the passive in english a perspective from cognitive semantics (with reference to vietnamese) = dạng bị động trong tiếng anh dưới góc độ ngữ nghĩa học tri nhận (có liên hệ tiếng việt

The study aims at presenting another way of analyzing language structures, especially passive structures, based on cognitive linguistics, particularly cognitive semantics, i.e.. Through

PART ONE: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale

Passive sentences are typical structures in Indo-European languages A lot of research about the passive phenomenon has been done, providing a wide variety of features of passive structures cross-linguistically (e.g Keenan, 1976; Freidin, 1975; Permutter, 1978; Zaenen, 1983; Langacker, 1990; Tomlin, 1995.) Each school of linguistics has displayed its own ways of analyzing the passive structures, thus posing trouble for learners and for novice researchers in settling a standpoint in grasping and understanding the fundamental semantic and syntactic structure of this phenomenon in languages

The following example illustrates this point Sentences (a) and (b) below describe a state in which a male person carries a box from one place to another:

(a) He moved the box into the room

(b) The box was moved into the room (by him.) Both sentences, (a) and (b), refer to one event with the same actor Syntactically, sentence (a) differs from sentence (b) in that the subject/doer in (b) is optional or

left out entirely, or optionally expressed obliquely via a by-phrase, and that the

object in (a) serves as the subject/patient in (b.)

Traditional grammar treats passive voice as the change of the morphology in verbs, with the inversion of the subject and object of the sentences Then, (b) can be seen as a new version of (a) with a change in the verb „move‟ and an exchange of location in the subject and object of the original sentence (a)

It has been argued in transformational grammar that passive sentences derive from a D-structure form of so-called active sentences It is the NP-MOVEMENT (c.f Radford, 1988:420) that brings to life passive sentences Generative grammar

offers an analysis of the change from active to passive structures, attributing the shift through a „multilevel syntagmatic structure‟ in which the „deep structure (or initial stratum) is basically active in organization‟ (Langacker, 1990.)

Passive structures are also argued to belong to a class of expression known as

idioms chunks (c.f Radford, 1988:422.) And NPs in passive sentences do not have

the same syntactic freedom of distribution as other NPs Another argument is

formulated in relation to thematic relations It is claimed that active Objects (i.e

Objects of active sentences) play the same thematic role as the corresponding

passive Subjects

Another view on passive voice comes from Functionalism Functional grammar divides passive structure into three subcategories, depending on the functions that the speakers would like to convey It is called the pragmatic function of the sentence For example, when the Agent of the action is unknown to the writers or speakers, passive structures are preferred Or when the focus of the sentence is the action and the effects of the action, not the doer of the action, passive constructions are applied (c.f Halliday, 1994; Lock, 1996; Downing and Locke, 1992; Givon, 1995.) Semantically, a functional grammarian analyzes constituents in passive

grammar based on the functions of the participants in the sentence, namely actor /

agent, goal, beneficiary, recipient, etc

Previously mentioned views of linguistics on passive voice have left drawbacks

to language users and language teachers For instance, traditional grammar states that passive voice can be formed if the verb is a transitive one, i.e the verb having a direct object However, not all transitive verbs can be conjured up in passive structures Or as stated by generative grammar, passive structures derive from their active counterparts In reality, no speaker describes an event by forming an active sentence in his/her mind then „transforms‟ it into passives This will be further discussed later in the study

It is not until recently that cognitive semantics (or more generally cognitive linguistics) has postulated a different look at language structures The focus in the study of language shifts from external to internal, mentalist aspects of the human language Researchers in cognitive science argue that the linguistic structure is a direct reflex of cognition in the sense that a particular linguistic expression is associated with particular ways of conceptualizing a given situation (Lee, 2001: 1) They believe that there exists an interrelationship between thought and meaning It

is from this point of view that passive sentences are seen from a different angle The root of the differences mentioned above originates from the theory of meaning Generative grammar claims that the structure of linguistic expressions is determined by a formal rule system that is largely independent of meaning Or rather, syntax is independent from meaning while cognitive linguistics claims that language is not an autonomous cognitive faculty (c.f Croft, 2004.)

It is therefore absolutely necessary for researchers as well as language learners to take a standpoint in analyzing languages In particular, a thorough understanding and fully developed arguments for the explanation of the structure are crucial

A note should be taken here regarding the title of the dissertation Since the word

„perspective‟ in cognitive semantics embraces more than one meaning and has notions hanging with it, this word used in the title may result in misunderstanding However, the word „perspective‟ in the title is used in purpose The meaning of the word „perspective‟ the author wishes to express is that of „view point,‟ „standpoint,‟

sub-„angle,‟ or the like With the title as it is, the author wishes to analyze the passive structures from the cognitive semantics point of view More than that, the author wishes to bring a metaphor of the word „perspective‟ to the title, hoping to create a profound and thoughtful meaning of the title of the dissertation

2 Aims of the study

The study aims to provide a critical analysis of three major theoretical approaches of explaining language phenomena More particularly, different approaches of linguistics, e.g traditional grammar, transformational-generative grammar, on explaining passive voice will be critically explored, thus indicating their strengths and weaknesses, which will help determine more appropriate ways of looking at this language phenomenon

The study aims at presenting another way of analyzing language structures, especially passive structures, based on cognitive linguistics, particularly cognitive semantics, i.e based on four major notions: Perspectives, Figure – Ground relationship, Encyclopedic knowledge, and Prototype An exploration of cognitive linguistics in general and cognitive semantics in particular will be displayed, thus providing a more interesting and convincing way of looking at the passive voice Major tenets of cognitive linguistics and features of cognitive semantics will be thoroughly presented, making it possible to come to a conclusion for the betterment

of the new school of linguistics

The study will also discuss the possibility of the existence of passive structures in Vietnamese A prototype view will be applied in analyzing the structures, hopefully contributing another view to the debate over the existence of the so-called passive structures in Vietnamese

Through the analysis of passive structures, the researcher attempts to present another view of linguistic exploration, interpreting the use of language from the understanding of our cognition through a number of notions in cognitive linguistics, and in cognitive semantics in particular, thus illustrating evidence for the possibility

of integrating notions in cognitive semantics in the task of language analysis

3 Scope of the study

As stated previously, one of the aims of this research is to present our understandings of cognitive linguistics and cognitive semantics in particular; therefore, the focus is on displaying major notions of this school of linguistics In particular, the study confines itself to the notions of perspectives, figure and ground, encyclopedic knowledge, and prototype since these four are fundamental in cognitive linguistics

