Cognitive Lexical Semantics

Cristiano Broccias (Genova) c.broccias@unige.it

Outline

PART I (Introduction) Traditional lexical semantics Cognitive semantics (prototypes, conceptualisation, metaphors, conceptual spaces and frames)
PART II Lexical classes and cognitive abilities

PART III Simultaneity constructions (while, as)

PART I

Introduction

Some (apparently) very simple questions involving meaning:

What is a cat? What is beauty? What is a red pen? Is the Pope a bachelor? How do we distinguish between mosquito net and butterfly net?

Traditionally: lexical semantics sentence semantics text/discourse semantics

Two underlying assumptions: it is possible to identify lexical items it is possible to isolate lexical meanings

Some basic notions: - homonymy (e.g. bank) - polysemy (e.g. mouse) - monosemy:

Theres some fruit in the bowl. Theres a crack in the bowl.

Major approaches:
- Structural semantics - Semantic features - Cognitive semantics

More recently also: Interaction between constructions and lexical items

Some naive conceptions about meaning

the meaning of an utterance consists of the sum of the meaning of its parts (the building block metaphor): red pen

mosquito net
butterfly net

Referential theory of meaning:

a word means what it refers to (e.g. we may point to a cat to understand cat) Some problems: - abstract concepts (e.g. beauty) - Hesperus and Phosphorus (different intensions or senses but same extension or meaning, i.e. Venus), the British Prime Minister (different extensions but same intension)

Ogden and Richards (1923) semiotic triangle

sense

meaning
e.g. word

The systemic (i.e. NETWORK) nature of meaning

Words enter into various sense relationships with one another: deictic verbs

intransitive transitive

towards come bring

away go take

Ok. Ill bring the book tomorrow.

Ok. Ill take the book back to the library tomorrow.

vision verbs (semantic field of vision)

longer duration shorter duration

by chance see glimpse

willful act look (stare, gawk) glance

Well come/go back to networks later!

Structual semantics (see Lyons)

Three major types of relationship: synonymy hyponymy oppositeness

Synonymy (same denotation) unhappy/sad present/gift prisoner/convict

Context dependency:
pedigree animals ancestry/genealogy/lineage [ln id] human beings descent both

The {peel/skin} of the orange is thick. The girls {skin/*peel} is sunburned.

Many synomyms differ in respect to their connotations:

horse/steed/nag cavallo/destriero/ronzino

Register, social and geographical variation

What do you call this?

toilet (BrE) lavatory (BrE), lav (informal) WC (BrE, used especially on signs in public places) the gents and the ladies (BrE, used for public conveniences) loo (BrE informal) bath/rest/washroom (AmE, cf. Italian bagno) = BrE toilet john (AmE informal)

Hyponymy (i.e. category membership)

fish
hypernym

snapper

trout

bass [b s]

sole

salmon [s m n]
(co)hyponyms

chinook [()t nuk] spring coho [k h]

king

sockeye [sk a]

It may be problematic to identify the superordinate terms: brother & sister < sibling (formal) uncle & aunt < ? cow & bull < cow/cattle (collective)/bovine (technical) human being & animal < animal (vs. vegetable, mineral)

Semantic networks e.g. natural kind terms

attributes

But there are various problems with this model (apart from the obvious fact that not all information is easily represented in hierarchical form): (1) A cow is an animal. (2) A cow is a mammal. Reaction time is faster in (1) than in (2) even though animal is higher in the hierarchy than mammal! (3) A pine is a church. (4) A pine is flower. Reaction time is faster in (3) than in (4) even though they are both equally untrue (relatedness effect).

(5) A robin is a bird. (6) A penguin is a bird.

Reaction time is faster in (5) than in (6) even though both involve one semantic link (prototypicality effect).

Oppositeness - Complementarity - Antonymy - Converseness

Complementarity either X or Y, not both non gradable concepts

single vs. married dead vs. alive legal vs. illegal asleep vs. awake true vs. false male vs. female pregnant vs. not pregnant on vs. off pass vs. fail

However we can sometimes think of intermediate cases: divorced (cf. single vs. married) hermaphrodite (cf. male vs. female)

Antonymy gradable concepts (e.g. scalar adjectives) big vs. small high vs. low small vs. large wet vs. dry hot warm lukewarm cool cold

The reference value is context dependent:

A small elephant is a large animal. A large mouse is a small animal.

A warm beer and a cold coffee may be the same temperature.

Context dependency: young animate beings new inanimate objects old both

bitter beer sour fruit sweet both

With scalar pairs, one is usually unmarked: How old are you? How tall are you? Context dependency: in summer: How hot is it? in winter: How cold is it?

