JoLIE 15:2/2022
BOOK REVIEW
Teodora Popescu (Editor). New insights into the mental lexicon. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2022. Pp. i-xi, 1-240. ISBN: 978-1-5275- 8257-4.
Reviewed by Diana Avram, 1 Decembrie 1918 University of Alba Iulia
The book entitled New insights into the mental lexicon provides significant insights into meaning creation by unfolding a wide-ranging array of current preoccupations in cognitive linguistics, psycholinguistics, corpus research and media studies.
Notably, the present volume pursues the subtle issues of word or concept meanings, of the argument over the likely interface between meaning fixedness and fuzziness or fluidity, of the (im)possibility to deal with these ‘slippery customers’ (Labov 1973), and the ‘vague boundaries and fuzzy edges’ (Lakoff 1972) of natural language concepts. It is organised into three main parts, the first dedicated to the functioning and processing of meaning in both mother tongue (Romanian) and foreign language (English), the second concentrates on meaning creation in various discourses (cultural, political, business journalese, social media), whereas the third focuses on the subject of meaning construction in literary productions and film adaptations. As for the research methodology, the book is based on a large mixture of frameworks: Pragglezaj method (2007), MIPVU technique (2010), Charteris- Black’s (2004) critical metaphor analysis framework, Alice Deignan’s corpus-based metaphor analysis (2005), Halliday and Hasan’s Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) framework (1989), Forceville’s multimodal metaphor analysis theory (2009), parallel text analysis, Isabela and Norman Fairclough’s political discourse analysis (2012). Qualitative as well as quantitative analysis of data was carried out, coupled with semi-automatic treatment of text, using LancsBox and ConcApp concordancing software. The mental lexicon is mainly tackled from a cognitive-linguistic perspective rather than from a psycholinguistic one, with a conspicuous focus on abstract features of the lexicon, applying linguistic grammars and dictionaries, lexical databases (WordNet) and word categorisation in corpora. It is also worth mentioning that experimental data was formed from elicited behaviour of Romanian learners of English. Last but not least, limitations are imposed by the scope of research, carried out within a limited time frame and involving the construction of a small size of corpora.
The book New Insights into the Mental Lexicon is made up of ten contributions clustered around three topical directions in the analysis of meaning creation, i.e. development of the mental lexicon in mother tongue and foreign language, creation and comprehension of meaning in contemporary discourses (cultural, political, journalese, social media), on the one hand, and on the other in literature and film adaptations.
The first part includes three chapters concentrating on the mental lexicon in mother tongue and foreign language. Teodora Popescu’ contribution, titled Comprehension of figurative lexicon in English and Romanian, sets a conceptual framework for the analysis of figurative comprehension, outlining the key operational concepts and extending a taxonomy of figurative competence, seen as comprising four sub-competences, i.e. collocational, polysemic, idiomatic and paremiologic. According to Popescu, metaphorical competence is vital to figuration comprehension; however, it can be defined as a transversal competence, traceable across a variety of language structures, such as: collocations, polysemous words, idioms and proverbs. In addition, Chapter One describes the results of a pedagogic experiment which aimed at measuring disparities between the figurative lexicon in Romanian as mother tongue and English as a foreign language.
Chapter Two, authored by Andreea Laurențiu, A study of the mental lexicon in the oral discourse of Romanian learners of English, expounds the outcome of an online pedagogic experiment carried out among two groups of high school students which aimed at assessing oral discourses produced in a simulated high school leaving language examination. Romanian language (L1) and English language (L2) alike were analysed in this mock exam which was so designed as to measure lexical richness, cohesion, reference and register. It is worth mentioning that the experimental group students had previously completed a 12-week Public Speaking Program, which made the author initially postulate the hypothesis that at the end of this course, students’ oral discourses would disclose higher lexical density, diversity and richness.