Regarding passive voice and structures to be analyzed, the study restricts itself to structures with passive form in the main verb, i.e the passive form of the utterance

is in the head verb, leaving behind structures consisting of passive forms in other

parts of the sentence, e.g in the to infinitive, such as need to be repaired Also, most

sentences used as illustrations come from everyday language, thus setting aside extensive complicated sentences found in academic texts or elsewhere

It should be noted here that it is not possible to apply one notion of cognitive linguistics, such as Figure and Ground, in analyzing all kinds of passive structures This means that for each sentence, we have different ways of approaching and applying proper notions for explaining This is due to the fact that language phenomena are various, and as a result, the way to deal with them varies accordingly Consequently, it is impossible to apply one idea to the explanation of all features of language However, the study is not going to categorize or classify which kinds of sentences are applicable for which types of notions since it is not the goal of the study The last chapter in Part II is an attempt of assembling as many notions as possible in analyzing the phenomenon of passive structures, thus providing a broader view on this feature of language - passive structures In short, the study will focus on the facets that are applicable in analyzing passive structures, not an overall presentation of the theory of cognitive semantics

4 Research questions

Passive voice in English, or in Indo-European languages in general, has been widely discussed from different points of view Different papers present different discussions on this language structure This study attempts to seek answers to the issues that have not been adequately discussed by many researchers from different schools of linguistics The questions that the study will investigate will be as follows:

a How is the passive voice seen from the point of view of cognitive semantics? Different major notions of cognitive semantics are applied to discuss the phenomenon, i.e passive voice, resulting in 4 subquestions as follows:

Subquestion 1: Are passive sentences surface structures of their so-called active counterparts? How are passive and active sentences seen from the notion of „perspective‟ in cognitive semantics?

Subquestion 2: How can the notion of Figure and Ground be applied to explain passive structures?

Subquestion 3: How can the theory of Frame Semantics and Encyclopedic Semantics be used to examine the acceptability of passive sentences?

Subquestion 4: How can the theory of prototype be used to formulate a passive prototype in Vietnamese?

b Is it possible to integrate the four notions in analyzing passive voice, providing a thorough and profound interpretation of the phenomenon?

5 Methodology

5.1 This work is not an empirical study which requires experimental and/or

experiential data, which is analyzed using quantitative or qualitative methods In contrast, the study applies the descriptive and analytical methods, presenting the theoretical foundation which is then illustrated by examples with explanations and discussions, thus hopefully reaching conclusions by deductive reasoning

A theoretical framework, i.e based on the major notions of cognitive semantics,

is established; then examples and illustrations are explored based on this framework In other words, major notions of the cognitive semantics theory are used as principles from which examples are analyzed, thus helping the researcher come to conclusions

The examples and illustrations given in the discussion are utterances from different specific situations in daily life Sentences used as examples are cited from either reliable sources or real life situations All the examples from real life situations, though not recorded and not put in the appendices, were sent to English speaking people to test whether these sentences have a high acceptability in the English language More significantly, two native English speakers have been asked

to do the proof reading, providing high reliability and validity of the examples used

in the work

5.2 The research design is presented as follows First, in order to establish a

strong argument for the work to be done, all major points of views and the methods

of analyzing passive structures are critically illustrated Then a framework is set up from the light of cognitive semantics, i.e a framework set up from four major notions of cognitive semantics Each of these four notions is presented with details and illustrations, with which active and passive structures are analyzed and explained After that, an integration of these four notions is founded, from which passive structures are analyzed from the overall examination of cognitive semantics

This dissertation is divided into three parts The first one is, as a rule of thumb, the Introduction, which provides the rationale, aims, scope and research questions

of the study This rationale provides arguments for the necessity of carrying out the research; the aims presents the goals of the study and the scope restricts the study into a certain aspects and leaves behind others for other future research

The second part of the dissertation, the Development, presents a thorough review

of the literature about passive voice, in English and Vietnamese More importantly,

a theoretical framework based on major notions of cognitive semantics is established, providing foundation for the discussion and analysis of the passive voice from the light of the cognitive semantics

In part II, there are five chapters Chapter 1 reviews major arguments and analysis of passive voice from different schools of linguistics other than cognitive linguistics Chapter 2 presents the basic ideas about cognitive linguistics and especially cognitive semantics Chapter 3, 4, and 5 are for applying individual notion of cognitive semantics to analyzing and discussing passive and active structures Regarding the necessity and vitality of the analysis of passive voice, Chapter 1 presents different views of different schools of linguistics, and the drawback of these methods in analyzing language Chapter 2 displays how language structures are seen from the perspective of cognitive semantics, providing a foundation for a particular phenomenon, i.e passive structures, to be analyzed Chapters 3, 4, and 5 discuss the passive phenomenon based on the notions of cognitive semantics presented in the previous chapters

The last part of the work, the Conclusion, summarizes what has been done, what has not been covered, accompanied by suggestions for future study This part also indicates possible implications for the job of language teaching and learning, hopefully providing an alternative method of analyzing other aspects of languages

6 Contribution of the study

The study hopes to contribute to the development of cognitive linguistics, and cognitive semantics in particular, thus providing evidence for the claim that cognitive linguistics is a convincing and appropriate way to explain language

The study confirms the fact that it is feasible to apply notions in cognitive semantics to analyzing and explaining problems in syntax, thus fostering the idea that syntax and semantics are two sides of a coin, and should not be considered divorced from one another

The study provides a profound and convincing explanation, with illustrations and examples in English and Vietnamese, to the controversy of whether passive voice derives from active voice, which hopefully contributes to the aim of settling the arguments referring to the phenomenon of passive voice

PART TWO: DEVELOPMENT

In this Part, a review of theoretical foundation is done in the first half, serving as

a background for the study to be carried out in the rest of the part This part consists

of five chapters The first chapter deals with the arguments about passive voice from three major linguistic theories, i.e traditional grammar, transformational-generative grammar, and functional grammar

The first half of Chapter 2 displays the author‟s understanding of cognitive linguistics in general and cognitive semantics in particular This chapter confines itself to the major points which will be applied to the analysis of passive voice in the following chapters The chapter starts with a definition of technical terms which will be applied in the discussion; and it is followed by a general view on cognitive linguistics Then the chapter continues with an illustration of my understanding of cognitive semantics, which serves as foundation for the study

The rest of Chapter 2 presents an intensive review of major tenets of cognitive semantics which have been applied in analyzing linguistics expressions The chapter displays four major notions of cognitive semantics, providing a theoretical framework in the discussion of the phenomenon of passive voice in the following chapters The notions include Perspectives, Figure and Ground relation, Frame Semantics and Encyclopedic Semantics, and Prototype