Converseness relational opposites verbs of transfer:

buy/sell, lend/borrow, give/receive

FRAMES

More examples kinship terms and professional relationships: husband/wife, brother/sister teacher/student, employer/employee, host/guest, lawyer/client time and space: in front of/behind, outside/inside, north of/south of Apparent cases of converseness: ask/answer command/obey seek/find try/succeed

What was often referred to as context before can be related to what is also traditionally called the syntagmatic axis:

Semantic features (decompositional theories)

Semantic features are assumed to be universal, part of our cognitive system.

Attempts have been made at reducing the number of features to a few semantic primitives, see e.g. Wierzbickas work.

But there are various problems with these models. For example, there are categories which do not have any obvious defining features that are common to all their members, e.g. Wittgensteins (1958) game example (game is a category based on family resemblance).

Further, many categories have fuzzy boundaries. For many people it is unclear whether a tomato is a fruit or a vegetable, or both.

(from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomato#Fruit_or_vegetable.3F)

Cup, vase or bowl?

Semantic features or primitives might not have linguistic counterparts (i.e. they might be non-verbal).

Still, it seems likely that we (at least sometimes) represent the meanings of words as combinations of semantic features. For example, we remember better sentences like

Pat sold the wand to Harry

than Pat gave the wand to Harry Sell is more complex than give.

Cogntive semantics
1970s as a reaction against truthconditional semantics research on prototypes (Rosch)

Prototypes
best example of a category: e.g. blackbird vs. penguin for the category bird. But notice that the prototype may be abstract.

Category membership is culture-dependent:

More on prototypes not necessarily incompatible with feature theories fuzzy boundaries family resemblance

Levels of categorization (e.g. furniture vs. chair vs. armchair)

In general, the closer an item is to the prototype, the easier we process it. Further, basic level categories are easier to learn and retrieve.

Prepositions (Lakoff 1987, Sandra and Rice 1995, Tyler &

Evans 2001)

reconciliation between monosemists, homonymists and polysemists?

Two major points 1) words as access points (i.e. meanig as construal)

(scaffolding metaphor vs. building block metaphor)

mosquito net vs. butterfly net As we build houses by using scaffolding so we build complex meanings by using words

2) continuum between lexical items and constructions (cf. kick the bucket)
Construction type Complex and (mostly) schematic Complex and (mostly) specific Complex but bound Atomic and schematic Atomic and specific Traditional name syntax idiom morphology word class word/lexicon Examples noun verb noun (i.e. transitive construction), adjective noun (i.e. noun phrase) I love you, black cat noun-s verb, adjective, noun, pronoun love, black, cat, I, you

NB. On this view, plural s is actually a schematic noun:

semantic pole

[[PLURAL]/[...s]]
phonological pole

Grammar and lexicon in Cognitive Grammar (cf. Langacker 2008)

Different senses (lexical meanings)?

a.

He sliced1 the bread.

b.
c. d. e.

Pat sliced2 the carrots into the salad.

Pat sliced3 Chris a piece of pie. Pat sliced4 and diced his way to stardom. Pat sliced5 the box open.

An alternative, constructionist solution (which minimizes lexical polysemy):

one lexical meaning vs. various different constructions
a.

He sliced the bread. (transitive) Pat sliced the carrots into the salad. (caused motion) Pat sliced Chris a piece of pie. (ditransitive) Pat sliced and diced his way to stardom. (way- construction) Pat sliced the box open. (resultative)

b.

c.

d.

d.

Construction Grammar (Goldberg 1995, 2006)

CAUSED MOTION CONSTRUCTION

Sem CAUSE-MOVE < cause goal theme > PRED Syn V < SUBJ OBL OBJ > Syn Sem CAUSE-MOVE < cause goal theme > SLICE V < slicer sliced >

SUBJ OBL OBJ

a.

b.

But is this sharp distinction always possible?

Some evidence (from resultative constructions):

(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) She named the baby *(Sally). He cut the bread (thin). He painted the door (red). He wiped the table (clean). He talked himself hoarse. He ran his sneakers threadbare. She ate herself healthy.

