Meaning Emergence Of Metadiscourse : A Dual Mental Space Blending Model From The Cogno-Semiotic Perspective

Metadiscourse is generally defined as―discourse about discourse‖. It is different from primary discourse, although it derives from primary discourse. Metadiscourse is a discourse phenomenon and it is recognized in semiotic activities. Intense studies are conducted on metadiscourse, concerning interpersonal meanings that metadiscourse realizes.There are different views on the phenomenon of metadiscourse. The most influential one is the functional approach, in which scholars believe that metadiscourse does not possess propositional content but realizes interpersonal functions,which are universal to languages. The second is the pragmatic view, which insists that metadiscourse provides facility condition for particular speech acts or facilitates communicative activities by providing contextual cues. The third is the study from the cognitive view, which is interested in the reliability of information and takes metadiscourse as a phenomenon of evidentiality.There are problems unsettled in previous studies. The functional grammar confines the study of metadiscourse to the discourse analysis that is based on post-structural explanation of intertextuality, from which metadiscourse is basically regarded as a matter of cohesion. In contrast, this study argues that metadiscourse implies the speaker-hearer interaction in communication and the term―metadiscourse‖is defined by interpersonal meanings. Pragmatics reduces the phenomenon of metadiscourse to contextual cues or contextual adaptation; semantics of metadiscourse is ignored in the pragmatic study. On the contrary, this study assumes that metadiscourse is a discourse phenomenon in which the speaker conveys propositional attitude to the hearer. The cog-linguistic study is interested in the phenomenon of evidentiality in terms of the form-meaning paring, but the temporal mixture of propositional content and propositional attitude in the use of metadiscourse is still a problem unexplored in previous studies. To show the insight of the phenomenon of metadiscourse, this study explores the interpersonal metadiscourse markers that are employed in the act of speaking.Interpersonal meanings are extrinsic to the linguistic resources used as metadiscourse markers. When the mind works on the employment of metadiscourse, the interpersonal meaning emerges. In the mental processing, the speaker‘s reflectional role mixes with interpretational role, and interpersonal meanings of metadiscourse temporally emerge. The cognitive script of―guiding the hearer‘s understanding‖plays an important role in the meaning emergence of metadiscourse. The mind runs the mental space blending only if the ethical script of―helping‖is relevant to contexts, in which the speaker addresses the hearer.This study takes the cogno-semiotic perspective on the meaning emergence of metadiscourse. This study assumes that metadiscourse is propositional, for it creates a mental structure of the speaker-subject who constructs world knowledge. Metadiscourse is different from primary discourse in that it possesses propositional attitude. This study asserts that the propositional attitude is generated and passed to the hearer in the act of speaking. The employment of metadiscourse generates a mental space of the speaker-subject who reflects on discourse content and develops propositional attitude. The employment of metadiscourse also generates an alternative mental space of the speaker-subject who conveys propositional attitude to the hearer.This study explores the cognitive mechanism on the employment of metadiscourse, and proposes a dual mental space blending model for explaining the meaning emergency of metadiscourse. The cognitive mechanism works on the employment of metadiscourse that prompts mental structures that are referred to as mental spaces. From the cognitive perspective, interpersonal meanings virtually emerge, when the mind works on the use of metadiscourse that refers to the reflection and the interpretation. The cognitive mechanism is characteristic of virtuality of the blending of these mental spaces in the mental processing that results in the emergence of interpersonal meanings of metadiscourse.In chapter one, this study presents the research background at issues: the objective, the research questions, the hypotheses, and the study methodology. This study takes the stance that the employment of metadiscourse is recognized in semiotic activities,in which the speaker reflects on and interprets the act of speaking.In chapter two, this study reviews the previous studies of metadiscourse and recognizes the problems unsolved. There are diverse perspectives, from which metadiscourse is discussed in terms of discourse markers, contextual cues, epistemic conditions, evidentiality, and so on. In contrast, this study argues that it is inappropriate to divide propositional meanings from interpersonal meanings and attach them to primary discourse and metadiscourse separately. So this study attempts to recognize the propositional meaning that mixes with the propositional attitude virtually when the mind works on the use of metadiscourse and this study argues that the interpersonal meaning is a kind of emergent meaning in the cognitive processing.In chapter three, the study takes the cogno-semiotic perspective to study the meaning emergence of metadiscourse. The mental processing anchors on the interaction between the primary discourse and metadiscourse in expressive behaviors. Metadiscourse is also―discourse about