Cognitive Semantics and Time Travel Krystian Aparta krystian.aparta@gmail.com www.timetravel.110mb.com

Time Travel Time travel in physics – still theoretical Time travel in speculative fiction – actual and heavily researched

Time Travel in fiction Early fiction – e.g. Urashima Tarou, 720 A.D. Early science-fiction – e.g. The Time Machine by H.G. Wells, 1895

Time-travel Themes Journey into the past, future, alternative past, etc. Time machines, consciousness shift Dopplegangers, paradoxes (e.g. the grandfather paradox, ontological paradox, predestination paradox)

Rationality of time-travel Common themes, but different theories Science-fiction theories based on everyday rationality Some problems – clashes with everyday rationality Fans argue about which theory makes more sense

Cognitive Semantics Semantics – the study of meaning What has meaning, what is meaning – different semantics Cognitive semantics – meaning=conceptualization

Cognitive Semantics Many theories, e.g. conceptual metaphor theory, conceptual blending theory Started in the mid-1970s in the USA Some names: Fillmore, Lakoff, Rosch, Johnson, Fauconnier, Turner

Cognitive Semantics C.S. – the study of conceptual structure (knowledge representation) and conceptualization (meaning construction) (Bergen, Evans 2006) Multidisciplinary – cognitive science (neurology, cognitive psychology, cognitive anthropology, etc.)

Embodied experience Our experience is structured by the nature of our bodies Symbols etc. are "prompts" for meaning construction Conceptual structure: interactional properties, relations, scenarios, image schemata

Conceptualization Pre-consciously constructing content using conceptual structure Pre-conscious (in the cognitive unconscious) Meaning construction based on embodied experience: e.g. image schemata

Image schemata Based on embodied experience Conceptual structures with inner logic This logic also structures more "abstract" concepts, constrains rational reasoning (e.g. CONTAINMENT) The inheritance principle in conceptual metaphor theory

Conceptual blending Theory of meaning construction (Gilles Fauconnier, Mark Turner, 1993) Conceptual structure blended to yield new structure Selective projection: the structure in the blend can be impossible in the input

Will it blend? Blending is commonplace and pre- conscious Human scale – working to produce global insight Compression – compress more diffuse structure into familiar "frames" in the blend Incompatibility between the inputs does not have to matter

This surgeon is a butcher. Generic space: common structure Input space 1: SURGEON Input space 2: BUTCHER Blend: blended structure, emergent meaning This surgeon is a butcher.

Time – blending 3 conceptual domains Fauconnier and Turner, 2006 Domain of events (E) Event ordering, type, the subjective experience of events (episodic memory)

Domain of motion (X) Sub-section of E: the experience of motion and movement with its inner logic The Source-Path-Goal schema

Motion Event (X) logic EXAMPLE: The spatial logic of X becomes the "abstract" logic of our conceptualizations of Events. EXAMPLE: X: If there is a direct path between A and B, and we are moving on that path towards B, it means we are getting closer to B. E: If the Polish dinner ends with soy cutlet and potatoes, the more we eat of soy cutlet and potatoes, the closer we get to finishing dinner/eating.

More Motion Logic The spatial logic of X is the source of such "objective and rational" aspects of Events as: Length, order, speed, paralell development, directionality, etc. It is impossible to conceptualize events without this spatial logic. It is not a decoration, but the content of our conceptualization of events.

Universal Events (M) Blend of 2 sub-domains: the Cyclic Day and the Timepiece. Cyclic Day: the compression of the representation of single events (e.g. sunrise, nightfall) into a new "concrete" event – a cyclic day, which we all live through (morning, afternoon, night, etc).

Universal Events (M) Timepiece: representations of recurring mechanical or natural events (e.g. the motion of a rod between two points on a scale) The structure of the Timepiece network blends with Cyclic Day, e.g. the representation of a certain position of the rod blends with "Noon" in the Cyclic Day

Universal Events (M) Blending Timepiece with Cyclic day yields new, objective, universal and recurring events, e.g. minutes, seconds, millenia

The E/X/M blend = 'time" Blending the structure of E/X/M yields a new reality: universal, actual, abstract, objective events. Any concrete "local" event is contained in / blended with an abstract universal event in M

The source of the concretness of time In the E/X/M blend, representations of embodied, physical, subjective experience blend with abstract, objective, universal events. This creates an emergent experience: the subjective, physical and direct experience of an abstract, objective and universal event (e.g. last Friday).

Travel in space Representations of complex motion in space compressed using the Path schema A blended scenario of motion is created, with a Path that is abstract, concrete and actual

More specific models More specific concepts recruited to provide better insight Question: Today, you"re in London. Yesterday, you were in Paris. How did you get here? A concept recruited for the compression (e.g. AIRPLANE TRAVEL)

Space travel Sometimes a more specific model to compress travel in space is not available. Question: Two days ago, you were in the kitchen. Today, you"re in the living room. How did you get here? In such cases, we are left with the Path schema from the E/X/M blend – in the blend, we move along the path of TIME

Space-time travel The abstract Path in the E/X/M blend is still actual and compressess representations of physical, located experiences Science fiction provides a specific model of motion, which allows the experiencer to retrace this Path and visit some of the physical locations that it compresses

Concepts of location "Normal" models of change of location – based on "physical rules" (e.g. you can't walk in the air) New models suspend rules and the writers try to make up in many ways, based on a selected model of change of location E.g. normal human movement – movement among normal human places  you time- travel from the 10th floor to the 9th floor (the 10th hadn't been constructed)

Many interesting options Paradoxes: based on the Path schema logic in causality "Unpacking" the blend causes clashes between the abstractness and concreteness of a location/event If the natural human location = mind in body, the body itself – other scenarios

References Aparta Krystian. "Conventional Models of Time and their Extensions in Science Fiction." Unpublished Master's Thesis. Kraków, Uniwersytet Jagielloński, 2006. <http://www.timetravel.110mb.com/Aparta_Models_of_Time.pdf> Bergen, Benjamin K, Vyvyan Evans and Jörg Zinken. 'the Cognitive Linguistics Enterprise: An Overview." <http://www.port.ac.uk/departments/academic/psychology/staff/downloads/filetodownl oad,68131,en.pdf> Fauconnier, Giles and Mark Turner 2003 The Way We Think. New York: Basic Books. 2006 Rethinking Metaphor. <http://www.cogsci.ucsd.edu/~faucon/RethinkingMetaphor19f06.pdf> Johnson, Mark. The Body in the Mind. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1987.