Incidentally, RCs are probably motivated by the metaphor ACTIONS ARE FORCES
m

M F
TH event (E) component S tr lm P T change (C) component

(Sarah) (kissed) KEITH (the anxiety) (away from) (Keith) Figure 25. The FCS for Sarah kissed the anxiety away from Keith

Important assumptions in cognitive semantics: 1) The embodied cognition thesis 2) Meaning as conceptualization

1) The relation between conceptual structure and the external world (embodiment)
a. Shes in love. b. Shes slowly getting into shape. c. She fell into depression. The CONTAINER image schema is projected onto the abstract conceptual domain of STATES. (metaphorical mapping)

More on metaphors

The fundamental roots of language are figurative (Carter 2004); metaphors are everywhere; metaphors are systematic and culture-specific;

to stress the fact that metaphors are not just literary devices but are pervasive, the term conceptual metaphor is now used; metaphors can be described as mappings from a source domain to a target domain.

TIME IS MONEY (culture-specific) source domain: money target domain: time How do you spend your time? Youre wasting my time.

These are conventionalised (also known as dead) metaphors: we are not consciously aware of the metaphorical nature.

AN ARGUMENT IS A WAR source domain: war target domain: argument She attacked every point in my argument. She tried to buttress her argument. He withdrew his offensive remarks. I hit back at his criticisms.

AN ARGUMENT IS A JOURNEY We have set out to prove that our theory is correct. Should we move on to the next point? We have arrived at a disturbing conclusion.

AN ARGUMENT IS A BUILDING

If you dont support your argument with solid facts, its whole structure will collapse. He showed her argument to be without foundation.

AN ARGUMENT IS A CONTAINER Im tired of your empty arguments.

Your argument doesnt have much content.

That argument has holes in it.

HAPPY IS UP, SAD IS DOWN

Im feeling up. That gives me a lift. vs. Im down/low. My spirits sank.

Of course, UP is not always positive and DOWN negative: Hes screwed up. Depth of understanding.

Conventionalised metaphors involving upper body parts:

John is a pig.

IDEAS ARE OBJECTS

lean mapping highlighting specific aspects of the target concept

rich mapping supplying a tangible conceptual structure for abstract target concepts

The mountains are sleeping.

Metaphor (personification): mountains (target) are human beings (source) but an alternative possibility is:
the mountains stands for the people living in the mountains

The latter is an example of metonymy, which, like metaphor, is not necessarily a poetic device:

All hands on deck

used to say that everyone is needed to help in a particular situation With only half an hour to get everything ready, it was all hands on deck. Is all hands on deck just a metonymic expression?

Metonymies can also be described as mappings from a source to a target but they involve one cognitive domain while metaphors involve two. Metonymies typically have a referential function (e.g. the White House stands for or gives mental access to the President of the US); but they may have a highlighting function, as in Im all ears. (Remember that metaphors can also have a highlighting function; hence, some researchers claim that metaphor and metonymy should be seen as a cline of cognitive operations.)

Metaphor and metonymy have been used to investigate the conceptual structure of emotions (sadness, anger, disgust/hate, fear, joy/happiness, desire/love). Metaphors are also routinely used in science (e.g. when we speak of a computer virus) and politics (e.g. when we say that a country is ill). Metaphors are also used in linguistics:

e.g. complex expressions (red pen) are usually analysed in terms of the BUILDING BLOCK metaphor

But the BUILDING BLOCK metaphor is hardly correct, cf. ice cream, newspaper, wheelchair. An alternative metaphor for complex expressions is the SCAFFOLDING METAPHOR (the constituents are merely the scaffolding for the construction job at hand).

Back to meaning as conceptualisation

2a) linguistic units as conceptualization

Morphemes, words (open-class and closed class), constructions (e.g. active vs. passive) all have meaning and refer to concepts in the mind (vs. objectivism). However, such concepts relate to our interaction with the external world (vs. subjectivism), cf. bachelor unmarried adult male. Such concepts may be difficult to define (vs. dictionary view).

2b) encyclopedic meaming

Words as points of access Watch out jane, your husbands a right bachelor! (a) The child is safe. (b) The beach is safe.

2c) meaning construction as conceptualisation The dynamic nature of meaning construction has been explored in Fauconnier and Turners Conceptual Blending Theory (e.g. 2002).

Benetton family fancies a quick bite at Little Chef.

