Strategic construal of in and out in English particle verbs (PVs)

Abstract

1The central aim of this work is to describe the strategic construal of in and out in English particle verbs. The term strategic construal assumes the following: 1) exploration of strategic thinking in L2 learning and processing, and 2) exploration of dynamic and subjective construction of meaning pertaining to the human ability to understand and portray the same situation in alternate ways (Langacker 1987). In other words, the paper relies on two theoretical paradigms with self-evident commonalities -a strong link between language and cognition, and the insistence on the individual and subjective nature of meaning construction. The aim was to investigate whether L2 users of English are aware of the symbolic nature of language when dealing with highly schematic linguistic categories. Our hypotheses were that construal of in and out is comparable to their cognitive linguistic description in English as L1 and that it shows a cognitively motivated path from the topological to the aspectual. Both hypotheses have been confirmed.

Textual and pictorial representations in strategic thinking about linguistic meaning

“…When L2 speakers are constructing meaning, they activate various cognitive processes that communicate with language, along with their knowledge of the world, and the knowledge of their L1. In our use of the concept of strategic construal and the theoretical framework it implies, we assume that L2 speakers are capable of constructing meaning and, therefore, paying attention to both form and meaning (Geld 2009a). Accordingly, if they are able to relate specific forms to specific meanings, they will also be able to make sense of idiomatic expressions and identify cognitive motivation behind their components.…”

“…Naturally, what it is that particular speakers find salient in L2 depends on a number of language-internal and language-external factors. One of the languageexternal factors is their proficiency in L2 (Geld 2009a;Geld & Letica Krevelj 2011). Previous research on strategic construal has shown that more proficient speakers of English as L2 are more likely to observe a connection between form and meaning.…”

“…Another important factor is their L1 and its typological characteristics. For example, Croatian speakers of English tend to find particles semantically informative due to Croatian verbal prefixation that codes similar meanings as English particles in PV constructions (Geld 2009a;Geld & Letica Krevelj 2011). Furthermore, strategic meaning construal of PVs is determined by the nature of their components (particles and verbs).…”

“…In fact, various studies pertaining to second language (L2) meaning construal have already provided ample evidence that speakers of English have the ability to meaningfully decompose and analyse linguistic constructions such as idioms and PVs (e.g. Boers & Demecheleer 1998;Geld 2009a;Yasuda 2010;Geld & Letica Krevelj 2011;Geld & Stanojević 2016). In the case of English PVs, it has been found that L2 speakers of English strategically construct their meaning by attending to both components in their composite wholes (Geld 2009a;Geld 2011;Geld & Maldonado 2011).…”

“…Boers & Demecheleer 1998;Geld 2009a;Yasuda 2010;Geld & Letica Krevelj 2011;Geld & Stanojević 2016). In the case of English PVs, it has been found that L2 speakers of English strategically construct their meaning by attending to both components in their composite wholes (Geld 2009a;Geld 2011;Geld & Maldonado 2011). They find them both meaningful even in the cases when they are quite schematic and not too informative in terms of semantic contribution.…”