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LaMiCuS
3 (2019)       


Table of contents / Spis treści

Editorial 4-7 


Od Redakcji 8-11


Articles / Artykuły

Hubert Kowalewski, Structural empiricist Cognitive Grammar 12-39

The article sketches a structural empiricism approach to Ronald Langacker’s Cognitive Grammar (CG). In philosophy of science, structural empiricism is a view on the goals of science and adopting this approach helps to solve important problems in methodology of CG and linguistics by and large. The article analyses three such problems. The first one is the evidence required for certain theoretical postulates of CG. From the structural empiricist perspective, purely theoretical concepts postulated by CG do not require evidence apart from the overall empirical adequacy of the theory. The second problem is the usefulness of diagrams used by Langacker as illustrations accompanying his analyses. On the syntactic view of scientific theories (compatible with structural empiricism), carefully designed diagrams can be mathematically rigorous formalizations of theoretical claims. The third problem is the legitimacy of constructed expressions in linguistic theorizing. In structural empiricism, constructed expressions can be treated similarly to idealizations in natural sciences, i.e. a cognitive grammarian may use them fruitfully for model-making without committing herself to the belief in their authenticity.

Keywords: Cognitive Grammar, structural empiricism, philosophy of science


Małgorzata Misiak, What does it mean to be a Lemko? On the questions of identity. Ethnolinguistic approach (paper in Polish) / Co to znaczy być Łemkiem? W kręgu pytań tożsamościowych. Ujęcie etnolingwistyczne 40-58

The aim of this article is to reconstruct the self-image of Lemkos – an ethnic group, originally from Transcarpathia, deported from their homeland after World War II. The data come from 34 ethnographic interviews conducted either in Lemko ethnolect (N=17) or in Polish (N=17). The analysis employed the methodology developed by Lublin School of Ethnolinguistics. It showed that there are four predominant profiles of Lemko identity: (1) Lemko – a victim of history, (2) Lemko – an exile, (3) An ethnic and cultural Lemko, (4) Lemko – a peasant.

Keywords: Lublin School of Ethnolinguistics, oral history, Lemko, identity, expulsions


Weronika Drosdowska, Multimodal construction of fear in a TV series – American Horror Story: Cult – Verbal and visual mode 60-82

Conceptual Metaphor Theory assumes that metaphors go beyond language and shape our conceptual systems. Conceptual metaphors have been researched multimodally and found in the verbal, visual, gestural, and other modes. Lately, metaphors have been studied in multimodal sources of data, e.g. movies. This article examines how the emotion of fear is constructed in multimodal discourse looking at American Horror Story: Cult – a television series representing the genre of horror. The point of departure is Zoltán Kövecses’ (1990, 2004) description of linguistic metaphors an metonymies of emotions. This paper aims to answer the question whether his findings are applicable to both the verbal and visual modes. Specifically, I looked at which fear metaphors and metonymies are present in both modes, and which are mode-specific. For the analysis of linguistic data the Metaphor Identification Procedure designed by the Pragglejaz Group (2007) has been employed, as well as keywords derived from Kövecses’ list of metaphors. To analyze the moving image, the analytic tools developed for cinematic language by Edgar-Hunt, Marland and Rawle (2010) were used. The study has shown that Kövecses’ core list of fear metaphors is applicable both to the verbal and the visual mode. New metaphors were also identified. Additionally, it was shown that the visual mode allows for more specificity, while the verbal mode allows for unconventional conceptualization in relation to particular discourse, here, political discourse.

Keywords metaphor, metonymy, fear, audiovisual mode, multimodality


Agnieszka Mierzwińska-Hajnos, Where music and text meet: A multimodal analysis of Vissi d’Arte aria 84-106

The aim of this paper is to scrutinize the factors that determine the multimodal character of operatic performances while analyzing Vissi d’Arte soprano aria of Giacomo Puccini’s Tosca. By using blending theory (Fauconnier and Turner 2002) as well as Brandt and Brandt’s six-space model of conceptual integration (2005), we will try to show that the integration of auditory and verbal modes of communication that accompany each operatic performance should be approached, first and foremost, as a conceptual operation –“the reflection of cognitive capacities of human beings” (Zbikowski 2009a: 448). It is also claimed that it is complex and dynamic conceptual operations that contribute to a better reception and understanding of arias in the speaker – hearer interaction.