Italy's super-rich Benetton family has made approach to buy Little Chef, the chain of roadside restaurants

Mental spaces are small conceptual packets constructed as we think and talk, for purposes of local understanding and action. [They] operate in working memory but are built up partly by activating structures available from long-term memory. (Fauconnier and Turner 2002: 40, 102)

input space 1 (buying space)

AGENT: Benetton PROCESS: want to buy PATIENT: Little Chef

input space 2 (eating space)

EXPERIENCER: hungry person PROCESS: fancy PATIENT: food

input space 1 (buying space)

input space 2 (eating space)

AGENT: Benetton PROCESS: want to buy PATIENT: Little Chef compression

EXPERIENCER: hungry person PROCESS: fancy PATIENT: food

AGENT/EXPERIENCER: Benetton (hungry person) PROCESS: fancy (want to buy) PATIENT: Little Chef (food)

blended space/blend

input space 1 (buying space) cross-space mappings (identity) AGENT: Benetton PROCESS: want to buy PATIENT: Little Chef

input space 2 (eating space)

EXPERIENCER: hungry person PROCESS: fancy PATIENT: food

compression

AGENT/EXPERIENCER: Benetton (hungry person) PROCESS: fancy (want to buy) PATIENT: Little Chef (food)

blended space/blend

What triggers input space 2 (the eating space)? The name Little Chef.

Conceptual integration is quite a feat! It is very difficult to spell out the various conceptual operations we are so good at performing quickly and unconsciously!

The blending approach differs from the metaphor/metonymy approach in that the former uses mental spaces constructed during online processing while the latter operates with stored cognitive models (e.g. BUYING A COMPANY IS EATING). That is, mental spaces are context-dependent. Metaphor/metonymy involves unidirectional mappings from source to target, while blending (typically) involves mappings from two input spaces to the blended space.

Cross-space mappings involve so-called vital relations, e.g. identity. Vital relations include: change, identity, time, space, cause-effect, part-whole, representation, role, analogy, disanalogy, property, similarity, category, intentionality, uniqueness.

The clipper ship Northern Light sailed in 1853 from San Francisco to Boston in 76 days, 8 hours. That time was still the fastest on record in 1993, when a modern catamaran, Great American II, set out on the same course. A few days before the catamaran reached Boston, observers were able to say: at this point Great American II is 4.5 days ahead of Northern Light.

Blending, unlike metaphor theory, underlines the importance of

context dependent, on-line conceptualization (mental spaces are different from cognitive models) open-endedness (cf. red pen)

Blending is everywhere:

morphology: brunch WASP (acronym with prop word)

jokes and riddles What did the beach say when the tide came in? Long time no sea.

Input 1:
THEME: sea/tide PROCESS: move GOAL: beach

Input 2:
THEME: person A PROCESS: meet PATIENT: person B CAUSE AGENT: person A PROCESS: say RECIPIENT: person B CREATED OBJECT: Long time no see

Conclusion:

conceptualisation (dynamic, context dependent, dependent on points of access) continuum nature of linguistic units (seen as meaningful) embodiment

PART II
Cognitive abilities and lexical items

Outline: - cognitive linguistics (vs. generative linguistics) - cognitive abilities (esp. scanning) and grammar - word classes (esp. verbs and prepositions) - no need for scanning?

Cognitive linguistics vs. Chomskyan linguistics Chomskyan approach: - Language Faculty independent of general cognitive abilities; - modular (i.e. separate modules as e.g. in computer science); - language as a lexicon (i.e. a store of words) + a grammar (i.e. rules to combine words); - minimalist (e.g. reduce stored forms to a minimum, as in the case of regular plurals like house houses, which can be captured by rule).

Cognitive linguistics (in particular Langackers Cognitive Grammar): - language is not independent of general cognition; - language is not necessarily a (separate) module; - language is a a structured inventory of conventional linguistic units (e.g. it includes strings which can be derived by rule such as I love you, What are your doing tonight?, etc. importance of constructions); - redundancy is part and parcel of the linguistic system (cf. rule/list fallacy); - language is embodied (I take this as meaning: you can speak a human language iff you are human).

Figure/ground organization:

a. Tom is near John. b. John is near Tom. c. The bike is near the house. d. ?? The house is near the bike.

Sequential scanning (SEQ) vs. summary scanning (SUM): - watching a ball fall (SEQ), as in a film vs. - looking at various positions of the ball at the same time (SUM), as in a multiple exposure picture

a.

b.

build-up phase

final Gestalt

SUM vs. SEQ used in grammar as well.

Problem: how do you define word classes (i.e. how do you distinguish e.g. verbs from nouns)?
Two approaches: distributional meaning-based

Distributional: I _______ chocolate. (love, hate, adore, dislike, etc. verbs) My hair is very __________. (long, short, etc. adjectives)

Meaning-based (i.e. semantic or notional definitions): cf. what you are (were?) usually taught at school, e.g. a noun refers to a thing or a person

Obvious problem: beauty, love, happiness, etc.

However, Cognitive Grammar takes the notional approach to word classes seriously.

