Abstract
The article focuses on analyzing verbalization means, which serve to represent the conceptual sphere “geopolitics” in the modern English-speaking worldview. While mastering a foreign language it is necessary to learn a huge bulk of vocabulary and other linguistic information. How lexical units are acquired, stored and arranged in our mind is a controversial issue for psychologists, linguists and educators. To facilitate this process, one should investigate the principles of a second language mental lexicon functioning. The research is aimed at revealing the connection between language means and knowledge representation structures and relies mostly on the ideas professed by Cognitive Semantics. Cognitive modeling and interpretation combined with traditional linguistic methods enabled us to identify the contexts of cognitive understanding the phenomenon of geopolitics in the modern English-speaking worldview. We identify the conceptual sphere “geopolitics” as a complex of interrelated concepts that structure the phenomenon of geopolitics in native speakers’ consciousness. The research presents two cognitive models of the conceptual sphere—the nuclear and peripheral one, and the hierarchical one. The conceptual sphere under study is a complex multidimensional mental formation, its content being formed by its notional, figurative and evaluative components. The verbalization of the conceptual sphere components becomes possible due to the action mechanisms of word formation such as affixation, compounding, blending and reduction. The figurative component of the conceptual sphere is realized by a number of cognitive metaphorical models.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsReferences
Aristotle. (1998). Nicomachean ethics. USA: Oxford University Press.
Askoldov, S. A. (1997). The concept versus the word: Russian Philology. From Philology theory toward text structure. Moscow: Academia (In Russian).
Besner, D., & Humphreys, G. W. (Eds.). (1991). Basic processes in reading: Visual word recognition. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Bonin, P. (2004). Mental lexicon: Some words to talk about words. New York: Nova Science Publishers.
Clark, H., & Marshall, C. (1981). Definite reference and mutual knowledge. Elements of discourse understanding. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Evans, V. (2009). How words mean. New York: Oxford University Press.
Evans, V., & Green, M. (2006). Cognitive linguistics: An introduction. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
Gairns, R. (1986). Working with words: A guide to teaching and learning vocabulary. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Gibbs, R. (1994). The Poetics of mind. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Givon, T. (1979). Discourse and syntax: Syntax and simatintics. New York: Academic Press.
Jackendoff, R. (1994). Patterns in the mind: Language and human nature. N.Y.: BasicBooks.
Jackendoff, R. (2002). Foundations of language: Brain, meaning, grammar, evolution. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Karasik, V. I., & Slyshkin, H. H. (2001). Lingua cultural concept as research object. In I. A. Sternin (Ed.), Methodological problems of cognitive linguistics (pp. 75–80). Voronezh: Voronezh State University (In Russian).
Kim, K. L. (1996). Caged in our own signs: A book about semiotics. Norwood, NJ: Ablex Pub.
Kolshansky, H. V. (1990). Objective worldview in cognition and language. Moscow: Science. (In Russian).
Kosharnaya, S. A. (2002). Myth and language: An experiment of linguaculturological reconstruction of Russian mythological worldview. Belgorod: BSU. (In Russian).
Kövecses, Z. (2002). Metaphor: A practical introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Kövecses, Z. (2005). Metaphor in culture: Universality and variation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Kubryakova, Ye S. (2004). Language and knowledge: On the way to obtain knowledge about language. Moscow: Languages of Slavonic Culture. (In Russian).
Lakoff, G. (1993). The contemporary theory of metaphor. In A. Ortony (Ed.), Metaphor and thought (2nd ed., pp. 202–251). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Lakoff, G., & Johnson, M. (1980). Metaphors we live by. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Langacker, R. W. (2000). Grammar and conceptualization. Berlin and New York: Mouton de Gruyter.
Lyapin, S. H. (1997). Conceptology: Towards approach foundation. Concepts, 1, 32–45. Arkhangelsk (In Russian).
Pavilenis, R. I. (1983). Problem of sense: Modern logical and philosophical analysis of language. Moscow: Thought. (In Russian).
Santa Ana, O. (1999). ‘Like an animal I was treated’: Anti-immigrant metaphor in US public discourse. Discourse and Society, 10, 191–224.
Singleton, D. M. (1999). Exploring the second language mental lexicon. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Stepanov, Yu S. (2007). Concepts: A thin envelope of civilization. Moscow: Languages of Slavonic Cultures. [In Russian].
Talmy, L. (2000). Toward a cognitive semantics. Concept Structuring Systems, 1, 104–118.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2017 Springer International Publishing AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Kurbatova, T. (2017). Basic Features of Conceptual Sphere “Geopolitics” in Modern English-Speaking Worldview. In: Piechurska-Kuciel, E., Szymańska-Czaplak, E., Szyszka, M. (eds) At the Crossroads: Challenges of Foreign Language Learning. Second Language Learning and Teaching. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-55155-5_3
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-55155-5_3
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-55154-8
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-55155-5
eBook Packages: EducationEducation (R0)