Chapters 3, 4, and 5 are the core of the study Chapter 3 applies the four major notions of cognitive semantics, which have been displayed so far, into analyzing passive structures The discussion of passive structures are based on the major tenets of cognitive semantics

Chapter 4 deals with the passive structures in Vietnamese Two major arguments about whether or not there exist passive structures in Vietnamese are presented Then the chapter continues with the implementation of prototype theory in

proposing a passive prototype in Vietnamese after a deep discussion of the existence of the passive structures in Vietnamese

Chapter 5 is an attempt of integrating all notions in analyzing passive structures and related issues, thus providing a thorough interpretation of the phenomenon of passive voice from the perspective of cognitive semantics

Chapter I - Passive Voice

1.1 Introduction

This chapter presents the analysis of the passive voice from major schools of linguistics, namely traditional grammar, transformational-generative grammar, and functional grammar Discussion on the analysis will also be provided, presenting what is needed to be explored, or the flaws that triggered me to apply another way

of explaining this language phenomenon

Most of the examples used in this chapter are constructed especially to exemplify the meanings and patterns under discussion with the principle that when one begins

to deal with real language use, things should be really so simple or so short (Baker, 1999.) Sentences used to illustrate the arguments primarily come from everyday conversations and uttered spontaneously, and sentences cited from reliable sources

1.2 Traditional grammar and passive voice

Traditional grammar considers passive voice as the change in form of the transitive verbs Traditional grammarians attribute the change of voice to the change

in form (morphology) of the verb They claim that any transitive verb in active voice has its counterpart in passive voice In the example below, sentence 1.a is in active and 1.b is in passive:

1 a Alice found the ball

b The ball was found by Alice

c The ball was found

Sentences in 1 refer to the same event, and according to traditional grammar, they have the same meaning(s) The reasons of the passive usage (e.g in 1.b or 1.c)

is attributed to very superficial reasons, e.g because it is not necessary to mention

the doer, not knowing the doer, the doer being „people,‟ etc (c.f Thomson & Martinet, 1960; Sinclair, 1990.)

The difference between the active sentence 1.a and the passive sentence 1.b or 1.c is superficially explained as a change in the morphology of the verb which must

be transitive; and the object of the sentence in active voice becomes the subject of the passive counterpart

The fact is that in many cases meaningful active sentences with transitive verbs become abnormal if they are transformed into passive voice For example, we can say that „The shoes do not fit me‟, but rarely or never do we hear a sentence like „I

am not fitted by the shoes.‟ Moreover, it is undeniable that when one wishes to use

a different linguistic expression, she/he does want to convey a different meaning in her/his utterance Consider the following pair of sentences and see how the active differs from the passive

2 a That man kicked the girl

b The girl was kicked by that man

The sentences do not only differ syntactically but also semantically While 2.a may express the writer‟s intention to draw readers‟ or listeners‟ attention on how brutal that man is, or rather on the vicious nature of the man, neither on the girl nor

on her injuries On the other hand, with the sentence 2.b in passive form, the writer obviously targets at his audience to sympathize with the girl and the way she has been treated by the man This example is a convincing illustration of the fact that

we would not have a profound understanding of the passive voice if we analyze and interpret the meanings of passive and active sentences from the perspective of traditional grammar As a result, we need a different approach to deal with this phenomenon of language

1.3 Passive from the perspective of transformational - generative grammar

1.3.1 In early transformational-generative grammar, the relation between active

and passive voice was accounted for by an optional transformation which is applied

to an underlying structure common to both actives and passives The passive – active relation was considered a derivational one which means that to a certain level

of representation, “actives and their corresponding passives were identical”

(Freidin, 1975.) According to Chomsky‟s Syntactic Structures model, a common

underlying structure could be mapped onto two distinct surface structures – one passive and the other active The chart below illustrates the relationship between passive and active

UNDERLYING STRUCTURE

T-Passive SURFACE STRUCTURE 1 SURFACE STRUCTURE 2

(Extracted from Freidin, 1975) SURFACE STRUCTURE 1 accounts for active sentences, which are not discussed here in this study The second type of structure which derives from the underlying structure is SURFACE STRUCTURE 2 which is formed after a change

in the noun phrase called NP movement The sentence below (3) is passive and it is

argued that the italicized NP [the car] originates from the post-verbal object

position marked -as the following:

3 The car will be put in the garage

(Radford, 1988:420)

And the NP [the car] is subsequently moved out of there into the italicized

preverbal subject NP position The process can be described schematically in 4 below:

4 [S [ NP e] will be [ V put [NP the car] in the garage.]

NP MOVEMENT

Transformational grammar claims that the subject the car in the passive sentence

3 originates at D-structure in the „post-verbal Object NP position‟ in 4 In other words, the passive sentence 3 derives from a D-structure, the active sentence in 4 (c.f Radford, ibid.)

1.3.2 One of the arguments for the analysis of passive structures proposed by

transformational grammar is attributed to a class of expressions called idiom

chunks It claims that since there is a class of English Noun Phrases which are

highly restricted in their distribution, which means that these NPs, in their idiomatic

use, generally occur only in junction with some specific verbs The italicized NPs in

5 below are called idiom chunks since they do not have syntactic freedom of

distribution as other NPs – for example, they cannot occur in typical NP positions like in 6 below

5 a She just PAID little attention to his report

b Let‟s TAKE advantage of the warm weather

c The government KEEPS tabs on his operations

6 a ? She has attention to him

b ? I need the advantage

c ? Tabs won‟t affect me

(c.f Radford, 1988:420-446) The italicized NPs in 5 generally occur after the capitalized verbs and do have the freedom of distribution as illustrated in 6 Sentences in 6 do not normally happen because they seem unnatural in conversation, and they are said to be ill formed

Transformational grammar claims that the restrictions are essentially lexical – syntactic, which means it just happens to be an arbitrary syntactic fact about the

distribution of the terms like attention, advantage which are virtually never used in contemporary English in any situation immediately following the verb have and

need receptively It is then said that the object idiom chunk NPs such as attention,

or advantage, etc “have extremely restricted distribution (i.e are generally

restricted to occurring immediately after specific verbs,” (Radford, 1988: 423) like

pay or take

For passive constructions, it argues that some idiom chunk NPs can only precede certain verbs by undergoing a movement to the preverbal positions from their original positions in active structures Sentences in 7 below illustrate the point:

attention and advantage can only precede the verbs PAY and TAKE respectively by

moving from their original places marked to the initial placed functioned subjects

in the sentence This means that these NPs are restricted to occurring immediately after specific verbs at D-Structure even though “they can move out of their underlying position by movement rules like NP MOVEMENT” (Radford, 1988: 424.)

