Date: Monday, 6 November 2023, 12:15 pm to 13:45 pm
Venue: Kollegienhaus KH 1.014
About: This event is organized by the RTG Dimensions of Constructional Space.
Title: The 5C model of linguistic creativity: Constructional networks in interaction
About the speaker: Thomas Hoffmann is a Professor of English Language and Linguistics at KU Eichstätt-Ingolstadt. His main research interests are creativity, cognitive linguistics, language variation and change, and the psychological as well as cognitive aspects of linguistic creativity.
Abstract
Humans are an incredibly creative species – our minds have evolved to a degree that has enabled us to think original thoughts and come up with novel solutions to a great number of problems. One domain of human cognition that has recently received considerable attention in Cognitive Linguistics is linguistic creativity. Over the past couple of years, several publications have contributed new and interesting cognitive linguistic findings on the topic (e.g., Bergs 2018; Bergs and Kompa 2020; Hartmann & Ungerer fc.; Herbst 2018; Hoffmann 2018, 2019, 2020; Trousdale 2018; Turner 2018; Uhrig 2018, 2020). As I will argue, however, what is still missing is a full-fledged cognitive model of linguistic creativity.
In the present talk, I will outline the aspects such a model. Starting with Glăveanu’s (2013), 5A
framework of creativity, I will show how each of the constitutive elements of creativity (actors, audience, artefacts, actions and affordances) can be interpreted in a Construction Grammar approach (Hoffmann 2022). Moreover, the model will detail the role of constructional networks (Diessel 2019) in creative acts and argue that Conceptual Blending (Hampe & Schönefeld 2003; Hoffmann 2019; 2022; Turner 2018, 2020) is the process that creates creative (as well as noncreative) constructs. Finally, I will illustrate the crucial role that social interactions between speakers and hearers play in creative acts.