Resumen de datos

This is a verb with a meaning related to understanding, discovering, planning or deciding. Mental - state verbs refer to cognition states that are generally unavailable for outside evaluation. Common- mental- state verbs in English include

( 3 5 )know, think, learn, understand, perceive, feel, guess, recognize, notice, want, wish, hope, decide, expect, remember, forget, imagine and believe

Arad (1998) in Uchechukwu (2012) explains psych verb as verb denoting mental states, whereby the participant who experiences the mental state is referred to as an experiencer. These verbs are divided into two syntactic groups: subject experiencer and object- experiencer verbs and include the English verbs frighten, love or surprise. Isse (2008) in Uchechukwu (2012) in a comparative analysis of psych verbs in English and Japanese defines English psych verbs as dyadic verbs that possess two different arguments, experiencer and theme. Isse (2008) in Uchechukwu (2012) also divides psych verbs into subject-experiencer and object-experiencer verbs as Arad (1998) did.

Cook’s (1979:63-65) case grammar matrix is a system based on two parameters. Cooks frame (1979:63-65) classifies ‘know’ as state experiential verb [E. Os] where Os is Stative Object, e g:

38 doubt, know, like, want. Cook’s case grammar matrix is based on two parameters - Nweze (2011) is in agreement with Emenanjọ that ‘psychological verbs’ have inherent complements which can be nouns or prepositional verbs.

In Longacre (1976:44-9) ‘know’ is under factual, knowledge verb- know, learn, teach, study. Example under state: Susan knows algebra (E, R) - Experiencer and Range in its thematic role posed as nuclear by Longacre: In Role and Reference Grammar (RRG). Vendler (1968) classified verbs into state (eg have, know, believe), (state, achievement, accomplishment and activities) time of any instant (in given interval) e.g. love, know, resemble, etc. Chafe offers a number of semantico-syntactic tests that are indicative in distinguishing the basic verb types. The following relations are discussed in Chafe's model: Agent, Patient, Experiencer, Beneficiary, Complement, Locative and Instrument. State verbs describe the state or condition of a single argument (The elephant is dead) and they associate with Patient. State verbs are sub classified into two major classes comprising locational and non-locational verbs. Among the non-locational verbs, the following subclasses are distinguished: state or condition, perception, cognition, possession and equational verbs. Patient is associated with the single argument of a single-argument stative verb of state or condition, as in

(36a)The watch is broken.

(36b) The magazine is on the desk

Theme is the second argument of two place stative verbs, e.g. the magazine in The desk is a locative, the first argument of two place locational stative verbs. Experiencer is the first argument with a two place stative perception verbs.

2.2.4 Theories of semantic meaning The researcher is considering how different theories applicable to the lexical items help to understand

how to analyse the lexical items connected to the study of the verbal complexes in the analysis of the verb root ‘má’ which is a lexical item under study. Here underlisted are some of the different theories.

1. Prototype theory

2. Image schema /Analogical mapping theory

39 2.2.4.1 Prototype theory of meaning

Prototype Theory in linguistics

Cruse (1990:382-402) explains that from the linguistic point of view, the prototype theory can be used for categorism from two different perspectives. The first is to establish the prototypical members of a category or what Tylor (2003:64) refers to as ‘prototype-as-examplar-view’. In this approach, the extent of the prototypicality is determined by the relationship between a category and its members. The second is the prototypical feature or characteristics approach, which involves describing a category or concept in terms of its features or characteristics. Tylor (2003:64) calls this the ‘prototype-as-subcategory’ approach while Geeraerts (2006:28) calls it referential hypothesis.

Linguists according to Cruse (1990:383) adopt this later perspective of the prototype characteristic approach because the attributes of a category is viewed as semantic features of the category that serve as a conventional label for the category. No member of the category according to Cruse (1990:3820) and Tylor (2003) within this approach may manifest all the prototypical features of the category. This method can be adopted for the analysis of the prototypical features of the copula verbs of the Igbo language. The distinction between the literal meaning and the figurative meanings can be related to the concept of ‘prototypes’ and ‘extensions’ in cognitive semantics. Lobner (2002) identifies some of the weaknesses of prototypes as: weakness of the prototype theory of meaning. The prototype theory of meaning has its origin within the field of psychology. This is the work of Rosch (1973, 1975b, 1978), the propounder of prototype. This is found in Rosch, Mervis, Gray, Johnson and Boyes- Braem (1976:383). In many research works, how many research projects about how human beings and other organisms deal cognitively with their perceptions of the world outside is carried out. Their conclusion is that “one of the most basic functions of all organisms is the cutting up of the environment into classifications by which non-identical stimuli can be treated as equivalent.”Human beings can only categorise based on what they can perceive which is of greater significance to the categorisation process (Johnson 2003:12). Prototype explains the meaning of certain words in terms of resemblance exemplified. Aitchison (2003:69) opines that the disparate nature of prototypes make it wiser to speak of prototype effects rather than straight prototypes. Prototype theory is used to establish, characterize copula verbs in the Igbo language. Since this theory is based on the model of ‘necessary sufficient conditions’, NSC, it has been used to categorise things such as colour, furniture, birds, fruits and clothing etc.