7 a Little attention was PAID to his report

b Little advantage was TAKEN of the situation

The NPs attention and advantage in 7.a and 7.b above are moved from their trace

marked Transformational grammar claims that these sentences originate from

D-structures which the NPs attention and advantage can only follow certain verbs, and

are called idiom chunk NPs

1.3.3 Another argument posed by transformational grammar in describing the

passive voice is related to thematic relations which come from Chomsky‟s Theta Theory Theta Theory is a part of Government-Binding Theory which discusses the assignment of theta roles for Arguments, i.e NPs, in a sentence In other words,

each Argument bears a particular thematic role (or theta-role or θ-role), e.g Agent,

Patient, Experiencer, Instrument (c.f Chomsky, 1981; Radford, 1988)

Regarding passive sentences, Theta theory states that the active objects, i.e objects of the active sentences, “play the same thematic role as the corresponding passive subjects” (Radford, 1988: 424.) For instance, in the active sentence 8.a below the italicized object NP plays the same semantic role (i.e theme, or patient)

as its italicized subject NP in the corresponding passive 8.b:

8 a They moved the chair out of the room

b The chair was moved out of the room

Similarly, in sentence 9.a below the italicized object NP Alice has the same

θ-role (i.e goal) as its italicized subject counterpart in the corresponding passive 9.b:

9 a They will send Alice a new laptop to replace the old one

b Alice will be sent a new laptop to replace the old one

In the above sentences, passive subjects in 8.b and 9.b play the same theta-role as the corresponding active objects in 8.a and 9.a This is because, according to Transformational grammar, in passive sentences the subject which is considered as superficial subject NP originates at D-structure as the objects of the passive

participle In the sentence below, for example, Alice is the object of the passive participle; in other words, the lexical entry send specifies that NP immediately following send in [V NP NP] structures is assigned the theta-role of GOAL; then it

follows that the italicized NP Alice in the following sentence will be assigned the role of GOAL at D-structure:

10 [NP e] will be [V sent Alice a new laptop.]

In sentence 10, the theta-role is „preserved‟ under movement, so that when NP

movement applies to „passivize‟ Alice (i.e move Alice from object to subject NP

position), Alice retains the theta-role of GOAL The operation of the rule that is

applied in 10 is illustrated as the following:

1.3.4 One more view from transformational grammar initiated by Wasow (1977)

is that passive voice is seen in two different types: adjectival and verbal The adjectival passives show the adjectival nature of passive participles which are pronominal and complement to certain verbs, e.g act, look Some examples of the adjectival passive are as follows:

12 a The island was uninhabited by humans

b All his claims have been unsupported by data

c Her whereabouts may be unknown

13 a * Humans uninhabited the island

b * Data have unsupported his claims

c * They may unknown her whereabouts

(Wasow, 1977:339, cited in Murphy, 2004) Sentences in 12 are considered well formed but not in 13 which are marked by an asterisk (*) Wasow states that these italicized words can only serve as adjectives not as verbs, which leads him to the conclusion that passives can also be seen as adjectives Wasow argues that the rule that derives adjective passives must be a lexical rule if it changes a verb into an adjective The second type of passive, according to Wasow, is called verbal passives which are derived by a transformational rule The rule Wasow mentions has just been analyzed previously Regarding the unrelatedness between transitivity and passivization, several scholars state that it lies in the semantic properties of the transitive verb, i.e the affectedness of the Patient, the change the Patient undergoes by the force of the Agent (c.f Sudo, 2000.) In other words, when there is no change in the patient, there is no possibility of passivizing an active sentence Bolinger (1977) illustrates the following examples:

14 a John Smith deserted the army

b ? The army was deserted by John Smith

15 a All the generals deserted the army

b The army was deserted by all the generals

According to Bolinger, the army, the Patient, is not affected if only Smith deserts the army However, if all the generals do, the army will definitely be affected, thus

causing a significant change in the structure of the army Therefore, sentence 14.b does not show a high acceptability, and it sounds unnatural to English speakers Bolinger‟s explanation seems to be logical to most of the cases on transitivity However, a number of different cases when there is not a high acceptability for the passivization can not be attributed to the affectedness of the Patient Take sentence

16 for example

16 a He has to park parallel the car for her

b ? The / Her car had to be parked parallel

There is no question for the idea of affectedness to the car since at least when the man parks parallel the car, he changes/affects the car in terms of space; but sentence 16.b still sounds unnatural This constraint leads to the fact that we need a different way of explaining the acceptability of a structure, i.e passivization, not just the affectedness of the Patient

1.3.5 We have briefly presented the early approaches to syntax by generative

grammar, which are based largely on structural properties such as linearity and dominance However, transformational grammar was “criticized by Relational Grammarians who emphasize the importance of taking grammatical relations into consideration” (Shibatani, 1985.) Perlmutter and Postal (1977) pose some problems with a universal characterization of passives if grammatical relations are not mentioned They propose a universal characterization which depends on grammatical relations They assume that “a clause consists of a network of grammatical relations Among these relations are „subject of,‟ „direct of,‟ and

„indirect of.‟ (Perlmutter and Postal, 1977; 399.)

Regarding passive constructions, Perlmutter and Postal present a summary as follows:

- A direct object of an active clause is the (superficial) subject of the

a change in grammatical relations Mentioning passive, they argue that it should be characterized in terms of a relational network in which a nominal – the direct object

in a transitive stratum – bears the subject relation in the immediately following stratum In other words, according to Perlmutter and Postal, “passive is a

„promotional‟ phenomenon, whereby a direct object nominal at one level is a subject nominal at a later level” (Shibatani, 1985.)

Although Perlmutter and Postal have provided evidence for their arguments, they have been criticized for the fact that not all passives show a promotion of a direct object despite the fact that subject demotion occurs, e.g impersonal passives Shibatani (ibid.) shows that the approach by Relational Grammar is “too restricted

to account for the patterns of distribution which a passive morphology exhibits.”

1.3.6 Major arguments from the perspectives of distinguished linguists of the

school of generative grammar have been presented Briefly, generative grammars have shown three basic features One of which is that the synonymy is handled through a multilevel syntagmatic structure for passive clauses, in which the deep structure (D-structure) is basically active in organization The second feature is that

the objects of by in passive structures are considered as a „demoted deep-structure

clausal subject‟ (Langacker, 1990:127.) The third primary feature is that “all or

some of the grammatical morphemes marking the passive construction (by, be, and

the perfect participle inflection) are meaningless entities, with purely formal or syntactic function” (Langacker, 1990: 127.)

