28.763, Diss: The Emergent Patterns of Italian Idioms. A Dynamic-Systems Approach.

[The LINGUIST List]

LINGUIST List: Vol-28-763. Wed Feb 08 2017. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 28.763, Diss: The Emergent Patterns of Italian Idioms. A Dynamic-Systems Approach.

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Date: Wed, 08 Feb 2017 10:14:49
From: Enrico Torre [e.torre2 at lancaster.ac.uk]
Subject: The Emergent Patterns of Italian Idioms. A Dynamic-Systems Approach.

 
Institution: Lancaster University 
Program: PhD in Linguistics 
Dissertation Status: Completed 
Degree Date: 2015 

Author: Enrico Torre

Dissertation Title: The Emergent Patterns of Italian Idioms. A Dynamic-Systems
Approach. 

Linguistic Field(s): Cognitive Science

Subject Language(s): Italian (ita)


Dissertation Director(s):
Elena Semino

Dissertation Abstract:

In traditional generative linguistic theories, idiomatic constructions are
seen as a sort of “anomaly”, and dismissed as non-decomposable items of
non-literal language, uninteresting and “peripheral”. Contrary to this view,
in the last decades psycholinguistic and corpus-linguistic studies have shown
that idioms can often undergo structural modification and display different
variation patterns, according to their specific formal and semantic
properties. 

In virtue of these findings, the present study aims to investigate the levels
of stability and variation in Italian idioms from a socio-cognitive point of
view, in a two-step fashion. In the first stage, a set of 150 idiomatic
constructions will be selected from a dictionary (Sorge 2010) and, taking the
categorization proposed by Langlotz(2006a) as a starting point, a cognitively
motivated typology of Italian idiomatic constructions will be drawn. 

Langlotz's parameters and categories will be used to classify Italian idioms
into a structured taxonomy based on a set of notions which are generally
accepted and employed by proponents of functionally-oriented approaches to
language; these notions will be applied taking the Italian cultural context
into consideration, in order to avoid (potentially hasty) claims about their
supposed universality. Then, the mutual relationship between different idioms
on the one hand and between idiomatic and non-idiomatic constructions on the
other hand will be addressed and accounted for in the light of a
constructionist perspective on language.

In the second part of my study, a sample of occurrences of a subset of 50
idiomatic constructions will be downloaded from a large Italian corpus, in
order to observe their variational behavior in the context of actual
interactions in a contemporary setting. Particular attention will be paid to
the potential correlation between the category an idiom was allocated to in
the previous stage and the variation patterns observed in its occurrences,
with the specific aim to understand if a causal connection can be established
between the idiom category and the (quantitative and qualitative) level of
variation observed in real language data.

The two phases of the study will be treated as deeply interconnected, and a
dynamic-systems approach will be adopted to highlight the several links
between the two stages. An integrated explanation of the mechanisms which
regulate the “life-dynamics” of idiomatic constructions will be provided,
taking distinct dimensions, time-scales, and levels of granularity into
account. Finally, the results of the study will be scrutinized in order to
assess the adequacy of a dynamic-systems perspective to accurately describe
and explain the self-organizing nature of linguistic constructions and their
relationship with other aspects of human cognition and interactivity.




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