Chapter 7. Semiosis

Language structure is easier to visualise when syntax and semantics are separated, just as everyday circumstances are easier to visualise when time and space are separated. This similarity may point to a common structure governing how things and relations form wholes, in which case, the traditional notion of language as a stream of coded information could be attributed to the ontological perspective that renders temporality as the passage of time.

Language involves the simultaneous interpretation of its so-called spatial and temporal axes: paradigmatic and syntagmatic relations. This corresponds to spatial perception insofar as spatial relations are perceived relative to the observer's perspective, which emerges simultaneously from the very same space that is being observed. In each case, there is a continuum between spatial and temporal relations; a spatio-temporal continuum. Toward either end of the continuum, utterances become increasingly nonsensical. Consider, for example:

(1) Colourless green ideas sleep furiously.

This sentence is as nonsensical as a visual scene of a distant object appearing to be supported by a near object, such as the tiny man standing on an outstretched hand in figure 2. Although the objects are suitably positioned to produce the illusion, we know that tiny men do not exist, just a "green ideas" do not exist. The large gap in space between these two objects corresponds to the large gap in meaning between these two words. Although they appear together, they do not belong together. The failure to make appropriate paradigmatic choices in language corresponds to the failure to perceive depth in space.

At the other end of the continuum, sentences are composed of words that are semantically connected, but poorly arranged. For example:

(2) Dogs harmlessly young bark friendly.

This sentence could be likened to a portrait that repositions facial features in bizarre, yet still face-like assemblages, such as in figure 3. The elements seem to belong together, to the extent that they are semantically related. But, the syntagmatic relations between the various elements are distorted. The fact that it still resembles a face can be equated with the horizontal alignment of the words, which start with a capital letter and end with a full stop, indicating that this group of words is a sentence.

Figure 2. A distant object appearing to be connected to a near object.



Figure 3. Temporal distortion of facial features.

Since (1) lacks spatial integrity and (2) lacks temporal integrity, they each sit at opposite ends of the spatio-temporal continuum, with (1) at the temporal end and (2) at the spatial end. Of course, spatial and temporal relations are usually deployed to produce sensible utterances, by interacting to varying degrees, as per the notion of a continuum.

Chomsky (1957) suggests that the lack of meaning in a sentence like (1) proves that syntax is independent of meaning, because the syntactic patterns are coherent even when the meaning is not. But, the notion of a continuum challenges this postulate by representing grammar and lexicon as fundamentally interrelated. In fact, they are ontologically interrelated. Paradigmatic choices invoke a perspective, which is drawn in by the sense of movement invoked by syntagmatic connections.

When we apprehend speech sounds, the interplay between spatial and temporal relations can be used on the semantic plane, where words function as "anchor points around which complex neural dynamics can then swirl and coalesce" (Clark, 2005, p.18). One becomes situated in language, just as one becomes situated in space. This notion of language as "a form of environmental structuring" (p.3) can be augmented further, by equating spatial perception with latent inhibition, since both phenomena suppress the salience of background information. In the case of spatial perception, this refers to the sense of immediacy resulting from optic flow. In the case of latent inhibition, it refers to details shrouded by conceptual encoding.

By screening out information previously viewed as irrelevant, latent inhibition allows numerous categories of signification to be expressed at the same time. The symbols that combine sequentially to make morphemes are each taken from the set of alternatives (an alphabet). Morphemes are selected from the set of grammatical components that combine sequentially to form phrases, which combine to form sentences and so on and so forth, with the emergence of ever larger categories that overshadow their constituent parts, to create larger units. Latent inhibition can be compared to optic flow in the sense that the precise makeup of one's surroundings is suppressed so that attention can be directed to where one is going semantically.

Ultimately, the presence of meaning stems from the presence of perspective derived from optic flow. This perspective projects spatial relations, which produce the bounding from which hypostatic abstraction is derived. For example, the substantive "sweetness" is abstracted from the adjective "sweet" to transform "honey is sweet" into "honey possesses sweetness". This process of abstraction derives an object from a quality in a manner that parallels the projection of space from motion; motion being the "quality" of one's perspective, experienced as presence.

The interaction between the surfboard and the wave points to a subtle aspect of the relationship between language and mind, concerning the difference between foreground and background. This is reflected in the surfing analogy by how actively, versus passively, the surfer engages the wave. This difference can be sensed in tube riding, where the surfer has to be especially sensitive to the transition between active and passive engagement, which is controlled by the surfer shifting his centre of gravity relative to the surfboard. By shifting weight inward, the surfer actively engages the wave, because this causes the surfboard to penetrate at a sharper angle, which increases the resistance and, therefore, also the speed. By leaning outward, the penetration angle is lessened and the surfboard becomes flat against the water, making it drift sideways, thus slowing it down. Actively engaging the wave can be likened to foregrounding an entity, because the surfboard - its shape and motion - is the primary factor influencing where it is going. Passively engaging the wave can be likened to invoking background information, because the surfboard follows a track determined more by the shape and motion of the wave than by the shape and motion of the surfboard.

Figure 1. Construal serves to highlight quantity versus quality.
Diagram derived from Langacker (2008, p.133).