E.g. it defines a noun as a thing, which is a technical term for a set of interconnected entities (cf. team)

ENTITIES

THINGS

RELATIONS

ATEMPORAL RELATIONS

PROCESSES

STATIVE RELATIONS The Cognitive Grammar analysis of word classes

COMPLEX ATEMPORAL RELATIONS

e1

e2

t r

a. thing

b. relation

c. process

Schematic representations of things (a), relations (b) and processes (b)

Problem: how to distinguish notionally between e.g. the verb enter and the preposition into? Intuitively, they are pretty similar (i.e. something ends up in a place). Langackers solution: we should appeal to SUM vs. SEQ.

SPACE

tr lm

TIME ENTER

tr lm

TIME INTO

The rationale here is that differences in form must always imply differences in meaning (i.e. words belonging to different classes must be represented differently in terms of our cognitive abilities). I call this semantic atomism: every form (in a construction) has meaning.

SUM vs. SEQ also used to distinguish between:

bare infinitives: She saw the ship sink. (SEQ) to-infinitives: To eat chocolate is good for your health. (SUM) -ing forms: She likes eating chocolate. (SUM)

Intuitively, the distinction is sometimes problematic (see e.g. Duffley 2005):

The woman strolling down the beach is my mother.

I found my little brother tearing my photo album to pieces in my bedroom. (We intuitively play the events of strolling and tearing as motion pictures.)

Langacker himself is aware of the somewhat speculative nature of his analysis (1987: 235-254), see also (1999: 223)

Nonetheless, Langacker (1987) defends his analysis by claiming that SUM and SEQ are needed in order to achieve theory-internal coherence:

A hard-nosed linguist will doubtless ask for evidence to support these claims. How can one prove that the conception of a process (hence the meaning of every verb) requires sequential scanning []? The request for justification is certainly legitimate, but we must take some care that the form of the request does not embody methodologically unreasonable expectations. In particular, one cannot reasonably expect or demand the existence of direct empirical evidence that bears on this question alone considered in isolation from the overall descriptive context in which the analysis of processes is embedded [emphasis ours]: I can no more substantiate the claim that verbs imply sequential scanningdirectly, and without regard to how the total descriptive system meshes together [emphasis ours]than the proponent of a more fashionable model can prove that movement rules leave traces without explicating the function of these constructs as part of a much larger theoretical and descriptive framework. The absence of direct and conclusive empirical support is unfortunate, but no linguistic theory can provide such motivation for all its constructs taken individually. (Langacker 1987: 253)

This position cannot be accepted: all linguistically relevant cognitive abilities postulated by Cognitive Grammar must be supported by (direct or indirect) independent evidence, or at the very least be in principle amenable to experimental verification.

So far, no psycholinguistic evidence has been provided which confirms the existence of SUM and SEQ. E.g. Matlocks research (2004, 2005) only shows that mentally simulated motion is involved in fictive motion processing (e.g. The path rises quickly near the top.) But the question of how we actually do this hasnt been answered yet.

The postulation of SUM and SEQ may be an instance of the post hoc propter hoc fallacy: SEQ implies that an element X can be inflected but we know that X involves SEQ because X can be inflected. And what about languages that have verbs not inflected for tense? (Remember that Langackers characterization is meant to be universal.)

The issue of psychological plausibility should be taken seriously.

Consider:
I may very well have been being followed. In Langackers analysis, this sentence involves cyclical applications of SUM and SEQ: (have (PERF4 (be1 (-ing (be2 (PERF3 (V)))))))
SEQ SUM SEQ SUM SEQ SUM SEQ

But if much in grammar is accessed as a unit (linguistic holism), there is no need to go through the generative procedure illustrated before.
Further, what we know about language comprehension and production casts doubt on this analysis.

Lets suppose Langackers analysis captures comprehension: (have (PERF4 (be1 (-ing (be2 (PERF3 (V))))))) How can followed (PERF3 + V) be scanned summarily if we havent processed any of the preceding material? Followed could be a simple past (and simple past forms are taken to be scanned sequentially).

The experimental evidence we have (see Barsalou 1992 and Anderson 1995 for an overview) converges towards the so-called immediacy of interpretation: we assign syntactic/semantic interpretations to words as they come in. This implies that the syncretism problem (followed as a past participle/simple past) wont arise (i.e. when we reach being, we expect a participle, not a simple past form).

What about language production? It doesnt seem to the case that speakers start out at the lowest level of constituency, and then work their way up, step by step, in the tree or hierarchy. (E.g. the passive schema may be activated relatively early on.)