In other words, the generative approaches to the passive focus primarily on the lexical-semantic and structural characteristics of the construction These arguments have triggered many debates for the last few decades The drawbacks of the approaches of generative grammar will be discussed later on in this study

1.4 Passive voice from the perspective of functional grammar

1.4.1 Functional Grammar (henceforth FG) is an approach that analyzes the

grammatical categories in terms of their communicative functions Language is seen

as a system of communication, and grammar is analyzed with an attempt to discover how it is organized to allow speakers and writers to make and exchange meanings (c.f Lock, 1996: 1.)

FG possesses a number of features First of all, grammar is modeled as a set of choices Language is organized in categories so people can select the category that they need to express what they want For example, when communicating, language users must choose whether they are going to make a statement, a question, or something else Making a question, or expressing a statement, etc is said to be the function of the language

Second, FG argues that language use has shaped the language system (Halliday, 1994: xiii;) therefore, grammar should be looked in a way in which it is used to construct texts in their „context of use‟ (Halliday: ibid.) Functional grammar is concerned with how language is used in contexts, not in separate sentences, or words that we can see in traditional grammar books

Third, FG states that “the fundamental components of meaning in language are functional components” (Halliday: ibid.) It is concerned with the way in which

grammar is organized to make meaning FG claims that all languages are organized around three primary functions or meanings First, it is experiential meaning: language is used to express one‟s feelings about the surrounding world „to understand the environment‟ (Halliday: ibid.) Experiential meaning has to do with the ways language represents our experience (actual and vicarious) of the world as well the inner world of our thoughts and feelings Experiential meaning is about ho

we talk about actions, happenings, feelings, beliefs, situations, states, etc., the people and things involved in them, and the relevant circumstances of time, place, manner, etc (c.f Lock, 1996: 8-9.)

The second type of function language serves is to interact with people, i.e interpersonal meaning Interpersonal meaning is concerned with the ways in which

we act upon one another through language, e.g giving and requesting information, getting people to do things, etc., and the ways we express our judgments and attitudes

The third type of meanings in FG is textual meaning One sentence may have different meanings in different contexts In other words, language is used to organize messages so that they fit with other messages around them; textual meanings indicates the ways in which language is organized in relation to its context (c.f Halliday, ibid., Lock, ibid., Downing, 1992.)

1.4.2 Regarding passive voice, Halliday (ibid.) states that in clauses containing

Agents, i.e doers, the clause is in passive voice if the Medium, i.e the key figure through which the process is actualized, and without which there would be no process at all, serves as subject and the Agent as the adjunct He claims that there are two major reasons for choosing passive voice: First, to get the Medium as Subject, and therefore as unmarked Theme, and second to make the Agent either (i) late news, by putting it last, or (ii) implicit, by leaving it out (page: 168 – 169.) Lock states that “the selection of passive voice allows the speaker or writer to thematize participants,” (1996: 233) such as Goals, Recipients, without producing

marked Themes Take for example the following pair of sentences, in sentence 17.b,

the Goal (the statue of David) is thematized, but as it is to the Subject, the Theme is

unmarked:

17 a Michelangelo finished the statute of David in 1504

b The statute of David was finished (by Michelangelo) in 1504

Another reason for the selection of passive voice, according to Lock (ibid.), is motivated by “the desire not to switch the Theme,” or “to maintain continuity” (Downing, 1992: 255;) for example:

18 She put her head out of the window and was struck full in the face by

a snowball

(Lock, ibid.)

In 18, the Theme of the second clause is still She although it is ellipsed The selection of passive voice in the second clause is to remain the Theme She without

producing what would be a very marked thematic structure

According to Downing and Lock (1992: 251) there are three major possibilities that speakers may use passive voice to express their point of view of the textual organization; the first possibility to use passive may come from the fact that the Agent is New information; as a result, the Agent is placed last Take for example sentences in 19 below:

19 a Where did you get that silver bangle?

b It was given to me by my BOY-friend

Also, an additional motivation for the use of a passive with an Agent by-phrase

occurs when the Agents is long; and the writer or speaker follows the principle of

end-weight („shortest first, longest last‟) An example of this kind can be seen in sentence 20 below:

20 a The front seats were filled by members of the families of the victims

b The goal was scored by Barry Lee, the player with most

goals to his credit this season

Another possibility that may condition the choice of between active and passive

is when the Agent is not New and is silenced, leaving the other element which is New and placed last The reason for silencing the Agent, according to Lock, may vary Take for example the followings:

21 a He was killed in the Second World War {unknown}

b I‟ve been finished compiling the catalogue and it has been sent to the printers {already been referred, directly or indirectly}

c Prisoners are allowed visitors only once a month {understood from context}

d That solution has never been proposed {Agent is „people‟ or „one‟}

e The documents have been thrown away {to highlight Predicator}

f I‟m afraid the Fax hasn‟t been sent {to be polite or to avoid blaming someone}

Lock (ibid.) further presents some possibilities that determine the voice section One of which is to focus on a verb, in other words, to leave the end-focus to the

verb which is stated last, e.g This must be seen to be believed; Moreover, passive is

also used in cases the Adjunct, or Complement, or the Prepositional Object in the

sentence receives the important end-focus, e.g He was taken to jail; The letter has

been sent unstamped; or The retiring chairman was presented with a golden watch

As stated elsewhere that Functional Grammar sees grammatical participants in terms of their functions in communication; as a result, passive voice is seen from

FG thorough the functions that the participants in a sentence play Halliday (1994) analyzes passive voice in different processes, namely passive in material process, mental process, in offers and commands, etc In general, FG concerns with questions, such as (1) how the communicative effect of the message in the sentence

is different when it begins with A (subject in passive sentence) rather than with B (subject in active sentence), (2) what the effect of putting B at the end of the sentence, and (3) what features of the context may have led the writer to select passive rather than active voice (Lock, 1992.)

Semantically, a functional grammarian analyzes constituents in passive grammar

basing on the functions of the participants in the sentence, namely actor / agent,

goal, beneficiary, recipient, etc In other words, FG analyzes language in terms of

the functional relationship of its constitutional parts; each part in a sentence has its

on function and language users select a category of which the functions serve the purposes of the conversation Regarding passive voice, FG analyzes the constituencies of the sentences in terms of their functions, e.g agent, goal Depending on the purpose of the conversation and/or of the speaker, the speakers determine the voice of the sentence

1.5 What needs to be discussed?

1.5.1 Generative Grammar claims that it is the NP movement which designates

the form of passive, and that passive sentences are surface structures which derive from their underlying structures in active forms The argument does not account for the fact that if there are not any differences between active and passive semantically, why would there be two structures but not one?