On this basis, a parallel can be drawn between the surfer's centre of gravity and the notion of construal in Cognitive Grammar. Active and passive engagement of the surfboard is analogous to the different processes determining count-nouns versus mass-nouns, i.e. how certain aspects of an entity can be highlighted or suppressed, to suit the communicative intent. For example, the count-noun waves highlights the individual entities that comprise a surf (i.e. the referent of the mass-noun), which conversely, suppresses the salience of individual waves to render the same entity as a homogeneous mass. This can be represented diagrammatically in terms of the boundary of one's attention relative to the boundary of the referent, such that one lies either inside or outside the other, as depicted in figure 4. For count-nouns, the referent lies within the boundary of attention. For mass-nouns, the focus of attention lies within the boundary of the referent.

When the focus of attention lies within the boundary of the referent, as in the case of mass-nouns, a sense of quality supplants the sense of quantity engendered by the reverse situation. Conversely, when the referent lies within the boundary of attention, quantity over-rides quality, to draw attention to the individual units. However, the symmetry of this depiction is misleading, since mass-nouns subsume count-nouns, e.g. surf subsumes waves. The difference in their construal is not easily represented in 2D, because construal is not a spatial relationship. But, it does concern spatial perception; which differs to spatial relations insofar as perception is a process and hence temporal.

If we equate count-nouns with foregrounding, then in the context of spatial perception, their individuation simultaneously separates the perceiver from the entity perceived, setting the two in a spatial context. Conversely, the correlation between mass-nouns and background information suspends this separation of the perceiver from the entity perceived, with the result that its quality is revealed through the invocation of a temporal context, projecting the observer's own sense of presence into the entity in question. Both mechanisms stem from spatial perception, but emphasise opposite aspects of the process, i.e. spatial versus temporal presence.

This link between quality and temporal presence (versus quantity and spatial presence) is also evident in verbs, where perfective verbs profile an event and imperfective verbs profile a state. Events are inherently temporal, so perfective verbs carry a sense of transition from one state to another, e.g. fall, jump, kick, bite, throw and break. Since these verbs represent processes involving two states, they are perceived in a spatial context, which simultaneously separates the perceiver from the event perceived. By contrast, a single state is inherently atemporal, so imperfective verbs invoke the temporality of the perceiver's own presence, (which differs to the temporality of events, insofar as presence is an unchanging state). Examples of imperfective verbs are; know, believe, like, love, detest and appreciate.

Although nouns and verbs are traditionally characterised as polar opposites, they each divide into sub-categories on the basis of essentially the same schema (Langacker, 2008, p.128). The prototypical nouns and verbs correspond to isolated objects and events, because the context of categorisation is inherently spatial. Although we tend to characterise nouns as objects and verbs as events, count-nouns and perfective verbs are no more valid than mass-nouns and imperfective verbs. But, their spatial character sets them apart more clearly than their alternatives would.

The spatial metaphor is inadequate, because it takes temporality for granted. Mass-nouns and imperfective verbs emerge from temporality in the same way the observer's perspective emerges from optic flow: their qualities are derived from the quality of the observer's own presence. The difference between mass-nouns and imperfective verbs and their discrete counterparts; count-nouns and perfective verbs, is motivated by the difference between temporal presence and spatial presence.

The ability to shift one's perspective toward the spatial end of the scale might have evolved for self-defense. A clear sense of your own physical presence is vital when faced by danger. The Serotonergic System works like a buffer, giving the brain time to interpret the threat posed by a given danger. Low levels of serotonin result in hyper-sensitivity, causing over-reactions to potential threats. When there is insufficient buffer, past experiences fail to inform present experiences, resulting in an over-emphasis on spatial relations, at the expense of temporal relations. Since conceptual encoding enables us to use packets of information without having to unpack their contents every time, reasoning skills depend on our ability to engage temporal relations, so spatial relations can emerge spontaneously at numerous levels of categorisation.

When information is unpredictable, the mind is guided more by observation than expectation, to ensure that even a minor loss of signal does not compromise the whole message. By contrast, when information is predictable, the overall message can be inferred, despite major loss of signal (Grush, 2004, p.381). Most of everyday talk is predictable. So, everyday talk would be represented in the surfing analogy by riding the shoulder of the wave, where the interplay between surfboard and wave is least demanding in terms of speed and curvature. As a result, the surfer's expectations can over-ride any disruption of the signal. By contrast, the interplay between surfboard and wave is most demanding in the hollow portion of the wave, where surface changes are more pronounced, both spatially and temporally. Riding this portion of the wave would therefore represent language that is unpredictable.

The simultaneous operation of numerous levels of categorisation might be captured by the complex curvature in the surface of the wave. This analogy is probably best expressed in the formation of a whirlpool, where it is easier to see that the water travels at different speeds, depending on the diameter of the orbit. In the time it takes for an upper level to complete one revolution, a lower level will have completed numerous. Considering the life-like changes that occur from moment to moment in a whirlpool - with its surface undulating and warping as it expands and contracts - the surfing metaphor possesses unlimited scope for depicting combinations of variables.

C H A P T E R S
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Surfism : Triadic relations : Articulation : Spatial perception : Dimensionality : Periodicity : Semiosis : Conclusion

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