodied Knowledge

• Color constancy is a well-established phenomenon that humans share with other species.

• Humans use embodied knowledge at human scale to understand things that are not at human scale.

• Other species can handle things that are at a very local scale of here and now, while humans can think about things across causation agency time and space.

Blending as Compression

• Humans frequently blend embodied knowledge with something they know now to compress vast amounts of causation agency time and space.

• Colored distinctions have been an embodied knowledge useful for compressing information into symbols that stand for something other than themselves.

• Cultural constraints can affect the use of perceptual patterns in blending.

Creative Metaphors and Conventionality

This section explores the relationship between sexual blend, creative metaphors, conventionality, and conceptual world image ethic blending.

Entrenchment and Uptake

• It is an open empirical question to what extent things are entrenched or have uptake in the community.

• The degree of conventionality of a metaphor in a conceptual world image ethic blending can be measured empirically.

Introduction to Metaphor and Blending Theory

In this section, the speaker introduces the concept of metaphor and blending theory. They explain that different products of a unified system are not different systems but rather different aspects of the same system. The speaker also discusses how metaphors can be regarded as categories, analogies, or metaphors.

Understanding Cannabic Metaphor

• The speaker explains that a cannabic metaphor is an entrenched blend where you're not doing new work in the blend but you can say love is a journey or purposeful activity is a journey.

• They point out that even though it's an entrenched set of ontological mappings, you can always wake up the metaphor by bringing in new things from the inputs and developing new emergence structure in the blend.

• The speaker emphasizes that blending is the engine that produces metaphors and vital relations such as metonymy, analogy, allegory.

Processes Involved in Metaphor Creation

• The speaker argues that all metaphor but certainly created metaphor exists because of double scope blending.

• They emphasize that most projections are not metaphoric; instead, they come from compression in a scene at human scale.

• The evaluation comes out of the blend as an emergent property.

Generic Constraints vs. Ontological Mappings

• The speaker argues that an awful lot of metaphors come about by generic constraints rather than ontological mappings.

• They give examples such as time as a doctor or money as a doctor to illustrate how these blends are not fixed ontologically.

• Finally, the speaker concludes that metaphor is a field inside blending theory.

Cultural Specific Level of Analysis

• The speaker responds to a question from an Italian PhD student in Mexico about whether cognitive linguists are more often generalizing than working on cultural specific level of analysis.

• They acknowledge that there has been a paucity of cultural level analysis historically, and English is the most over-studied language. However, they point out that early analyses such as Eve Sweetser's concept of lie were culturally specific.

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Blending Theory and Typology

In this section, the speaker discusses how blending theory has been used to analyze double verb constructions in different languages. The speaker also explains how typology is used to analyze the systems of different ways in which one can use blending theory.

Double Verb Constructions

• Blending theory has been used to analyze double verb constructions in different languages.

• French does not have the single verb clause form needed for a specific type of double verb construction.

• Hebrew and some other languages have a morphological causative meaning that allows for a one-word lexical construction that means "cause to do something."

• Different languages have different constructions, which influence not only how you speak but also the new kinds of combinations that you can form.

Typology

• Typology is often the analysis of the systems of different ways in which one can use blending theory.

• Double scope blending provides creativity within constraints, leading to strong cultural differences around the world.

• Different languages have different ways of using blending theory, which influences new constructions or new kinds of combinations that can be formed.

Role of Discrete and Non-discrete Things in Blending Theory

In this section, the speaker discusses how blending theory is used to produce false theories and mistaken concepts. The speaker also explains how humans tend to map their mental operations onto things at human scale and embodied.

False Theories and Mistaken Concepts

• Blending theory is used to produce false theories and mistaken concepts.

• False theories can be creative and impressive, but they are still false.

• Blending theory is used to produce offensive concepts and mistaken theories.

Mapping Mental Operations onto Human Scale

• Humans tend to map their mental operations onto things at human scale and embodied.

• The science of our perceptual fields is complicated, and achieving a sense that one object is followed by another object is a tremendous achievement.

• There are categories of things that don't overlap, and it's natural to make blends with human performance.

• Linguists will show you that there are no breaks between words in the auditory stream emitted by somebody. Achieving a sense that one word follows another word is a tremendous achievement.

Mapping Concepts onto Linguistic Mental Abilities

In this section, the speaker discusses how humans map their concepts and frames for human interaction and physical space onto linguistic mental abilities. They also talk about the idea of sharp categories in language and how linguistics has tried to take discrete versus continuous concepts from human experience and map them onto what's happening at the linguistic level.

Categories in Language

• There are categories in language such as nouns, verbs, and negations.

• Theories explain when something from one category gets used as another category.

• Some argue that these categories are not discrete but have particular products that can be separated.

Computational Linguistics and Mental Spaces

In this section, the speaker talks about computational linguistics and embracing mental spaces and blends. They discuss how natural language processing has come a long way but still has a long journey ahead to achieve frame blending.

Embracing Mental Spaces

• Friends are already regarded as too fine-grained for most natural language understanding tasks.

• FrameNet is a theory of frames launched by Professor Charles Fillmore that was used to tag text for frames.

• Simple forms of frame blending are still far away from existing computational systems.

Conclusion

In this section, the speaker thanks everyone for their time and attention.

Thank You

• The speaker thanks everyone for their patience, time, attention, and Ellen for running the entire system.