Another fact is that speakers or writers use passive sentences to express their description of the situation needed when using them Before writing or speaking a sentence in passive voice, the speakers/writers do not have an active sentence in

their mind, and then change it into passive voice by moving the NP‟s within the structure of the sentence

One more point to consider is that traditional and generative grammar claim that for a sentence in active voice to be „changed‟ into passive voice, the main verb must

be transitive In cases when it is impossible to change an active sentence into passive voice, generative grammar „categorizes‟ them into the „exceptions‟ (c.f Wierzbicka, 1988.)

Regarding the NP following by, transformational - generative grammar claims that passive sentences without by-phrase can be generated by transformationally either by an ellipsis rule which deletes a by-phrase, or by a rule which obligatorily

preposes the underlying object - thus passivizing the verb - into underlying subject position when the latter is lexically and semantically empty (c.f Freidin, 1975: pp 386-387.) Take for example, sentences in 22 below are said to derive from the full

passives in 23 by means of optional rules which delete the phrases by someone and

by something:

22 My bicycle was stolen

The window was broken

23 My bicycle was stolen by someone

The window was broken by something

The deletion of by someone or by something would not violate the recoverability

condition on deletions, since the deleted elements can be considered pronominal representatives of the general categories HUMAN and NON-HUMAN noun (c.f Chomsky 1964: 71.)

The ellipsis analysis predicts that sentences in 22 and 23 above are well-formed; however, problems occur when we deal with utterances as in 24 and 25 below:

24 a France was defeated

b The compound1 was oxidized

25 a France was defeated by Italy

b The compound was oxidized by air

In the examples above, sentences 25.a and 25.b cannot be derived from 24.a and 24.b respectively since it is not possible to say that 24.a and 24.b can be derived

from full passives containing by-phrases with a pronoun someone or something

One more issue relating to the difficulty in explaining the impossibility of

reversing active sentences in which words like resemble, weigh, play the function of

main verbs, confirms that it is not appropriate to apply transformational- generative grammar to analyzing languages Take for example sentences 26 and 27 below The verbs in 26.a and 27.a are transitive; however, these active sentences sound abnormal when „passivized‟ as in 26.b and 27.b

26 a John resembles his father

b ? His father / John‟s father is resembled by John / him

27 a I weigh 58 kilos

b ? 58 kilos is weighed by me

In short, traditional grammar and generative grammar focus on forms only; they almost ignore the relationship of meaning and/or pragmatic and syntax or linguistic forms What they have done can only be considered as a description of the surface

or external part of the language What they fail to do is to search for the reasons why there are such linguistic expressions they call identical or similar The answer for that phenomenon cannot be satisfied by analyzing the form without referring to

the process that people produce such utterances

1 In chemistry, it means a substance made up of at least two chemical elements – hợp chất

1.5.2 Functional grammar has done a great deal in analyzing the structures based

on the experiential, interpersonal and textual functions of grammar (Halliday, 1985/1994.) Functional grammar is based on the theory that “meaning as choice, by which a language, or any other semiotic system, is interpreted as networks of interlocking options: „either this, or that, or the other,‟ „either more like the one or more like the other,‟ and so on” (Halliday, 1994: xiv.) The „choice‟ here is the choice of language use; and it is the language use that the term „functional‟ is designed for as Hallyday (ibid.) states „it is the language uses of languages that have shaped the system.‟

Although FG has attempted to deal with the use of language, it lacks thorough discussions about the relationship between language use and the mechanism that triggers language usage, i.e mind, and/or conceptualization

Cognitive linguistics also focuses on the functions of communication or use of language because language is a „vehicle of communication, a strategy, so to speak,

to awaken certain conceptualization in the mind of one‟s interlocutor‟ (Hilfery, 2000.) Therefore, there is “a strong alliance between both cognitivists and functionalists” (Hilfery: ibid.) However, this is not to say that the two schools of thoughts contribute similar methods of analyzing grammar While functional grammar only focuses on the use of language, e.g texts in context use, the way grammar organized to make meaning, etc., cognitive linguistics, cognitive grammar and cognitive semantics in particular, goes further in seeking explanations for how language is used in this way or that way

As stated previously that functions of grammatical participants are primary concerns of functional grammar; regarding passive voice, functional grammar analyzes how effective the utterance is when the agent or the patient is put at the beginning; and in what circumstances of the context that drives the speaker to use passive or active voice Therefore, the root of the explanation is still open and unexplored For example, what drives a speaker to put the patient, but not the agent

at the beginning of his utterance? Or what is the underlying logical reasoning that one uses a passive sentence in this circumstance, but not that circumstance? Or why

in this context passive voice is possible but not in that one? It is cognitive linguistics that does the job of exploring and uncovering the fundamental logical foundations of the use of language in different situations in general, and passive voice and active voice in particular

1.6 Passivity in Vietnamese

Different researchers and scholars have varying views on whether Vietnamese has passive structures or not Some state that Vietnamese is a monotony language, and verbs in Vietnamese do not possess indicators of persons, numbers, tenses, etc.; thus, Vietnamese does not have passive voice like other languages, e.g French, English, which undergo a change in morphology of the verbs in passive sentences Some others argue that although Vietnamese does not own passive voice with indicators as a change in morphology, the language does show a form called passive voice (c.f Diệp Quang Ban & Nguyễn Thị Thuận, 2000; Nguyễn Hồng Cổn & Bùi Thị Diên, 2004; Diệp Quang Ban, 2005)

For a better understanding, the author intends to leave this issue to be discussed

in chapter 5 of part II where the author will provide evidence for the notion that passive structures exist in Vietnamese, supporting researchers who believe passive voice can be seen in Vietnamese The author will suggest a framework or foundation for a proposal of passive prototype in Vietnamese, thus making it possible to discuss the phenomenon Also in chapter 5, part II, this study will discuss the passive structures in Vietnamese from the perspective of a cognitive notion of cognitive semantics, a view from prototype theory

Regarding prototypicality, this study argues that Vietnamese has the so-called passive voice The phenomenon is seen from the standpoint of cognitive linguistics

that our organization of experiences2 into categories is based on prototypicality rather than necessary conditions The so-called passive voice in Vietnamese will be argued as a syntactic category which itself is a generalization over similar experiences

1.7 Summary

The chapter has presented a deep analysis from the perspective of major schools

of linguistics Traditional grammar mentions the change in morphology while generative grammar focuses on the movement of noun phrases Functional grammar takes a step further into the language use while discussing passive structures This chapter has indicated main constraints which remain unresolved and need reconsideration

2

One major tenet of cognitive linguistics is that meaning is grounded in the shared human experience of bodily existence.