40 2.2.4.2 Image schema- theory or analogical mapping

Johnson (1987), entitled image schema theory is proposed as a more primitive level of cognitive structure underlying metaphor and which provides a link between bodily experience and higher cognitive domains such as language. Image schema has inherent spatial recurring structure within our cognitive processes, which establishes patterns of understanding and reasoning. Image schemas are basic carriers of meaning in cognitive semantics. Johnson (1987:29) discusses image schemas as ambivalent between imagery and embodiment. Image schemas are formed from our daily interactions, from linguistic experiences and from historical context. Johnson uses the term ‘schema’, ‘embodied schema’ and ‘image schema’ interchangeably’. He opines, that ‘a schema is a recurrent pattern, shape, and regularity in, or of, these ongoing ordering activities’. These patterns emerge as meaningful structures for us chiefly at the level of our bodily movements. They are structures that organize mental representation at a level more general and abstract than that at which particular mental images are formed. Image schemas are recognized as fundamental ingredients in human cognition and creative thought. Image schema helps us to mentally structure perceptions and events in our daily lives.

It is a representation of fundamental unit of sensory experiences. Lakoff (1987) and Johnson (1987) argue that schemas such as ‘container’, ‘source-path -goal’ and ‘link’ are among the most closely connected to state of being experiences. They also claim that most image schemata are closely connected to state of being experiences. Johnson (1987:29) specifies the ‘image’ version as a ‘dynamic pattern that functions somewhat like the abstract structures of an image, and thereby connects up a vast range of different experiences that manifest this same recurring structure’. This should be contrasted with the “embodied” version as follows: “There must be pattern and order to show our actions, perception, conceptions in order to have meaningful, connected experiences that we can comprehend and reason about. A schema is a recurrent pattern, shape, and regularity in, or of, these ongoing ordering activities. These patterns emerge meaningfulstructures for us chiefly at the level of our bodily movement through space, our manipulations of objects, and our perceptual interactions”

Zlatev (1997:40-44) in modifying image schema argues that the notion is used in different ways by different cognitive semanticists. Saeed (2007:379) citing Johnson’s (1987) approach, asserts that conceptual structures include image schemas, which form more cognitive models by processes of metaphor and metonymy. Image schemas are abstract concepts consisting of patterns emerging from repeated instance of experience e.g bowl, plates, things -ruler. Saeed (2007:355) views states as containers and gives the following examples: He’s in love, He’s coming out of the coma now, She got

41 into a rage, We stood in silence. Holmqvist (1993:31) tries to develop formalism for image schema suitable for computer implementations, defines image schema as “that part of a picture which remains when all the structure is removed from the picture: except for that which belongs to a single morpheme, a sentence or a piece of text in a linguistic description of a picture […]”

The most condensed account of image schema is from Gibbs and Colston (1995:349), defining image schemas as “dynamic analogue representations of relations and movements in space”. The developmental psychologist Jean Mandler (e.g. 1992, 1996, and 2004) has made a number of proposals concerning how image schemas might arise from embodied experience. Starting at an early age infants attend to objects and spatial displays in their environment. Langacker’s analysis of image schema is done mainly in spatial terms. For example, his description of “climb” involves only the vertical dimension, together with the time dimension, where the latter is ubiquitous with the verbs. No forces are involved in his analysis. Thus, the schema does not differentiate between ‘pull up’, ‘push up’, and

‘climb’. What is missing is that the meaning of ‘climb’ involves the trajectory that exerts a vertically directed force. The upshot is that by adding force dimensions to an image schema, we may obtain the basic tools for analysing static or dynamic properties. The forces involved could be physical, social or emotional forces. Anatol (1999:129) opines that image schema does not just organise basic bodily

experience; they can also be extended to structure abstract thinking via conceptualisation metaphors.

The above descriptions are the consequences of thought out – schemata. Lakoff and Johnson, (1987) have called such consequences “entailment” because they are implication of the internal structure of the image schema (“the chair is in the room”) typical example of physical containment such diagrams are helpful in identifying key structural features of the schemata and illustrating their internal relationships. Another exception is Talmy (1988), who emphasises the role of forces and dynamic patterns in image schemas in what he calls ‘force dynamic’.

