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In:Analogy and Contrast in Language: Perspectives from Cognitive Linguistics
Edited by Karolina Krawczak, Barbara Lewandowska-Tomaszczyk and Marcin Grygiel
[Human Cognitive Processing 73] 2022
► pp. 15–46

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Chapter 1
What could be more fundamental?

 | University of California, San Diego
Published online: 27 October 2022
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/hcp.73.01lan
Abstract
Contrast and analogy are viewed in the context of a much larger picture. They are traced back to an essential feature of living organisms: their constant engagement in energy-driven activity responsible for maintenance and growth. Structure and regularity inhere in the organization imposed by this “striving for control”. For sentient creatures, this striving involves the fundamental capacity to compare experiences and detect any difference between them. Contrast and analogy are aspects of comparison that figure in even minimal, low-level cases (like perceiving a difference in pitch); contrast is just the registration of discrepancy, while analogy resides in the similarity providing the basis for assessment. They are thus inherent in an abstract model of the striving for control and the growth it engenders. This model offers a general characterization of their myriad linguistic manifestations, being applicable to any kind of experience (perceptual, motor, mental, social) at any level of organization. Here I examine the role of contrast and analogy in three broad aspects of language structure: paradigmatic relations, including categorization and systemic organization; syntagmatic relations, i.e. the formation of complex expressions and discourse sequences; and the conceptual structures these invoke, notably cases (like modals and negation) where the striving for control is central to their content.
Article outline
  • 1.Elemental notions
    • 1.1Comparison
    • 1.2Control
  • 2.The big picture
  • 3.Paradigmatic relations
    • 3.1Categorization
    • 3.2Systemic organization
  • 4.Syntagmatic relations
    • 4.1Elaboration and composition
    • 4.2Comparison through time
  • 5.Conceptual structures
    • 5.1Evolution of reality
    • 5.2Other manifestations
  • 6.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
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Cited by (3)

Cited by three other publications

Głaz, Adam
2022. Analogy in action. In Analogy and Contrast in Language [Human Cognitive Processing, 73], ► pp. 61 ff. DOI logo
Imrényi, András
2022. ‘My enemy’s enemy is my friend.’. In Analogy and Contrast in Language [Human Cognitive Processing, 73], ► pp. 83 ff. DOI logo
Krawczak, Karolina, Barbara Lewandowska-Tomaszczyk & Marcin Grygiel
2022. Introduction. In Analogy and Contrast in Language [Human Cognitive Processing, 73], ► pp. 1 ff. DOI logo

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