Who is this "I"? Point of view, modalization, and focalization in poetry
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17398/2660-7301.49.187Keywords:
Point of View, Modalization, Focalization, Contemporary Poetry, Cognitive PoeticsAbstract
This article develops a cognitive-theoretical framework for analyzing the point of view in lyric poetry, integrating contributions from cognitive grammar, cognitive semantics, the pragmatics of enunciation, text linguistics, and cognitive poetics. It argues that poetic meaning is not organized as the representation of pre-existing contents, but rather as the staging of situated operations of conceptualization. As an illustration of the theoretical model proposed, the study offers an analysis of several texts from contemporary Spanish poetry; however, the ultimate aim of the article is to lay the foundations for a general theory oriented toward the semantics of poetry. Through this theoretical framework and the analyses presented, the article shows how viewpoint, modalization, and focalization function as central cognitive mechanisms that shape a poetic experience characterized by indeterminacy, the progressive loss of subjectivization of the lyrical “I”, and a non-prototypical redistribution of attention.
Downloads
References
ADAM, Jean-Michel (1990): Éléments de linguistique textuelle. Théorie et pratique de l’analyse textuelle. Liège: Mardaga.
AIKHENVALD, Alexandra Y. (2004): Evidentiality. Oxford-New York: OUP.
AUTHIER-REVUZ, Jacqueline (1995): Ces mots qui ne vont pas de soi: Boucles réflexives et non-coïncidences du dire. Paris: Larousse (2 vols.).
BENVENISTE, Émile (1997): Problemas de lingüística general I. México: Siglo XXI [1965].
CHARAUDEAU, Patrick (1983): Langage et discours. Éléments de sémiolinguistique (théorie et practique). Paris: Hachette.
DUCROT, Oswald (2001): El decir y lo dicho. Buenos Aires: EDICIAL [1980].
EVANS, Vyvyan y GREEN, Melanie (2006): Cognitive Linguistics. An Introduction. New York: Routledge <https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315864327>.
FAUCONNIER, Gilles y TURNER, Mark (2002): The Way We Think. Conceptual Blending and The Mind’s Hidden Complexities. New York: Basic Books.
GARCÍA MARTÍN, José Luis (1988): «Tendencias de la poesía última». Los Cuadernos del Norte, 50, 150-153.
GAVINS, Joanna (2007): Text World Theory: An Introduction. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University <https://doi.org/10.3366/edinburgh/9780748622993.001.0001>.
KERBRAT-ORECCHIONI, Catherine (1997): L’énonciation. De la subjectivité dans le langage. Paris: Armand Colin [1980].
KUKKONEN, Karin (2020): Probability Designs. Literature and Predictive Processing. New York: OUP <https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190050955.001.0001>.
LANGACKER, Ronald W. (1987): Foundations of Cognitive Grammar. Vol. I: Theoretical Prerequisites. Stanford: Stanford University.
LANGACKER, Ronald W. (1990): Concept, Image, and Symbol: The Cognitive Basis of Grammar. Berlin-New York: Mouton de Gruyter.
LANGACKER, Ronald W. (1999): Grammar and Conceptualization. Berlin-New York: De Gruyter <https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110800524>.
LUJÁN ATIENZA, Ángel Luis (2005): Pragmática del discurso lírico. Madrid: Arco/Libros.
NUYTS, Jan (1992): Aspects of a Cognitive-Pragmatic Theory of Language. Amsterdam-Philadelphia: John Benjamins.
NUYTS, Jan (2001): Epistemic Modality, Language, and Conceptualization: A cognitive‑ pragmatic perspective. Amsterdam-Philadelphia: John Benjamins <https://doi.org/10.1075/hcp.5>.
RABATEL, Alain (1998): La construction textuelle du point de vue. Lausanne: Delachaux et Niestlé.
SEMINO, Elena (2016): «A corpus-based study of “mixed metaphor” as a meta-linguistic comment». En Gibbs, Raymond W. (ed.): Mixing Metaphor. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 203-222 <https://doi.org/10.1075/milcc.6.10sem>.
SWEETSER, Eve (1990): From Etymology to Pragmatics: Metaphorical and Cultural Aspects of Semantic Structure. Cambridge-New York: CUP.
TALMY, Leonard (2000): Toward Cognitive Semantics. Vol. I: Concept Structuring System. Cambridge (MA): MIT <https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/6847.001.0001>.
VAN DIJK, Teun A. (2017): Discurso y contexto. Un enfoque sociocognitivo. Barcelona: Gedisa.