Johnson (1987) in his classical book titled: The Body in the mind developed the theoretical construct of the image schema and proposes the way in which embodied experience manifests itself at the cognitive level. Image schema theory has played a major role in several areas of study such as literary criticism (Turner, 1987); poetics (Lakoff and Turner, 1989); psychology (Mandler, 1992); psycholinguistics (Gibbs, 1994, and Gibbs and Colston, 1995); Cognitive grammar (Lakoff, 1987); Mathematics (Lakoff and Nunez, 2000); cognitive semantics (Uchechukwu,(2011), Mbah and Edeoga (2012), Ogbonna, (2012), Okeke, (2013), Ifeagwazi, (2013), Ọgwudile, (2017) etc.

42 Johnson (1987:126) listed the most important image schemas as follows: Container, Balance, Compulsion, Blockage, Counterforce, Restraint, Removal, Enablement, Attraction, Mass-Count, Path, Link, Centre-periphery, Cycle, Near-Far, Scale, Part-Whole, Merging, Splitting, Full-Empty, Matching, Superimposition, Iteration, Contact, Process, Surface, Object, and Collection. These rudimentary concepts like contact, container and balance are meaningful because they are connected to human pre-conceptual experience, which is experience of the world directly mediated and structured by the human body. These image-schematic concepts are not disembodied abstractions, but derive their substance, in large measure, from the sensory-perceptual experiences giving rise to them in the first place. Some properties of image schemata are that they give rise to more specific concepts, they are pre-conceptual in origin, they derive from interaction with and observation of the world, they are inherently meaningful and complex, they are not the same as mental images; they are multimodal.

Lakoff and Johnson (1980, 1999, Lakoff 1987), Ruiz de Mendoza (1997), Fornes and Ruiz de Mendoza (1998) have shown image schema to lie at the basis of numerous metaphorical constructions.

Analogical mapping is the process of putting two domains in correspondence by aligning each object in one domain with the object in another. It is regarded as one of the most sophisticated aspects of abstract thinking. It compares things to show their similarities and comprises exemplification, comparison, metaphor, allegory, simile, parable but not metonymy. Analogy transfers information or meaning from a particular subject the analogue or source-to another particular subject –the target or linguistic expression corresponding to such a cognitive process. Veale (2006:1) cited in Obitube (2017:59) opines that “linguistic creativity could be superficial word-play, which has the power to change the way we see and represent the world”. He emphases that metaphor and analogy are perhaps the most challenging aspect of linguistic creativity as conceptual representation, facilitating and stretching the boundaries of domain description which establishes new ways of identifying related domain similarity. He states that since metaphor and analogies are used to create new ways of thinking about things that are familiar, they make known the fluid boundaries that exist between the conceptual categories that structure the world and communicate these categories. Analogical mapping is the manipulation of linguistic data in one’s language to achieve a targeted linguistic expression of meaning. Analogical mapping is the coming together of either of two different entities to form one single whole still maintaining their characteristics and related to a particular instance. It is a theoretical framework that is a movement in cognitive semantic approach. It is referred to as image schema.

Gentner (2003) describes it as the analogical mapping known situation – the base or source description –compared with a lower known situation- the target description. The known condition recommends

43 ways of seeing the current situations- finding out the relationship between the two situations and reflecting the outcome from the source to the target. Leroy, Maillart and Parisse (2014) state that analogical mapping is a cognitive process, which consists in the alignment of two or several sequences in order to detect their common Lakoff (1987) posits that analogy is an inference or argument from one particular to another particular, as opposed to deductions, inductions, and abduction. Analogy can refer to the relationship between the source and the target themselves, which is often, though not necessarily a similarity (Liddell and Scott, online Ethymology Dictionary). Hofstadter (2001) cited in Obitube (2017:60), states that analogy plays a significant role in problem-solving, in relation to decision-making, perception, creativity, memory, explanation, and communication, and emotion. This has the responsibility of identifying places, objects, and people for instance in face perception and facial recognition systems. He states that analogy is the “core of recognition”. This means that all human thought and that of other creatures concerned that think or reason have to do with transfer of notions, arguments, and characteristics common to a given entity or entities to another entity or entities. This involves human mind that means thought which affects man’s daily life, existence and sustenance. By this Antilla (2005) opines that man is an analogical animal. Hoffmann (2013) posits that analogical extension is a construction that is highly specific, for instance, an idiom such as not give a damn, may sprout offshoots such as not give a monkey’s in which speakers replace one part of idiom with an analogous element. Repeated analogical extensions may over time lead to the emergence of a general schema not given a NP, which invites further additions to the range of expressions occurring in this now partly schematic idiom.

Considering the above so far, it is assumed that there is no easy way of getting the meaning of words or sentences basically, every expression has one meaning or more depending on the view of the speaker or hearer’s varying interpretations. Having observed these problems it is therefore not easy to pin down the meaning of a particular linguistic unit.