We conclude that Langackers analysis is unlikely to be correct. The postulation of SUM and SEQ may actually blur the distinction between: language as an object of investigation on the part of the professional linguist and language as a cognitive representation in the speakers mind (see e.g. Sandra and Rice 1995 and Croft 1998).

We thus fully subscribe to Taylors (2002) view: As was the case with vowels and consonants, there is an important sense in which the categories of adjective and noun (and indeed the other word classes) must be understood with respect to the constructional schemas in which they occur (Croft 1999). This is not to deny the possibility of entertaining constructionindependent characterizations of the wordclasses, in terms of the nature of the concepts that the words designate, for example (Chapter 9). Ultimately, however, a word class emerges as a function of its role within a constructional schema. (Taylor 2002: 563)

The desire to see all linguistic elements as meaningful (semantic atomism) and the recognition of entrenchment (i.e. the view that, because of repetition, much in language is accessed automatically, i.e. holism) constitutes a potentially problematic duality in Cognitive Grammar.

On the one hand, Cognitive Grammar is a semiotic model (see also Taylor 2003b) where all elements are said to be meaningful. On the other, grammar is viewed as emergent: it emerges out of concrete forms which an individual is exposed to and can manipulate. ( usage-based model, cf. construction grammars, see e.g. Goldberg 1995, 2006)

The usage-based perspective doesnt require maximum parcelling of meaning (i.e. semantic atomism). But if we dont accept SUM and SEQ, how can we distinguish between e.g. enter and into?

We should recognise the centrality of distributional facts. But the fact that enter and into are distributionally different doesnt mean that they are identical semantically (even without recourse to SUM and SEQ):

into

the cinema

She

walked

a. disintegrated

b. integrated

Schematic representation of She walked into the cinema

into

enter

a. The semantic poles of into and enter

b.

Support for this analysis comes e.g. from varieties where prepositions (not only into) can be left unexpressed: a. I need in the house. b. And you want into his knickers, he added a little laugh to put Gerry at ease. (BNC BN1 1071)

Some concluding remarks: SUM and SEQ needed to achieve internal coherence within a lexicalist, semantics-driven theory; but we lack experimental support; further, the evidence we have doesnt seem to support SUM and SEQ (at least as they are used in Cognitive Grammar); in order to develop a truly cognitive grammar, all allegedly linguistically relevant cognitive abilities must be amenable to experimental verification; grammar as a semantics-driven model and grammar as a usagebased (corpus) model can coexist provided that lexical semantics is grounded in constructions;

it is also conceivable that some structures cant be assigned a well-defined meaning on their own: [s]peakers do not necessarily make the relevant generalizations, even if clever linguists can (Croft 1998: 168)

PART III
The lexical meaning of simultaneity subordinators

Analysis of simultaneity as and while-clauses:

as and while are represented differently in our mental lexicon, i.e. are associated with different simultaneity constructional schemas;

different types of simultaneity clauses can be recognised (they define a network);

Explicit coding of simultaneity Various explicit devices can be used to code simultaneity, i.e. total or partial temporal overlap, between two events: (1) a. An armed robber was mugged of his loot as he made his getaway. (BNC) b. She said that the pain was a little better after the pethidine she had been given and she was able to rest quietly while she waited to be taken to theatre. (BNC) c. When he was in the airforce he flew Tornado jets. (LDCE)

Simultaneity (or temporal) as and while-clauses are often compatible with additional semantic roles: (2) a. She kept her head down as she spotted the newsmen. (BNC) [causality] b. Schools in the north tend to be better equipped, while those in the south are relatively poor. (BNC) [contrast] Very little research on simultaneity.

Dynamic (multiphase) and stative (monophase) events

Morris (1996): temporality vs. pure causality depends on multiphase event (see (3)) vs. monophase event (see (4))

(3) As she grew older,

(4) a. As you are here b. As you know c. As he wore a red sweater

In fact, as-clauses do occur with monophase events: (5) The wind whips round us as we stand on the seafront. (Morrall 2003: 281) (6) He says it in a whisper, with his eyes upon her, as she sits at the window bent over her work. (Waters 2002: 237) (7) The company commander then moves in as Iman lies wounded and helpless. (The Guardian, 24.11.2004, p.2)

