Personification Conceptualizations of the Heart in Modern Greek Song Lyrics:

From the Being of Heart to the Heart of Being

Asterios C. ChardaliasMA Candidate • chardalias@enl.auth.gr

School of EnglishLanguage & Literature

Aristotle University of Thessaloniki

Thessaloniki Cognitive Linguistics Reading

Group

Outline• Aim• Introduction:

Cognitive Poetics, Embodiment, Personification, Cultural Model

• Methodology• Discussion: 1. Identity 2. Senses 3. Base sensations 4. Motion 5. Emotions 6. Cognition• Conclusions • References

Aim

Introduction

Cognitive Poetics :• Because “[w]ords designate "compact" concepts, whereas

some poetry at least is said to evoke diffuse emotions, vague moods, or varieties of mystic experiences“, “poetry has found [ways] to escape […] the tyranny of clear-cut conceptual categories” via offering “precategorial information” material for “delayed categorization”. Given that “poetry exploits, for aesthetic purposes, cognitive […] processes that were initially evolved for non-aesthetic purposes”, “cognitive correlates of poetic processes must be described […] in three respects: the normal cognitive processes; some kind of modification or disturbance of these processes; and their reorganisation” (Tsur, 1983; 1992; 2008)

Introduction

Embodiment:• “[M]eaning, understanding, and rationality arise from and

are conditioned by the patterns of our bodily experience” (Johnson, 1987)

• Concepts are not “transcendental and disembodied abstractions” but “correlations in bodily experience between a sensorimotor and a subjective experience” (Kövecses, 2010)

• “[P]art of our ability to make sense of […] language [..] resides in the automatic construction of a simulation whereby we imagine performing the bodily actions referred to in the language” (Gibbs, 2006)

Introduction

Personification :• “We personify when we metaphorically ascribe agency to

normal inanimate objects, turning non-existent, imaginary entities into actors and agents” (Hamilton, 2002)

• Considering “[t]he influence of linguistic realization, conventionality, deliberateness, metonymy, and stylistic effects […][,] studying personifications in discourse raises different issues” at “linguistic, conceptual, and communicative levels of analysis” (Dorst, 2011) 

Introduction

Cultural Model:• “Cultural models […] [are viewed as] conceptualisations that

hierarchically characterize higher nodes of our conceptual knowledge and that encompass a network of schemas, categories and metaphors”. “[A]lthough the locus of such conceptualisations may be the individual, eventually they “spread” among […] group members and are then constantly negotiated and renegotiated. The dynamics of such group interactions eventually lead to emergent properties that may no longer be reduced to individual representations” and are rather understood “as aspects of distributed cultural cognition” (Sharifian, 2011)

Methodology

• 30 Modern Greek song lyrics mini-corpus• Critical review of lyrics containing the lexeme ΚΑΡΔΙΑ

(HEART)• Location of clues for Animacy, Sentience and Intelligence • Taxonomization of conceptual input for person construal

1. Identity

• Assignable identities / Exophoric reference resolutionA) Erotic partner as in (1)B) Self as in (2)

(1) Καρδιά μου μην ανησυχείς | δε θα χωρίσουμε εμείς“My heart, do not worry | we are not going to get separated”

(Θεοφάνους, 2002)

(2)  Εδώ σε θέλω, καρδιά μου | μη με προδώσεις κι εσύ όπως αυτή “Here I want you, my heart | do not betray me too, as she did”

(Κωστόπουλος, 2000)

1. Identity

1. Identity

Subject

Consciousness Subjectivity Perception Judgment Will Emotional capacity

Self

Corporeal body Physical characteristics Social roles Religious affiliation Real-world actions Past history

Cononical configurations:

Subject IN Self | Subject ABOVE Self | Subject POSSESOR OF Self

Lakoff (1996)

(3) Με αγκαλιάζεις, μα αλλού κοιτάει η καρδιά σου “You hug me, but your heart looks elsewhere”

(Μαλλιάς, 2011)(4) Θέλει η καρδιά να πει όσα βλέπει “The heart wants to say all what it sees”

(Ρεντούμης, 2004)

2. Senses: Sight

(5) Όταν ακούσει η καρδιά | απ’ το μπουζούκι ζεϊμπεκιά “When the heart hears | zeibekiko from a bouzouki”  πολύ χαρά αισθάνεται | και μέσα της παθιάζεται “it feels much joy | and fills all passion inside”

(Κυριακούλης, 2011)

(6) Άκου, καρδιά μου κι έρωτά μου | τα λόγια αυτά προσεχτικά “Hear, my heart and my love, these words with care”

(Βεζυράκης, 2012)

2. Senses: Hearing

(7) Είναι τυχερή η καρδιά μου γιατί αγγίζει ουρανό “My heart is lucky because it touches some sky”

(Iliadis, 2013)

2. Senses: Touch

3. Base sensations

(8) Πεινάει η απελπισμένη μου καρδιά, “My desperate heart is hungry καταβροχθίζει ό,τι απόμεινε από μένα it gorges down what is left of me”

(Ροδοστόγλου, 2003)

(9) Μόνο γι’ αγάπη διψάει η καρδιά μου “My heart is thirsty only for love”

(Διονυσίου 1975)