Chapter II - Cognitive Semantics

2.1 Introduction

In this study, cognitive semantics is the main interest which provides gateways for the understanding and analysis of linguistic expressions, especially passive structures which are the object of study in this research This chapter explores the filed of cognitive semantics, thus enabling the writer to provide a thorough theoretical framework/background for the study The notions of cognitive semantics which will be deployed and implemented in explaining and discussing the passive voice

2.2 Definitions of terms

This section will present basic common assumptions within the scope of the study, based on the theory of cognitive linguistics, and in particular cognitive semantics The section will elaborate on terms that are used in this dissertation, and will also display the concepts that this study will be based on; in other words, although the nature of the theory of cognitive linguistics does not differ, there are several slightly different ways of explaining the terms This part will show our understanding of the terms which are used through the dissertation

By confining the definition of terms in this study, the writer limits the scope so that the terms are defined within the range that my study will pursue This part displays our understanding of cognitive linguistics, and in particular cognitive semantics This is because there is such slight diversity, in terms of expression, of some basic concepts in cognitive linguistics, e.g Base and Profile vs Figure and Ground; however, the gap between them is not big enough to cause controversy or contradiction

2.2.1 Cognitive Science

It is impossible to be sure of a definition of what cognitive science is, since

different scholars, e.g Thagard, Trask, or dictionaries, e.g The Oxford dictionary of

Computing, The Macmillan Dictionary of Psychology, have slightly different

definitions In our understanding, cognitive science is a new branch that studies the human mind A wide range of sub-branches of cognitive science has been put into research, e.g perception, acquisition of knowledge, artificial intelligence, linguistics, etc More importantly, the purpose of cognitive science is to provide an understanding of the phenomena of thinking

2.2.2 Cognitive Linguistics

Cognitive Linguistics (CL) is an approach to language that is based on our experience of the world and the way we perceive and conceptualize it (Ungerer & J-Schmid, 1996: x.) According to CL, language is an integral part of cognition; as a result, it is useful to study language in light of what is known about the mind (c.f Taylor, 2002: 8.) The field of CL studies how language and concepts are related to underlying processes of the human mind (Schroeder, 2005.)

CL emphasizes that the study of language is the study of language use (Fauconnier, 2000) because language is an integral part of cognition which reflects the interaction of social, cultural, psychological, communicative and functional cognitive development and mental processing, which can only be understood in the

context of a realistic view of acquisition (Editors of journal Cognitive Linguistics

Research, cited in Taylor, ibid.)

CL is written with a capital „C‟ in order to distinguish with a small „c‟ in cognitive linguistics developed by Noam Chomsky (1957) who describes languages

in terms of rules; and from rules we would generate well-formed sentences People have this ability to acquire rules from the very first day of birth, which means the ability to acknowledge the rules by human beings is inborn On the contrary, CL

hypothesizes that language is a manifestation of mental processes which is just like any other kind of behavior that is acquired by human beings gradually; therefore, it

is not innate

2.2.3 Cognitive semantics

Cognitive semantics is a branch of cognitive linguistics It rejects the formal traditions of attributing linguistics to phonology, syntax, pragmatics, etc, and states that meaning is independent from syntax On the other hand, cognitive semantics states that meanings come from our mind; or rather, meanings are in the head (Gardenfors, 1994.)

Moreover, meanings are not independent from syntax; but semantics is primary

to syntax and partly determines it, and syntax cannot be described independently of semantics (Gardenfors, 1994.) In other words, meanings cannot stand apart from the people who use and create them because all linguistic expressions must come from and be activated by our mind and brains The activation of meaning is different from person to person because meaning is based on individual experience as well as collective experience (Barcelona, 1997.) In short, cognitive semantics studies the relationship between language and experience and embodied cognition

2.2.4 Conceptualization

Conceptualization is a fundamental concept in cognitive linguistics and in cognitive semantics in particular; conceptualization refers to the ways human beings perceive things or situations in different ways One situation, which is truth-functionally equivalent, can be conceptualized differently, resulting in different linguistic expressions

In other words, conceptualization refers to the processes of our thought or our mental experience In our mind, there exist concepts which are „any item, sets of

items, or structure in the mind‟ (Jensen, 2004.) When we encounter experiences, our experiences will be turned into concepts if they are acquired as knowledge

Cognitive linguistics claim that „meaning is equated with conceptualization‟ (Langacker, 2002:2); this means that the meaning of an expression closely relates to the way the speaker or writer conceptualizes the thing/situation being reported The notion has to do to with embodiment, which is elaborated upon in the following section

2.2.5 Embodiment

Cognitive semantics claims that the meanings of language are embodied, which means that it is the speaker‟s bodily experience that triggers the linguistic expressions that carry the meaning(s) to the hearer(s) All experiences are „filtered

by perception‟ (Janda, 2000, revised 2006.) In other words, we perceive things in the world differently; each of us has different perceptions on even one event or situation As a result, the language we use to describe the world must undergo changes through speaker‟s or writer‟s perception, resulting in a fact that language is not the „description of the real word (nor any possible world), but rather a description of human perception of reality‟ (Janda, ibid.) Take for example, looking

at a given event, different people have different viewpoints on it The difference results from the difference in their perception, which in turn yields different linguistic expressions These expressions actually display their perception on the given event, not the description of the real world

2.2.6 Experience

Experience is an important concept in cognitive linguistics Experience refers to the perception human beings hold of the world around them What we perceive from the world, through senses, is stored in our mind, which is turned into knowledge (Note: Knowledge can be acquired through other processes, e.g learning.)

Experience also refers to the interaction of people with the world out there Thus, different people may have different interpretations of one situation or event; or even one person may have different interpretations of the same event at different times People perceive experience and then express perception through languages which describe what they think or feel about the world Consequently, it is possible to have different linguistic expressions used to describe even one issue or event happening in the real world due to the differences of interpretation as analyzed above (c.f Jensen, 2004; Croft & Cruse, 2004; Lee, 2001.)

