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Hermeneutics: The pursuit of meaning following specified principles of interpretation.
Heresy: An opinion or doctrine at variance with those generally accepted as authoritative.
Blog: A frequent, chronological publication of personal thoughts and Web links; a mixture of what is happening in a person's life and what is happening on the Web. -
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Category Archives: Linguistics
Blending and framing by paradox
Google Reader (1000+) “Democracy means government by discussion, but it is only effective if you can stop people talking.” (Clement Atlee) There is no doubt that pithy aphorisms are an important instrument in the socialisation toolkit (construction inventory) or any … Continue reading
Finally! The truth about truth: Folk foundations of scientific reductionism
On The Media I’m not a psychologist, but I think that at some deep level, if the situation you’re living is a lie, and the situation these boys were living was one, and, moreover, at least the father was complicit … Continue reading
Negotiating radial categories: Some mothers do have them
Is It Possible To Be Half-Adopted? Imagining someone giving away semen or an egg couldn’t possibly feel the same as imagining a parent giving a way a baby. Could it? The friend who asked whether I consider Mrs. Ramirez to … Continue reading
Posted in Cognition, Framing, Linguistics
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Phallic imagery in English-language comedy and the theory of image schemas
Now, there’s no doubt in my mind whatsoever that George Lakoff’s theory of mental imagery (usually referred to via the concept of Image Schemas) describes a phenomenon that is profoundly real. However, the question remains what kind of reality it … Continue reading
Posted in Analogies, Cognition, Linguistics
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Convention over logic: Limits of implicature
Evening News 24 – Refuse fire near City Hall Arsonists sparked an emergency response after setting light to a rubbish container near City Hall on Saturday evening. The suspects started the fire shortly after 7pm on St Giles Street. Two … Continue reading
Posted in Analogies, Cognition, Discourse - text, Linguistics, News and media
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Poetry in blogs and cognitive persistence
Just Say No “Nonetheless I took the tomatoes away.” This is only partially a hermeneutic post. It’s so rare to see poetry in blogs (unless they’re poets’ blogs which I don’t read) but this last line in a post, turned … Continue reading
Posted in Cognition, Discourse - text, Linguistics, Poetry
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Changes in word meaning and folk theories of reasonable mappings
On The Media In the parlance of Republican-primary politics, âsanctuaryâ? â as in sanctuary city â has become a bad word. … GEOFFREY NUNBERG: Well, sometime around 2005, 2006, you begin to hear people on the right using the word, … Continue reading
Posted in Framing, Linguistics
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Lol cats and conventionalization of semiotic systems
Anil Dash: Cats Can Has Grammar The core behavior has existed for some time; “Image macro” is a generic term for this kind of folk art, and cats have always featured heavily in these types of Internet in-jokes. But a … Continue reading
Posted in Cognition, Discourse - text, Linguistics, Technology and life
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Paradox of the evolutionary metaphor in language death
When Languages Die: Science and Sentiment : In his book When Languages Die: The Extinction of the World’s Languages and the Erosion of Human Knowledge K. David Harrison illustrates the individual face of language loss, as well as its global … Continue reading
Posted in Feminism, Linguistics, Philosophy, Reviews, Social Science
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From culture-specific to the universal in the US counter-insurgency manual
“Be polite, be professional, be prepared to kill.” Lt. Col. Nagel summarizing a new US Army counterinsurgency manual (on the Daily Show) This quote reminds of the critique of universalist pragmatics by Anna Wierzbicka. Wierzbicka and others (e.g. Goddard) points … Continue reading
Posted in Discourse - text, Framing, Linguistics, Social Science
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