(10) Κουράστηκε η καρδιά μου | να ζει για τα δικά μου | τα πιο τρελά τα όνειρά μου “My heart got tired | to live for my | wildest dreams”

(Λιβιεράτος,1999)

4. Motion (11) Καρδιά μου, το βήμα κόψε, | τη σκέψη σταμάτησε

εδώ “My heart slow down your pace, | put an end to

thinking”(Βώπης, 1977)(12) Τρέξε, καρδιά μου, τρέξε, | πριν μας δικάσουν και

τους δυο “Run, my heart, run, | before they trial us both”

(Τσίγκρης, 1980) (13) Σε θέλω, | χορεύει η καρδιά μου για σένα “I want you, | my heart dances for your”

(Σιγανός, 2012)

5. Emotions (15) Πάντα έκλεινε μια πόρτα | μα μου γελούσε η

καρδιά “There was always a door closing | but my heart would

smile at me” (Χατζηευσταθίου, 2010)

(16) Έχει καρδιές που χαίρονται, | έχει καρδιές που κλαίνε

“There are hearts that are happy, | there are heart that cry”

(Παγιουμτζής, 1966) (17) Θύμωσε απόψε η καρδιά | κι έβγαλε μαχαίρι να με κόψει “Tonight the heart got angry | and drew a knife to cut me”

(Βλαχοπούλου, 2011)

5. Emotions

(18) Ένα αμάξι δίχως φώτα | χάρος που βγήκε παγανιά “A car without lights on | a Grim Reaper on the run” Του κόσμου έκλεισε την πόρτα | σε μια περήφανη καρδιά “Closed the door of the world | to a proud heart”

(Νικολαΐδης, 2005)

(19) Δεν είναι που η καρδιά φοβάται ...τρέμει “ It’s not because the heart is scared… and trembles”

(Θεοφάνους, 2003)

6. Cognition: Judgment

(21) Ένα εμείς οι δύο έχουμε γίνει | πες στην καρδιά σου μη με κρίνει

“We two have become one | tell your heart not to judge me”(Αγγελακόπουλος, 2010)

(22) Κοίτα καρδιά μου είσαι ακόμα εδώ | φεύγεις μ' αφήνεις, όμως μη με κρίνεις “Look, my heart, you are still here | you’re leaving, abandoning me, but don’t judge me”

(Λουκάτου, 2013)

6. Cognition: Decision-making

(23) Μα η αγάπη αν αξίζει | η καρδιά το αποφασίζει

“But if love is worth it | is for the heart to decide”(Λογοθετίδης, 2003)

(24) Κάνει η καρδιά μου σφάλματα | και μόνη αποφασίζει

“My heart makes mistakes | and decides on its own” (Φοίβος, 1999)

6. Cognition: Memory

(25) Αν δεν ήμουν ο δρόμος σου | και καρδιά που θυμάται

“If I weren’t your path | and a heart that remembers”

(Νεοφυτίδης, 1987)

(27) Μα αν ξεχνάς εσύ, | η καρδιά μου δε ξεχνά “But if you forget, | my heart doesn’t forget”

(Φιλίππου, 2003)

6. Cognition: Volition

28) Ό,τι θέλει κάνει πάντα η καρδιά “The heart always does whatever it wants”

(Γεροθόδωρου, 2012)

6. Cognition: Knowledge

(29) Μόνο η καρδιά μου ξέρει | αν σ’ έχω ξεχάσει “Only my heart knows | if I have forgotten you”

(Φιλίππου, 2001)

(30) Η καρδιά μου το ξέρει κι εγώ | πόσο μου λείπεις και πόσο σ’ αγαπώ “My heart and I know | how much I miss you and how much I love you”

(Ρακιντζή & Καραϊσκάκη, 1994)

Conclusions• Personification conceptualizations are common and vivid, underlying agency and dynamicity

• Multiple cognitive operations (metonymy, metaphor, chaining, cueing, blending) conspire for an accurate anthropomorphic rendering

• Hybrid cultural model: Cartesian dualism superstructured on cardiocentric foundations

• Strong case for the heart as the locus of the mind in Modern Greek.

• Support for Intrapersonal Intelligence (Gardner, 1983) and Emotional Intelligence (Payne, 1985)

ReferencesGardner, H. (1983). Frames of mind: The theory of multiple intelligences. New York,

NY: Basic BooksGoossens, L. (1990): Metaphtonymy. The interaction of metaphor and metonymy in

linguistic action. Cognitive Linguistics, 1 (4), 323-340Johnson, M. (1987). The body in the mind: The bodily basis of meaning, imagination, and

reason. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press Kövecses, Z. (2010). Metaphor: A practical introduction. Oxford, NY: Oxford University PressLakoff, G. (1996). I am not myself today: The metaphor system for conceptualizing the self. In G. Fauconnier, & E. Sweetser (Eds.), Spaces, Worlds and Grammar. Chicago: The University of

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Estudios Ingleses, 21. 25-56

References

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& S. Niemeier. (Eds.), Language, body, and culture: Cross-linguistic conceptualizations of internal body organs. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, pp. 3-23Sharifian, F. (2011).Distributed, emergent cultural cognition, conceptualisation, and

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Hebrew Literature