Temporal conceptualisation in present-day spoken English: beyond tense and aspect

Abstract: This project approaches the conceptualisation of time beyond the well-studied domains of tense and aspect by concentrating on frames of reference (FoRs; Levinson 1996). FoRs are cognitive coordinate systems that function to locate objects in space or events in time: temporal-FoRs are analogous, although not entirely reducible, to spatial-FoRs. By applying a quantitative corpus methodology that focuses on spontaneous spoken language taken from the British National Corpus (BNC) 2014, a taxonomy is developed in order to determine the linguistic surface forms of temporal conceptualisations. The second part involves a collocate analysis of spatiotemporal constructions encoded by the dimensional prepositions (IN, ON and AT), which are identified in the taxonomy as the most frequent strategy for the encoding temporal relations and form conventionalised lexicogrammatical references to time. In doing so, usage profiles are developed and the extent of spatiotemporal correspondence can be explored, as proposed by Cognitive Metaphor Theory (Lakoff & Johnson 1980). Finally, a short-term diachronic analysis compares the BNC 1990 to BNC 2014 to address (potential) changes in temporal conceptualisation, which would be evidenced by shifting usage profiles; FoRs are generally assumed to be stable within a community of speakers. Empirical research on the encoding of time in language from a cognitive linguistic perspective is lacking to date, while usage profiles for in-, on- and at-constructions could act as ‘conceptual guides’ for learners of English given that prepositions are a notoriously difficult area of language to master

Object Details

• Location: Deutsche Nationalbibliothek Frankfurt am Main
• Extent: Online-Ressource
• Language: Englisch
• Notes: Universität Freiburg, Dissertation, 2024

Classification and Topics

• Keyword: Englisch ; Tempus ; Zeit ; Kognitive Linguistik ; Metapher ; Raum ; Linguistik ; Kognitive Linguistik ; Kognitive Semantik ; Korpus ; Metapher

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (where): Freiburg
• (who): Universität
• (when): 2024
• Creator: Cuthbertson, Laura
• Contributor: Mair, Christian ; Pfänder, Stefan ; Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg. Philologische Fakultät

Further information

• DOI: 10.6094/978-3-910380-05-9
• URN: urn:nbn:de:bsz:25-freidok-2551946
• Rights: Open Access; Der Zugriff auf das Objekt ist unbeschränkt möglich.
• Last update: 25.03.2025, 1:52 PM CET