Towards a cognitive semantics Part 3 Leonard Talmy Presenter: Saeedeh Shekarpour

1. The Windowing of
Attention in
Language
Leonard Talmy
Presenter: Dr. Saeedeh Shekarpour

2. Definition
• Placing a portion of a coherent referent situation into the
foreground of attention by the explicit mention of that
portion, while placing the remainder of that situation into the
background of attention by omitting mention of it.
Windowing of attention: event frame
gapping

3. Example
• I spent 50$ on this book at that store last Friday
• I spent 50$ on this book at that store last Friday
• I spent 50$ on this book at that store last Friday
windowed gapped
windowed gapped
windowed

4. Distribution of attention
• Parts of cognitive structural category
• Level of attention
• Center of attention
• Scope of attention
• Network of attention

5. Event Frame
Obligatory as
Complement
Optional as
Complement
Blocked as
Complement
Optional as
adjunct

6. Example: spend verb
• I spent 50$ on this book at that store last Friday
• Spend verb invokes seller, buyer, good and money
Obligatory
Complement
Optional
Complement
Optional
Adjunct

7. Types of Event Frames
• A path
• Causal chain
• Cycle
• Participant interaction
• Interrelationship

8. Path Windowing
• A path that is described by an object physically in motion in
the course of a period of time, thus it has beginning and end

9. Path Windowing: example
• The crate that was in the aircraft ‘s cargo bay fell out of the
plane through the air into the ocean.

10. Types of Paths
• Open Path
• Closed Path
• Fictive Path: directs one ‘s attentional focus along a spatial
path, e.g. X be across Y from Z

11. Causal Chain Event Frame
• A sequence of sub-events
• I broke the window by throwing a rock toward it.
Initiatory agent Body of Intention

12. Phase Windowing
Home
Departure
Away
Return
It iterates in a cycle event frame.

13. Phase Windowing
• The pen kept falling off the table and I kept putting it back.
Departure Phase Return Phase

14. Participant-Interaction
Windowing
• A situation that consists of two parts: (1) a primary
circumstance (2) some participant(s) interacting with that
circumstance.
John met a woman at the party last week. Her name was Linda.
Participant 1 Participant 2Circumstance

15. Interrelationship Windowing
• It is comprised of parts not autonomous in themselves but
intrinsically relative with respect to each other.
• Figure-Ground Interrelationship: The paint is peeling from the
wall.
• Factual-Counterfactual Interrelationship
• I did not go to John’s party last night/ I went to the movies last
night because they were playing my favorite film.
• Affective States Associated with Factuality States
• ~A more

16. Multiple and Nested
windowing
• Multiple instances of windowing can occur at the same time,
each with respect to several concurrent event frame
a) The ball rolled off the lawn back onto the court (path event)
b) The ball rolled back onto the court (path event)
c) The ball rolled back ( + interrelationship event/figure, ground)
d) I rolled the ball back (+ initiator agent – causal event)
e) I kept rolling the ball back (iteration/ cycle event)
f) If I had not kept rolling the ball back, there would have been no
game. (Comparison frame/Factuality event)