Keywords: operatic performance, multimodality, conceptual blending, Vissi d’Arte aria


Francesca Carbone, Identification of emotions by prosody and semantics in French spontaneous speech: A pilot study 108-127

When we talk about emotions, we refer to a complex and structured phenomenon that can influence and be influenced by external and internal elements involved in communication such as context, behavior and feelings of other individuals. During the expression of emotions, these internal and external factors can have effects on both verbal and non-verbal cues which can change according to the context and the intentions of the speakers. This complexity of the emotional phenomenon has induced researchers to focus the attention on individual cues (e.g., intonation, verbal content) in isolation from the others. Although it is possible that the transmission of emotional information is entrusted to a single type of cues, this is certainly the least frequent case in the spontaneous production of emotional speech, in which, usually, the emotional phonological information co-occurs with the other segmental features (e.g. syllables, words). Consequently, studies on individual emotional cues have not increased our understanding of how people integrate nonverbal and verbal cues in the expression of emotions. The aim of this study is to face this topic by assessing the contribution of prosodic parameters (i.e., fundamental frequency, intensity, speech rate) versus verbal content to the decoding of emotions by a perception test in which spontaneous speech is manipulated through the application of filters, validated in previous research. French listeners are asked to identify sentences that were annotated and selected from a French spontaneous corpus (EmoTV). Stimuli are presented in three versions: integral (non-manipulated), verbal (the prosodic information is hidden by applying filters) and nonverbal (the verbal content is filtered and masked). Results display a higher accuracy for integral stimuli suggesting that emotions are decoded by the interaction of the two different channels. This confirms the adequacy of a cognitive model in which verbal and nonverbal cues to emotions are theoretically integrated.

Keywords emotions, spontaneous speech, semantics, prosody


Debate / Debata

Karolina Krawczak – Małgorzata Fabiszak, Introduction / Wstęp



Barbara Dancygier, The status of multimodal constructions in developing models and empirical testing – a multimodal semiotic perspective


Johanna Kissler, The status of multimodal constructions in developing models and empirical testing – a neuro-cognitive perspective



Dylan Glynn, The status of multimodal constructions in developing models and empirical testing – a methodological perspective



Karolina Krawczak – Małgorzata Fabiszak: Overview / Podsumowanie


Reviews / Recenzje

Waszakowa, Krystyna. 2017: Kognitywno-komunikacyjne aspekty słowotwórstwa. Wybrane zagadnienia opisu derywacji w języku polskim. Warszawa: Wydział Polonistyki Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego. 230 s. ISBN: 978-83-65667-44-1

Reviewed by Renata Przybylska


Edmondson, William H. 2017: The Sequential Imperative. General Cognitive Principles and the Structure of Behaviour. (Value Inquiry book series.) Leiden, Boston: Brill Rodopi. ISBN: 978-90-04-34289-7 (Pb), 978-90-04-34299-6 (E-book)

Reviewed by Andreas Baumann


Goldberg, Adele E. 2019. Explain Me This. Creativity, Competition, and the Partial Productivity of Constructions. Princeton: Princeton University Press. 195 pp. ISBN-13: 978-0-691-17426-6

Reviewed by Martin Hilpert


Peeters, Bert (ed.) 2019: Heart- and Soul-Like Constructs across Languages, Cultures, and Epochs. (Routledge Focus: Routledge Studies in Linguistics.) New York and London: Routledge. viii, 148 pp. ISBN: 978-138-74530-8 (Hb), 978-1-315-18067-0 (E-book)

Reviewed by Adam Głaz