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22 Chapter 2 Theoretical Background Fauconnier (1985, 1997) developed his theory of “mental spaces” to account for how we use language to construct and process meanings that go beyond what is encoded by the grammatical system. Fauconnier proposes that when we engage in any kind of discourse, we create and make use of mental spaces. These mental spaces are “constructs distinct from linguistic structures, but built up in any discourse according to guidelines provided by the linguistic expressions” (Fauconnier 1985, 16). Grammatical expressions provide cues that allow speakers and signers to create and navigate mental space structures and for the addressee to do the same. Mental spaces are conceptualizations. I distinguish between two types of mental spaces that occur frequently in narrative data. I will refer to a recollected or imagined event as an event space. I will label background knowledge those concepts based on our understanding of the world. These two categories of mental spaces represent different types of conceptualizations and will appear frequently in the analyses that follow in later chapters. In chapter 1 I used the sentence “Hand me that pen” to illustrate the significance of gestures in understanding the meaning partially encoded in the sentence. As he utters the sentence the speaker points toward the pen that he is requesting. When the addressee hears the sentence he or she decodes the phonetic signal and understands that the speaker would like a pen. The phonetic signal, however, does not specify who the speaker is or which pen the speaker needs. The addressee relies on the physical context to identify who the speaker is and on the pointing gesture to identify which pen to hand the speaker. Figure 2.1 illustrates how the significance of the pointing gesture is associated with the grammatical form. The circle in figure 2.1 labeled “Real Space” represents the addressee’s conceptualization of the physical context in which the sentence was uttered. The pointing gesture in real space is required for full comprehension of the utterance. The words and the gesture are both produced in real space. The connection between the real-space pen and the concept encoded by that pen is motivated by the direction of the pointing, which is toward a pen in real space. This pointing identifies the referent associated with the Theoretical Background : 23 meaning encoded by the phrase. Figure 2.1 illustrates how concepts from mental space theory can provide a way of linking grammatically encoded meanings with the context in which an utterance is made. The result is a constructed meaning (Fauconnier 1997), which goes beyond the meanings encoded by the grammar. Blended Mental Spaces Mental space blending is a cognitive process that creates a new mental space from two input spaces (Fauconnier & Turner 1994, 1996; Fauconnier 1997). Blended mental spaces help in understanding more complex linguistic structures such as metaphors, metonymy, narrative structure, and speech acts. One important type of blend in the analysis of ASL is a real-space blend. Liddell (2003, 82) describes real space as “a person’s current conceptualization of the immediate environment based on sensory input.” That is, elements of real space are conceptualized as occupying locations in the immediate environment. This is an example of a grounded mental space. Recollections of past events are described as nongrounded because the thing or events being conceptualized are not conceptualized as being in the immediate environment. Real Space Figure 2.1 How a pointing gesture pairs with grammatical form in meaning constructions. Hand me that pen. 24 : t h e o r e t i c a l b a c k g r o u n d In ASL, specific categories of signs can be directed at elements of real space. For example, the signer on the left in figure 2.2 directs the non-first person singular pronoun proàa toward the person on the right. This is an example of directing a pronoun toward an element of real space, or the pronoun’s referent. The addressee would see where proàa was pointing and make the connection that the pronoun refers to the man proàa is directed toward. There is no blending in this example. The pronoun is simply directed toward an element of real space. We map elements from a mental space onto elements of real space to create an emergent real-space blend. Let’s imagine that my husband and I are discussing how to rearrange our living-room furniture while eating dinner. I use my...

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