(8) The bottle of Sylvaner from the cellar was cool and sweet. It reminded him even more of Heidi. [] Her slow smile as she watched him. The quivering strength of her grip as she held him to her. (Millar 2004: 197).
(9) a day after eight blinging pieces of jewellery were snatched from his bedroom as he slept with his wife, Sharon, in their Buckinghamshire mansion. (The Guardian, 24.11.2004, p.3) (10) My pager went off as I was on the train on Nov. 3. (www.suntimes.com/special_sections/ transplant/cst-nws-liverone26.html)

Admittedly, though, examples with the copular verb be usually seem to be of a dynamic nature: (11) When items are arranged in this way, most of the 1s will appear as a peak at the bottom of the scale and there will be a gradual decrease in frequency as the attributes are less and less possible in human performance. (Hatch and Lazaraton 1991: 204) (12) That made me pause as I was halfway across the buildings front plaza. (Connelly 2003: 80) (13) As I was crouched, preparing myself for a quick raid on the locker, a series of waves got me thinking. (Martel 2002: 169)

A genuine counterexample?
(14) As he was in the hospital, though, his family, all the survivors from Sete, learned that it was the Pirahs who had attacked them (Everett 2008: 147)

monophase events are compatible with a temporal reading (contra Morris 1996, Silva 1991); still, truly stative be examples seem very, very rare; the availability of causality (alongside temporality) is context-dependent:

(15) An embarrassment of produce becomes available to Caroline as she walks towards The Mothers Finest []. (Faber 2003: 22) (16) Could it be Williams? she says as they walk up the Rackham path together. (Faber 2003: 187)

If both as and while-clauses refer to temporary configurations (hence, the impossibility of (17b)=(4b)), then why do we have the contrast in (17a)? (17) a. {*As/While} you are here b. {*As/*While} you know Analysis of the first 443 pages (out of a total of 833) of Fabers novel The Crimson Petal and the White:

- 255 as-clauses vs. 64 while-clauses; - while-clauses occur in contexts where either a (relatively) long action is evoked or states/properties, expressed through the verb be (or a modal verb), are profiled.

BNC data: BNCWeb, old version (http://escorp.unizh.ch):

241 randomly selected instances of as=CJS from imaginative (written) 241 randomly selected instances of while=CJS from imaginative (written) 241 randomly selected instances of as=CJS from leisure (spoken) 241 instances of while=CJS from leisure (spoken)

[NB 241=total number of instances of while=CJS in leisure (spoken)]

while-clauses (imaginative): 178 examples

change verbs account for only about 20% of the data (change of position verbs account for about 18% of the data). Only about 14% of change-of-position verbs have the same (or part-whole) subject as the main clause; even considering ing cases (i.e. while V-ing), only about 21% of the while-examples have the same (or part-whole) subject as the main clause.

as-clauses (imaginative): 100 examples

only one example out of 100 with be (in a pseudo-progressive construction), vs. 19.5% for while (also, note that 3 negative whileclauses were found); change verbs account for 72% of the data (change of position verbs alone account for 62% of the data). Almost 50% of change-ofposition verbs have the same (or part-whole) subject as the main clause; more than half of the as-examples (54%) have the same (or partwhole) subject as the main clause.

while-clauses (leisure): 131 examples

in the spoken language, the use of the verb be is much more frequent than in the written language (47.7% vs. 19.5%). By contrast, the use of change verbs is approximately constant (20.3% spoken vs. 20.7% written); the percentage of same subject cases is higher than in the written data, amounting to around 34% (also including 3 ing cases). as-clauses (leisure): 27 examples

in the spoken language, change verbs account for about 89% of the data (24 tokens out of 27). One third of them are change-of-state verbs and most change-of-place verbs (11 out of 18) are instances of go; the percentage of same subject cases is higher than in the written data, amounting to around 63%.

Conclusions:

As-clauses often involve change verbs (especially in the spoken language; but remember that stative verbs are also possible). While-clauses do not show a strong preference for change verbs. They seem to evoke more stable/static configurations (especially in the spoken language). As-clauses show a stronger preference for subject identity (i.e. the degree of semantic integration between the as-event and the main event is stronger in asclauses, see also Silva 1991 on this point).

Different lexical entries Simultaneity while can occur with be, modals, and negated verbs: Instead, he eats his sausage {while/*as} its still warm. Because I must do something {while/*as} I still can. [] (=(20)) Fat lot of use Id be to any girl {while/*as} I dont have a job. (BNC: FRR 572)

While and as are associated with two different constructional schemas: Temporal while: [while NP VP] Temporal as: [as NP VPchange] That is, temporal as is more constructiondependent than while.

