The linguistic expressions such as prepositions that can be explained in terms of figure and ground, that has caught the attention of cognitive linguists.
4. Figure & ground
Key words:
figure/ ground segregation (Rubin)（图形-背景分离） the principle of Pragnanz （普雷格郎茨原则） trajector, landmark, path (Langacher)（射体，界标，路径） schema image （意象图式） elaboration （细化）
The Principle of Pragnanz is a guiding which reflects the way that people choose something as figure. An object is more likely to be chosen as figure if it is a small or moved object, or has gestalt features.
An Introduction to cognitive Linguistics
Edition 2
4. Figure & ground 5.Frames & constructions 6. Blending & relevance 7. Iconicity & lexical change & grammaticalization
P202
A simple clause normally consists of three key elements: a subject, a verb element and a complement. Linguistically, the way to manifest prominence is to put the preferred elements into subject position. In a simple transitive clause, the subject corresponds to the figure, the object to the ground, and the verb expresses the relationship between figure and ground.
5. Frames & constructions
key words:
frame (Fillmore, Talmy, Slobin) （框架） script theory (R. Schank &R. P. Abelson) （图样理论） construction (A. E. Goldberg) （构式）
eg: 1.The balloon is flying over the house. 2.The book is on the table. 3.The boy climbed up the wall. 4.She went out of the room. ……
※ Trajector: It stands for the figure or most prominent elements in any relational structure. ※ Landmark: It refers to the other entity in a relation. ※ Schema images represent cognitive configurations consisting of three elements and their interrelations, namely: a trajector, which moves along a path, and is seen as being related to a landmark.
Central image schema for ‘out’
Elaborations: Elaborations are such variants which only specify certain components of a schema, but do not diverge from its general configuration.
① commercial event-frame For example, the action category BUY includes a reference to at least four other categories, namely to a BUYER, a SELLER, GOODS and MONEY.
It is easy to see that in this sentence all four components of the [BUY] frame are rendered linguistically, each in a different syntactic slot: the BUYER (David) as subject, the GOODS (an old skirt) as direct object, the SELLER (john) as the first adverbial and the MONEY (ten pounds) as second adverbial. This assignment of syntactic roles, which is of course to a large extent governed by the choice of the verb BUY, the syntactic perspective of the sentence.
The face/ vase illusion
Figure
1. Shaped 2. More prominent 3. More likely to be identified
& remembered
Ground
1. Unstructured 2. Shapeless 3. Uniform
The principle of Pragnanz “普雷格郎茨原则”
frame It is to be seen as a type of cognitive model which represents the knowledge
and beliefs pertaining to specific and frequently recurring situations.