2.2.7 Construal

Construal is a term used in Cognitive Linguistics to refer to the ways people perceive an event or situation in the real world, which then becomes knowledge Cognitive linguists argue that there is no direct mapping between the external world, e.g the world in reality, and linguistic forms as it was believed in traditional and generative linguistics One given situation or event in the external world can be

„construed‟ in different ways and those different ways of encoding a situation constitute different conceptualizations (Lee, 2001: 2.) In other words, we have an ability to „construe‟ a situation in many different ways: by alternating the Figure-Ground organizations, by varying the amount of details with which the scene is specified such as leaving or including some particular circumstances, etc (c.f Taylor, 2002: 11.)

2.2.8 Frame (semantics)

The idea was developed by Charles J Fillmore (1982) who tries to „offer a particular way of looking at word meanings, as well as a way of characterizing principles for creating new words and phrases, for adding new meanings to words and for assembling the meanings of elements in a text into the total meaning of the text‟ (p 111.) The theory argues that speakers/readers would not understand words without accessing the entire essential knowledge which relates to that word This

means that a word activates/evokes a frame of semantic knowledge relating to the specific concept to which it refers

The relationship between a word and its frame (semantics) is very similar to Langacker‟s (1987) „profile‟ and „base.‟ Langacker‟s example of the word

hypotenuse shows that no one could possibly understand this word without

knowledge of what a right triangle is, or the concept of a right triangle All the

features used to describe a triangle form a frame against which the word hypotenuse

is to be defined Langacker states that the right triangle is the base and the

hypotenuse is the profile

2.2.9 Perspectives

Perspectives relate to the issue of point of view taken by the speaker/writer in communication Perspectives include several notions, such as orientation, vantage point, directionality, subjectivity, etc Reality (of the world out there) is perceived differently by different people due to the differences in their perspective viewpoint Once the event/situation described is seen from different standpoints, different concepts are created in the perceivers, thus resulting in different construals, which

lead to different linguistic expressions

2.3 Cognition and linguistics

There has been a growing movement of researches and studies in the field of cognitive science As a result, there are a dozen definitions of cognition The major tenets of cognition proposed include the study of mind and intelligence, the acquisition of knowledge through perception and experience, and the organization

of knowledge into mental activities and processes Moreover, cognition relates to our mind, rather than our thought, which relates to the conscious or unconscious processing of knowledge via mental operations In short, cognitive science is

concerned with major functions of human beings, such as thinking, reasoning,

remembering, etc (c.f Thagard, 1996; Bechtel et al., 1998; Jensen, 2004.)

Linguistics is the scientific study of human language It attempts to answer the questions of what language is, and how language is related to other human faculties Linguists have been making attempts to understand the commonalities between languages, the unique features of individual languages, and much more, e.g how languages are structured, how they are learned and used, etc

Although linguistics is the study of language, knowledge of a language is far different from knowledge of linguistics For example, a person can drive a car but that does not necessarily mean that he knows how the engine works, just like a person who knows a language but fails to understand its internal structure Therefore, it is the job of linguists to explore how a language works, to explain the role of language in life, etc

It is apparent that there is a very close relationship between cognition and language, thus resulting in attempts to figure out how that relation works And one

of the branches of the science of studying language is cognitive linguistics The following section will present a brief introduction of cognitive linguistics, including our point of view about this school of linguistics

2.4 Cognitive Linguistics

Cognitive Linguistics is the scientific study of human languages in relation to human cognition In other words, it is concerned with investigating the relationship between our (human) language, our mind and our socio-physical experiences Cognitive linguistics concerns the relationship between the way we communicate with each other and the way we think (c.f Jensen, 2004.) Or, as Fauconier (2005) states it is the study of language, conceptual systems, human cognition, and general meaning construction

Cognitive Linguistics is a modern and innovative approach to the study of language and mind, and their relationship with embodied experience and culture

CL is a school of linguistics and cognitive science It aims to provide account of language with the human mind CL argues that the language we use and our ability

to learn and use it is accounted for by general cognitive abilities, our visual and human categorization strategies, together with our cultural, contextual, and functional parameters (Barcelona, 1997) CL views linguistics knowledge as a part

of human general thinking and cognition People‟s linguistic/language performance cannot be separated from other cognitive abilities

Cognitive Linguistics rejects the idea that we can study the language independently from human cognition It claims that meanings cannot exist independently from the people who use them All linguistic forms act as clues activating the meanings from our minds

The major point that distinguishes cognitive linguistics from traditional and generative grammar is what is attributed to the meaning of language In other words, in generative grammar, the structure of linguistic expressions is said to be determined by a formal rule system which is largely meaning dependent On the other hand, cognitive linguistics argues that the linguistic structure is a direct reflex

of cognition, both in the general sense that every linguistic expression is a reflection

of the structure of the human cognitive system, and in the more particular sense that every linguistic expression is associated with a particular way of conceptualizing a given situation

Cognitive Linguistics confirms that the study of human language is the study of language use, and that „when we engage in any language activity, we draw unconsciously on vast cognitive and cultural resources, call up models and frames, set up multiple connections, coordinate large arrays of information, and engage in creative mappings, transfers, and elaborations‟ (Fauconnier, 2005.)

In terms of framework, Cognitive Linguistics is not a totally homogeneous one

In their book, An introduction to cognitive linguistics, Ungerer and Schmid (1996)

distinguish three major approaches in CL: the Experiential view, the Prominence view and the Attentional view The Experiential view refers to the idea that language emerges from people‟s everyday experience or interaction with the surrounding environment The Prominence view refers to the idea that language users organize the structures of their utterances in a way that the most prominent information is given attention so as to prioritize most noticeable information to the speakers and hearers The Attentional view refers to the idea that human beings can not describe all of what is happening in the real world; instead, people select what attracts them most to report

2.5 Major principles of cognitive linguistics

2.5.1 Embodiment in cognitive linguistics

Cognitive linguistics claims that meaning is embodied (c.f Johnson, 1987; Lakoff, 1987.) Language is not an abstract cognitive faculty, independent from other human cognitive processes; on the contrary, our language is created from our daily and real experience „We construct and understand our categories on the basis

of concrete experiences, and under the constraints imposed, first and foremost our bodies (Barcelona, 1997: 9.)

Human conceptual categories, the meaning of words and sentences, the meaning

of linguistic structures at any level, are not just a set of universal abstract features,

or of uninterpreted symbols (Barcelona: ibid.); quite the opposite: they are activated and motivated directly in our daily experience in our life: in our bodily, social, physical, or social experiences (c.f Ibarretxe-Antunano, 1999; Janda, 2000.)

People experience the real world and examine what they perceive; then it is their perception that filters the experience And it is a fact that no one is alike; thus, their perception about the world differs, resulting in the difference in their description of