You could also say that, in lexical semantics terms, while evokes temporality (i.e. susceptibility to change in the sense of Williams 2002) on its own (cf. also the noun while) because, not relying on any specific verb types, its temporal interpretation can be detached from the construction in which it occurs. Temporal as, by contrast, needs a temporal exponent by way of the VP it occurs with.

In other words, temporality cannot be retrieved from the verb be, modals, and negated VPs if as is used. But what about stative verbs (e.g. verbs of posture) occurring with as? Sit, stand, and lie, for example, have a high degree of susceptibility to change (when they apply to animate referents).

As-clauses construe path events.

as-clause

as-path event

main clause event(s)

Figure 1

The motion analogue of the conceptual notion of path easily explains the emergence of the causal meaning for as-clauses (i.e. our perception of objects and events is made possible by motion itself). The fact that the notion of path is not intrinsic to whileclauses accounts for their more static character and the lack of purely causal while. While-clauses can be compared to the perception of external reality in the absence of motion (e.g. when we look out of a window).

Further, immobility enhances the potential for an adversative construal. Hence, the contrastive meaning of many while-clauses.

Schematic variation in simultaneity as-clauses A. The temporal expanse of the main clause and that of the as-clause are usually either comparable or the temporal expanse of the as-clause contains that of the main clause: (29) As she unfolded the pages this time, looking for the picture of Harriet Shakespeare with her son, Jinnys hands were trembling. (30) Once, as they were walking down St Martins Lane together [] she caught a glimpse of their rippling reflection in a shop window. (Heller 2003: 118)

B. In some cases (e.g. news reports, especially headlines), both events are construed punctually: (31) Five resign as police chiefs promise action agaisnt [sic] racism. (The Wrap, 23.10.03) (32) Tim Yeo became the latest senior Tory to rule himself out for the leadership today as party heavyweights gave their support to Michael Howard, who is expected to announce his candidacy this afternoon. (The Wrap, 30.10.03) (33) Praise for management as postal voters reject strike (The Wrap, 18.09.03) (34) Among the broadsheets, only the Independent chooses to lead with something other than the Hutton inquiry, [] Washington suffered a double blow in its plans for Iraq yesterday as France and Germany balked at proposals for an international force, []. (The Wrap, 05.09.03)

C. Sometimes the temporal expanse of the main clause is larger than that of the as-clause, which can be either punctual or extended: (35) The Telegraph highlights a row over the Mission accomplished banner which hung behind George Bush on May 1 as he declared victory from the USS Abraham Lincoln. (The Wrap, 30.10.03) (36) The fog hung low on a brisk January dawn in 2001, as several dozen police agents silently rolled into position in the rugged hills around Mezzojuso, a sleepy town 40km south of Palermo. (Time Magazine, 2004, no.36, p.50)

temporal extension of main clause event (e.g. resign) is equal to temporal extension of as-clause event (e.g. promise); see (31)-(34) (e.g. Five resign as police promise action)

a.

temporal extension of main clause event (e.g. hang) is greater than temporal extension of as-clause event (e.g. declare); see (35) (e.g. A banner hung behind him as he declared victory)

b.

temporal extension of main clause event (e.g. hang) is larger than temporal extension of as-clause event (e.g. move); see (36) (e.g. The fog hung low as the police rolled into position)

c.

Figure 2

The schemas in Figure 2 can be analysed as extensions of Figure 1 obtained via the principle of family resemblance. The schema in Figure 2a arises from the compression of the path arrow of Figure 1 into a single time point. [N.B. The temporal equivalence between main clause and asclause is construed. In objective time, the event of e.g. promising is antecedent to that of resigning (as well as the cause for the latter).]
Figure 2b involves temporal compression and figureground reversal: The backgrounding function prototypically assigned to the as-clause is carried out by the main clause. Figure 2c only involves figure-ground reversal.

Conclusion
As and while-clauses are not identical despite what is usually reported in dictionaries (see entry below from Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, CD-Version; observe that the examples are all path events!):

4 while or when I saw Peter as I was getting off the bus. As time passed, things seemed to get worse. Just as the two men were leaving, a message arrived. As and while-clauses form a simultaneity network:

as-clauses code path events. Unlike while-clauses, they are not compatible with stative be, modals or negated VPs because temporality could not otherwise be retrieved; while-clauses are more stative than as-clauses: change verbs are not peculiar to them. By considering while as a default temporal subordinator, we can motivate its wider use compared to as; at least two more types of as-clause (see Figure 2a and Figures 2b-c) have been recognised (alongside the prototype in Figure 1), depending on the relation between the construed temporal expansions of the as and main clause events.

Grazie!

Grazie!