Chapter Three, written by Crina-Maria Herţeg and Gabriela-Corina Șanta (Câmpean), A contrastive analysis of figurative language and metaphors in the ECoC Corpus, aims to identify collocations, figures of speech and linguistic metaphors in two parallel corpora. The corpora consist of the submissions of Romanian local authorities to secure the European Capital of Culture title, both in Romanian and English (the latter corpus consists of the translation of the original versions of the bids). Both corpora were the subjects of the comparative analysis carried out with the help of the LancsBox corpus analysis tool. The research results showed similarities in both corpora regarding the use of metonymy and personification. Furthermore, the analysis of the collocational frequency highlighted the predilection for nominal collocations. The purpose of the research questions was to reveal the perspective of the perception of culture in Romanian society. Therefore, the authors also identified the most prevalent conceptualisations in the corpus, which are the following: CULTURE IS A HUMAN BEING, CULTURE IS FOOD, CULTURE IS AN ENGINE/MACHINE, CULTURE IS A BUILDING, CULTURE IS A PLANT, CULTURE IS A PATIENT, CULTURE IS MEDICINE, CULTURE IS A JOURNEY, AND CULTURE IS A CONTAINER.
Part Two comprises three main chapters focused on the research of figurative language in contemporary discourse.
The fourth chapter, titled Presidential discourse in US pre-election debates: A normative interpretation of ironic and sarcastic references penned by Adina Botaș, focuses on a series of selected pieces of talk-in-interaction. It is based on candidates’ ironic and sarcastic references to their opponents during US presidential debates. The analysis is conducted from a pragma-rhetorical approach, considering the normative component of political discourse analysis (Fairclough, & Fairclough 2012) while adhering to critical discourse analysis principles (Fairclough 1999). The author successfully identified presidential candidates’ less apparent connotations and semantic associations when referring to their opponents in their endeavours to disqualify them by using rhetorical tricks to lure the audience and obtain their validation.
Chapter five, A contrastive approach to puns in Romanian and English Internet static memes, by Diana Emanuela Tîrnăvean, provides an enticing insight into humour, irony and sarcasm in Romanian and English Internet static memes as identified via different social networking sites such as Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest. The author approached as a research methodology the contrastive analysis concerning how people from different cultures assemble and decipher such memes. Irony and sarcasm rely on extensive knowledge rather than core meaning, and memes focus laboriously on basic frequent words with fuzzy meanings to ensure their humorous effect. Moreover, the results based on identifying the multitude of wordplays of both Romanians and Americans conveyed their similar preference of expression through puns in static Internet memes.
The sixth chapter, Conceptualisations of apps in business journalese, authored by Bianca Tincu, focuses on app metaphors and their overall image as depicted in journalese, specifically in The Economist’s online newspaper. The prominent inquiry is for the Facebook and Instagram apps. However, the self-made corpus articles also refer to other big tech companies such as Google or Apple. Findings showed the interconnection between apps and newspapers, the first being a fruitful source of information for the latter and also unveiled six main categories of metaphors: CONTINENTS ARE LIVING ORGANISMS, ORGANISATIONS ARE LIVING ORGANISMS, IDEAS ARE PEOPLE, ORGANISATIONS ARE INSTRUMENTS OF DOMINATION, PROFITS ARE FOOD FOR INVESTMENTS, AND COMPETITION IS WAR.
The third part divides into four chapters, which research the interpretation of meanings in literary works and cinematic adaptations.
The seventh chapter, titled The construction of double identities in Robert Louis Stevenson’s “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” by Melinda Gorgan, discloses the duality of human nature as reflected through linguistic devices. Again, the author concentrates primarily on indexicals that significantly contribute to constructions that emphasise the themes of the split self, duality, and atavism. Furthermore, when applied to characters, various semantic and lexical fields were construed as conveying a message of duality and a blending of light and darkness. The conclusion points out that the dichotomy of the rational, social self versus atavistic regression is exemplified not only by the downward cascading of events but also by the symbolism and atmosphere eventuated through the conscious use of bizarre linguistic structures, ambiguous indexicals and semantic fields alienating the two conflicting personae of the human self.
