An Analysis of the Relevance of Categorization and the Prominence of Basic Level Categories in Written Texts E-Book

Stefan Ruhnke

• Herausgeber: GRIN Verlag
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2007

Beschreibung

Seminar paper from the year 2005 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Linguistics, grade: 2,3, Ernst Moritz Arndt University of Greifswald (Institut für Anglistik / Amerikanistik), course: Discursive Linguistics, language: English, abstract: In this seminar paper I want to explain what categorization is and I also want to point out the importance of basic level categories for this process. The chapters dealing with these issues are meant to lay the theoretical basis for this seminar paper. In the other chapters I intend to discuss the results that a research project developed by Prof. Dr. Amei Koll-Stobbe yielded. As it was a project that was based on texts written by several informants, the discussion of the results will often refer to the texts which are attached to the paper. The hypothesis here is then that we can also show the existence and relevance of categories in written texts. Several aspects that linguists regard as relevant for the topic of categorization will be examined using the data of the research project as a basis. The most important aspect will be how the basic level category influences language use. Other aspects will be discussed in the analysis of the texts in the fourth chapter because it might be useful to illustrate several aspects of lesser importance using the informants’ texts. It also needs to be mentioned that the corpus of data that has been collected is comparatively small (texts from 12 informants) and that therefore limits regarding the value of the analysis of the data must be considered. Some aspects that might be interesting for categorization processes cannot be examined due to the limited number of informants, at all. Nevertheless, it will hopefully be possible to draw some general conclusions about the use of categories and the special cognitive and linguistic prominence of basic level categories.

Leseprobe

Table of Content

1. Introduction

2. What is categorization?

3. The cognitive and linguistic prominence of basic level categories

4. Analysis and discussion of the informants’ texts

4.2. Analysis of the texts: General aspects

4.3. The importance of the basic level category in the informants’ texts.

5. Conclusion

6. Bibliography

7. Attachments: Texts written by the informants

Informant 1 (female, 26)

Informant 2 (female, 23)

Informant 3 (female, 24)

Informant 4 (female, 25)

Informant 5 (female, 20)

Informant 6 (female, 25)

Informant 7 (female, 27)

Informant 8 (male,)

Informant 9 (male, 24)

Informant 10 (male, 22)

Informant 11 (male, 23)

Informant 12 (male,)

Page 1

Page 3

1. Introduction

Friedrich Ungerer and Hans-Jörg Schmid state in their bookAn Introduction to Cognitive Linguisticsthat “we are on the whole surrounded by readily identifiable organism and objects” and that, “when it comes to categorizing these entities, we normally have a choice between categories on different levels on generality”1.The authors even state that “basic human faculty of categorization”2can be ascertained by research.

In this paper I want to examine to which degree this statement can be supported by a research that had been encouraged by Prof. Dr. Amei Koll-Stobbe at the Greifswald Ernst-Moritz-Arndt University in the summer term of 2005.

In Cognitive Linguistics, an interdisciplinary scientific field which aims at combining psychological and linguistic knowledge to explain linguistic phenomena, categorization and its effects on language users have been topics of interest for quite a time. The fact that linguists are interested in the topic ‘categorization’3is due to its importance for language use4. John R. Taylor even points out that “categorization is fundamental to all higher cognitive activity”5, which also explains why linguists, and especially those examining connections between cognitive and linguistic issues, are so anxious to examine the effects of categorization on language users. In this seminar paper I want to explain what categorization is and I also want to point out the importance of basic level categories for this process. The chapters dealing with these issues are meant to lay the theoretical basis for this seminar paper. In the other chapters I intend to discuss the results that a research project developed by Prof. Dr. Amei Koll-Stobbe yielded. As it was a project that was based on texts written by several informants, the discussion of the results will often refer to the texts which are attached to the paper. The hypothesis here is then that we can also show the existence and relevance of categories in written texts.

Several aspects that linguists regard as relevant for the topic of categorization will be examined using the data of the research project as a basis. The most important aspect

1Ungerer/Schmid:Cognitive Linguistics,p. 60.

2Ungerer/Schmid:Cognitive Linguistics,p. 61.

3Labov cited in Taylor: Linguistic Categorization, p. 2.

4Taylor:Linguistic Categorization,p. iix.

5Taylor:Linguistic Categorization,p. iix.

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will be how the basic level category influences language use. Other aspects will be discussed in the analysis of the texts in the fourth chapter because it might be useful to illustrate several aspects of lesser importance using the informants’ texts. It also needs to be mentioned that the corpus of data that has been collected is comparatively small (texts from 12 informants) and that therefore limits regarding the value of the analysis of the data must be considered. Some aspects that might be interesting for categorization processes cannot be examined due to the limited number of informants, at all.

Nevertheless, it will hopefully be possible to draw some general conclusions about the use of categories and the special cognitive and linguistic prominence of basic level categories.

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2. What is categorization?

As I have already indicated in the introduction, categorization is not just a phenomenon that we find in linguistics. There seems to be a need to organize our knowledge of the world, for instance by using categories in which we - in a cognitive process - assemble things which show differences on the one hand but which, on the other hand, also have similar features.

It is not very difficult to explain that we all very frequently use categories. If we imagine that someone arrives late at work and uses some technical problem that his car, let us assume it is a Fiat Panda, had on the way to work to justify his late arrival he would rather say something like‘something was wrong with my car’than‘something was wrong with my Fiat Panda’.Of course, for the person who hears this explanation it is not relevant whether the car is a Fiat, Vauxhall or another sort of car at first. But both persons in this situation, the one explaining his late arrival and the addressee, would understand that one specific car is meant although it is not specifically named as a Fiat Panda.

Both persons in this situation, like all intelligent human beings, are capable of thinking in categories - car being in this case a superordinated category for all sorts of cars produced by different companies, i.e. convertibles, jeeps, sports cars produced by Toyota, Vauxhall, Mercedes, Rover etc. There is, furthermore, a strong tendency to use certain types of categories by which we organize objects, organisms and phenomena of the world in our mind more frequently.