Baseline and elaboration

Bibliographic Data

ID12197041
AuthorsRonald W Langacker (0009-0009-7345-455X, 1Department of Linguistics, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA, corresponding author)
Year2016
Volume27
Issue3
Pages405-439
Publication date2016-06-29
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueCognitive Linguistics (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0936-5907 • E-ISSN: 1613-3641
PublisherDe Gruyter Mouton (PUBLISHER • DE)
DOI10.1515/cog-2015-0126
OpenAlexW2460876029
LanguageEN
Citations received7
References cited21

Many aspects of language and cognition involve an asymmetry describable in terms of a baseline (B) and various dimensions and levels of elaboration (E). The baseline has some kind of priority – being already established, in place, or under control – and is generally more substantive than elaborating elements. B/E organization is reflected in the control cycle , a very general cognitive model with many manifestations in everyday experience. Since elaboration produces a higher-level baseline, B/E organization involves successive strata , each a substrate for the next, which draws on additional conceptual resources creating a wider range of potential. Seriality and hierarchy represent special cases of this layered organization: in a serial structure each element provides the substrate for interpreting the next; and in composition, component structures function as a dual baseline for apprehending the more elaborate composite structure. B/E organization is characteristic of both individual structures and systems of opposing elements. Recognizing it eliminates the need to posit “zero” elements, as the zero member of a system is simply the baseline structure

Baseline (sea · Cognition · Control (management · Dual (grammatical number · Elaboration · Hierarchy · Humanities · Linguistics · Political science · Computer Science · Language, Metaphor, and Cognition · Linguistics and Discourse Analysis · Philosophy · Psychology · Syntax, Semantics, Linguistic Variation · Artificial Intelligence

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