Chapter Eight, Adina-Mirela Feșteu’s contribution, The multimodal semantics of violence in “The Hunger Games” trilogy and film series, delves into the linguistic structures that comprise the fictional framework of violence in The Hunger Games trilogy, as well as an examination of visual and multimodal metaphors in the series' dramatised version. The author intends to conduct a componential analysis of the meaning of violence, along with an identification of verbal, monomodal, and multimodal metaphors that aid in constructing violence. Furthermore, another aim is to conduct a comparative analysis of violence in both book and film series and decipher symbols and signs using social semiotic studies. The author claims that in Collins’ auctorial discourse, the semantic field of violence is substantial. It is essential to mention that the findings revealed that the semantic field was construed not only by words and by expressions within its semantic meanings, and also by solid metaphors and visuals that avoid verbalising pure, elemental aggression.
The ninth chapter, The “linguistic self” in Rodica Braga’s autofiction, authored by Sorina Victoria, endeavours an interdisciplinary approach to autofiction by scrutinising it from a linguistic viewpoint. The study is conducted through various lenses, including first-person perspective, subjectivity, self-referentiality, self- consciousness, self-knowledge, self-portrayal, self-construction, and self- representation through linguistic devices. According to Victoria, Rodica Braga used multiple forms of self-reference to express her linguistic self, revealing the ego- anchored feature of her writing and autofiction overall. To unveil “de se beliefs” (mainly “I”, “here”, and “now”), the poetess primarily relied on indexicals, specifically pure indexicals (Kaplan 1989) or egocentric particulars (Russell 1919).
The final chapter, titled The language of a psychopath and its influence on childhood trauma in the autobiographical novel “A Child Called 'It'” by Dave Pelzer, a contribution of Rebeca-Rahela Marchedon, aims to investigate a psychopath mother’s language as well as the traumatic effect her words may have on her child. Marchedon focuses primarily on the usage of the pronoun “it”, which depersonalises the son, eradicates his personality and attempts to cast guilt, shame, and humiliation on him.
The author’s viewpoint of the native language is consistent with Emily Smedley's theory of linguistic devices held in common by psychopaths and Olivia Rayne’s theory of behavioural characterisation. Furthermore, it mirrors and underlines how words' power and misuse may become a depersonalisation, annihilation programme like a weapon.
To conclude, the book New Insights into the Mental Lexicon provides a novel perspective on meaning creation in today’s topical domains that will enlighten and inspire both the general reader and the specialist to further research the fascinating facets of the mental lexicon in the mother tongue and foreign language, in various types of discourses from political, cultural, social media, business journalese to literature and cinematic adaptations. The book’s complexity and a wide array of inquiries propose it as a compulsory reading, particularly for anyone interested in gaining a broader understanding of the mental lexicon from various perspectives.
References
Deignan, A. (2005). Metaphor and corpus linguistics. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Fairclough, N. (1989). Language and power. New York: Longman.
Fairclough, I., & Fairclough, N. (2012). Political discourse analysis: A method for advanced students. London: Routledge.
Forceville, Ch. (2009). Non-verbal and multimodal metaphor in a cognitivist framework: Agendas for research. In Ch. Forceville, & E. Urios-Aparisi (Eds.), Multimodal metaphor (pp. 19-42). Berlin & New York: Mouton de Gruyter.
Kaplan, David, (1989). Demonstratives. In P. Almog, & H. Wettstein (Eds.). Themes from Kaplan (pp. 481–563). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Lakoff, G. (1972) Hedges: A study in meaning criteria and the logic of fuzzy concepts. Chicago Linguistic Society Papers, 8, 183-228.
Pragglejaz Group (2007). MIP: A method for identifying metaphorically used words in discourse. Metaphor and Symbol, 22(1), 1-39.
Russell, B. (1919). On propositions: What they are and how they mean. Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, 2, 1–43.
Steen, G. (2010). A method for linguistic metaphor identification: From MIP to MIPVU. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing.
How to cite this article: Avram, D. (2022). Teodora Popescu (Editor). New insights into the mental lexicon. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2022. Pp. i-xi, 1-240. ISBN: 978-1-5275- 8257-4. Journal of Linguistic and Intercultural Education – JoLIE, 15(2), 203-208. doi: https://doi.org/10.29302/jolie.2022.15.2.15
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