Алимбаева К. Т., Таджибаева А.А.

Региональный социально – инновационный университет

СOGNITIVE ASPECTS OF IMAGERY

Imagery as a phenomenon of style is understood as a conceptual blending of two mental domains on the principle of similarity. I.R. Galperin defines imagery as «a use of language media which will create a sensory perception of an abstract notion by arousing certain associations (sometimes very remote) between the general and particular, the abstract and the concrete, the conventional and factual» [1, p. 264] . In other words, imagery is “a double vision” of the object and phenomena described in the text, an analogy between the world of reality and that of the author’s creative imaginations.

Coming from the assumption of Galperin, we may consider images based on metaphors as cognitive operations. G. Lakoff and M. Johnson also support this view. According to them, such significant notions as conceptualization and categorization are found important when we speak about cognitive modeling.

A cognitive model is a set of characteristic features of the process of categorization in a language. Four types of models can be distinguished: propositional, schematic (imagery), metaphorical and metonymical.

The theory of cognitive models is based on the following assumptions:

1. Our conceptual system is based on perception, on the physical and social activity of a human.

2. Our thoughts contain imagery: concepts are not directly related to our experience, they are created by means of metaphor, metonymy, and mental imagery.

3. Ideas are represented in the form of gestalts, that`s why they are not atomistic, concepts have the similar structure.

4. Ideas are far bigger than a simple mechanic manipulation by abstract signs; the effectiveness of cognitive processing depends on general structure of the conceptual system and on what notions are in integration at the moment [2, p. 57].

The latest results of the study of imagery show that imagery at the level of the text is not limited to the use of figurative means. It is inherent in the fictional text even if it does not contain image- bearing stylistic devices. It is accounted for by the fact that the work of fiction is not a direct copy of reality, it is reflection of an imaginary world. This conception is supported by those scholars who tend to treat imagery at the level of the plot of the text . In this sense, analogies between the world of reality and that of the text can be interpreted as a conceptual metaphor. A number of theorists have suggested that metaphor may play a special role in organizing conceptual knowledge through the text and helps to create imagery.

George Lakoff and Mark Johnson’s theory of metaphor (1980, 1999) provides a basis for describing every day cognitive structures using linguistic models and thus, making it possible to uncover both individual and collective patterns of thought and action. They propose a comprehensive concept of metaphor, which enables the reconstruction of cognitive strategies of action. The domain of love, for example, is often understood through the schema love is a physical force, in which conceptual structures associated with physical forces are mapped onto the domain of love, and influence the way love is understood. The underlying conceptual metaphor can be expressed in a number of linguistic metaphors, such as "Sparks fly when they are together" and "They were magnetically drawn to one another."

G. Lakoff and M. Johnson offer their own method of description of the models of metaphors. According to these authors, “metaphorical concepts are the facts of partial structuring of one of the type of experience in terms of the other” [2, p. 112]. Consequently, the understanding of the concept is possible when a part of the multidimensional structure is imposed on the other respective part. Such multidimensional structures are characteristic to empirical gestalts, which organize different experiences into structural entity, knowledge structures.

Empirical gestalt – are multidimensional structured unit [2, p. 115]. Thus, empirical gestalt can be changed into a more habitual in Cognitive Linguistics notion of “frames”. While description of the gestalt the following constituents are distinguished by Jonson and Lakoff:

1. The participants; 2. Parts; 3. Stages; 4. Linear sequence; 5. Cause and effect; 6. Aim.

Thus, while imposing of the part of the source domain into the part of the target domain the process of metaphorization happens.

Metaphors organize thought and shape the way we perceive the world and reality. According to Lakoff and Johnson, most of the metaphors in everyday language are conventional in nature, that is, they are stable expressions systematically used by people. For these researchers, conventional metaphors are created in a culture to define a particular reality. The influence of culture can also be seen in novel metaphors. To Lakoff and Johnson [2, p. 142], the meaning of new metaphors will be determined partially by the culture and partially by personal experience of the user. Metaphor appropriation is not a simple process of copying unaltered metaphorical units of language and thought used by the social group. There is always an element of personal reconstruction in the internalization of culturally shared metaphors as individuals are affected by various personal experiences and by exposure to multiple social discourses. Therefore, metaphor is a cognitive model, a specific way of conceptualizing reality in a fictional text.

Thus, G. Lakoff and M. Johnson suggest considering the metaphorical model as a basic cognitive operation, as a means of cognizing the world by means of transference of notions (concepts) from one, usually concrete domain into abstract domain. In the result, we observe the transference from the source domain to the domain of metaphorical expansion, and what is more interesting the transference of structure happens along with the transference of the emotional potential of the source domain as well [2].

Literature:

1. Гальперин И.Р. Стилистика английского языка, М: «Высшая школа», 1981

2.Лакофф Дж. Лингвистические гештальты// Новое в зарубежной лингвистике. – Вып. X. - М., 1981.