discourse‖, which refers to the act of interpreting as well as the act of conveying message. The mutual understanding of the reflection and the interpretation is expected in communicative activities.The cognitive perspective is required, because, in regarding to communication, the mind operates on the employment of interpersonal metadiscourse. Interpersonal functions are not inherent to the linguistic forms that refer to the act of reflecting and interpreting. When the mind works on the use of metadiscourse markers that encode the expression of message, the reflection and the interpretation, mental spaces are prompted and interpersonal meanings emerge in the cognitive processing of mental space blending.In chapter four, this study proposes a dual mental space blending model for explaining the meaning emergence of metadiscourse. This study first introduces mental space theories into the study of metadiscourse. The mental space blending is initiated by Fauconnier and further developed by Sweatser, Turner, and Brandt. Mental spaces are cognitive structures that linguistic signs prompt. The mixed content of the blended space is projected from two separate input mental spaces. Turner‘s model reveals novelty, creativity, and temporality of meaning construction.Brandt suggests a mental space blending network in his analysis of metaphor. Brandt suggests that human consciousness be included in the mental space blending model, and human consciousness embed in the communicative activities. The recognition of human consciousness suggests a fundamental difference that entails another embedding mental space blending of the speaker‘s epistemic activities.This study believes that it is appropriate to recognize of human consciousness in mental space theories. The use of metadiscourse requires the speaker‘s conscious reflection on the act of speaking, and the phenomenon of metadiscourse reveals that the mental space is not autonomous processing It results from the epistemic and the communicative activities; specifically, the speaking act of reflection in epistemic activities. By the dual mental space blending, this study takes the phenomenon of metadiscourse both epistemic activities and communicative activities.The dual mental space blending model aims at explaining the meaning emergence of metadiscourse. Mental spaces are prompted by the employment of metadiscourse separately, and the ways of the reflection and the interpretation construe separately the scenarios of the mental spaces. Mental space blending is the cognitive mechanism that gives rise to interpersonal meanings of metadiscourse. Mental space blendings occur at the epistemic and the communicative levels simultaneously and the blending at epistemic level embeds into the blending at the communicative level. The blending needs the ethical script that is relevant to the communication in the meaning emergence of metadiscourse, and mutual understanding of the speaker‘s propositional attitude facilitates the on-going communication.In chapter five, this study explains how the speaker‘s interpretation plays its role in the cognitive processing of mental space blending. Respectively, the use of different categories of metadiscourse are examined in communicative activities; namely, the scholarly lecturing by three linguists. This study collects thirty lectures by Lakoff (ten lectures), Langacker (ten lectures), and Taylor (ten lectures). This study tries to reveal that these different kinds of metadiscourse are frequently employed in scholarly lecturing, and in the use of metadiscourse, different interpersonal meanings emerge. The scholars use these metadiscourse markers with personal preference, and the interpersonal meanings are diversified into categories. By exploring on the material of thirty academic lectures, this study proves that it is a common practice to guide the hearer‘s understanding of academic knowledge with metadiscourse. It is significant to use metadiscourse markers appropriately in terms of the ethical value of guiding the hearer‘s understanding.In chapter six, this study explains how the speaker‘s reflection plays its role in the cognitive processing of mental space blending and, for this purpose, individual metadiscourse markers is examined by categories. This study takes Hyland‘s categorization for Hyland takes metadiscourse as basically interpersonal and Hyland‘s categorization facilitates this present study that explores the emergence of interpersonal meanings of metadiscourse.Individual metadiscourse markers are chosen from thirty academic lectures by Langacker, Lakoff, and Taylor on diverse topics of cognitive linguistics, and this research takes them as exemplars for illustrating the cognitive processing on these metadiscourse markers.In chapter seven, this study comes to a general conclusion that interpersonal meanings emerge from mental space blending. Metadiscourse is propositional because it triggers a mental scenario of the speaker who constructs world knowledge. In the mental processing on the use of metadiscourse, propositional content mixes with propositional attitude virtually. Interpersonal meanings emerge when the speaker‘s locutor role mixes with the speaker‘s interlocutor role. This study is significant for it explains why metadiscourse virtually possesses both propositional content and propositional attitude. In the dual mental space blending model, this study recognizes the role of epistemic activities which embedded in the communicative activities. This study also recognizes its limitation and gives suggestions for the further study.