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International Cognitive Linguistics Association |
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Book reviewThe Structure of TimeEvans, Vyvyan. 2004. The Structure of Time: Language, Meaning, and Temporal Cognition. Amsterdam and Phildelphia: John BenjaminsReviewed by Samir Karmakar, Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur. Linguistic studies of temporal cognition can be grouped into studies of (i) time as a lexical concept, and (ii) time as an ordering principle emerging from the underlying causal dynamics of any happening. Each type comes with its own intellectual practices. Vyvyan Evans' work The Structure of Time belongs to the first of these two trends. In the introductory chapter, the author makes an essential division between two perspectives of time studies, namely metaphysical and linguistic (p. 4). Chapter 2 elaborates the metaphysical aspect of time. It shows how the issue of time is approached from philosophical, neurological and psychological viewpoints, which aim to establish the experiential basis of time. Chapters 3 and 4 show how this experiential basis manifests itself in a rich conceptual system. Chapter 5 addresses temporal metaphors and the process of lexicalization. In chapter 6 at the end of the first part, Evans presents his principled polysemy approach, which is eventually developed into a general theory of word meaning. The chapters in the second part of the book (7 to 14) discuss several senses of the concept of time, using the approach of principled polysemy. The main concern of this part can be summarized in terms of the following questions: (i) What are the different senses of time? (ii) How are they differentiated from each other? (iii) How are those different senses contextually bound? (iv) Which one would be considered as conceptually basic? (v) How can the other senses be derived from the basic sense? (vi) What are the pragmatic conditions that determine the status of a sense as basic?
Three criteria are proposed to handle these issues (p. 93). The
meaning criterion pertains to definitions of lexical concepts. The
concept elaboration criterion concerns the contextual modification of
the basic sense. Finally the grammatical criterion pertains to the
morpho-syntactic operations that a particular lexical concept is
involved in.
Chapter 16 deals with the concepts of 'time', 'motion' and
'agency'. The lexical concept of 'time' depends on an understanding of
'motion' (p. 202). Motion can be conceptualized from two perspectives,
namely the egocentric and the allocentric point of view. These two
perspectives ultimately result in two representational models:
ego-moving and time-moving representations. This distinction is
facilitated by "our construal of agency, and the tight correlation in
experience between motion and agent-like behavior" (p. 210).
Chapter 19 elucidates how time is conceptualized in current modern
physics. Evans argues that this notion of time is relative to some
frame of reference that necessitates embodied and grounded reasoning
(p. 249). In the concluding chapter (20), the author advocates a wider
approach to time which would not only take metaphysically and
linguistically relevant issues into account, but that would also try
to explore the subjectivity of time.
Since time is not a thing in itself it has been viewed as an inner
aspect of our existence. This traditional view is modified here with
the claim that time is an emergent experience that comes into
existence through an ongoing interaction between one's own body and
the surrounding environment. In this context the concept of motility
is crucial (Merleau-Ponty 1945). Since both the human body and its
socio-cultural environment are consequences of bio-cultural evolution,
it becomes quite inevitable to study the concept of time from
synchronic, as well as from diachronic viewpoints. The author takes an
initiative to incorporate both dimensions in his approach.
Describing the experiential basis of time in more detail, Evans
emphasizes its perceptual, conceptual and symbolic
characteristics. Each of these is subject to biological, cultural, and
linguistic evolution respectively. The central thesis of this work is
that the perceptual characteristics of time are of particular
importance for our embodied reasoning about it.
In contrast to traditional theories of meaning, Evans considers
meaning to be embodied and experiential. Like emotions, meanings are
unconsciously experienced (Merleau-Ponty 1945; Lakoff and Johnson
1999). Also the meaning of time has its perceptual basis. With the
lexicalization of underlying conceptual underpinnings, time becomes a
cognitively accessible object.
Linguistically, the work is mainly concerned with the ways the concept
of time is lexicalized in a language. Since the time is conceptualized
differently in different contexts, it is no trivial task to identify a
basic sense of time and derive other senses from it. Evans' principled
polysemy approach views derived senses as an outcome of pragmatic
strengthening through repeated usage over time.
Finally, the author refers to the two contesting types of time studies
mentioned in the introduction of this review: one is an outcome of
relativity theory, propounded by Einstein, and the other one is
developed by Bergson (1922). If one accepts relativity, then the
different senses of time should be listed as separate entries in an
enumerated lexicon. But if one accepts the Bergsonian view, then the
different senses of time should be interpreted as the contextual
variants of a single underlying meaning.
The book under review caters equally to researchers and to novices with
an interest in time studies or temporal semantics. However, the book
says very little about the role of memory in constructing the notion
of temporality. Similarly, the role of attention has not been
addressed. In addition, we would also expect the author to address the
topo-mereological aspect of time and its causal dynamism from a
cognitive point of view. That said, The Structure of Time provides the
reader with many insightful and thought-provoking observations about
temporal language.
References
Bergson, Henri. 1922. Duration and Simultaneity. Trans. by Leon
Jacobson 1965, New York: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, Inc.
Lakoff, George, and Mark Johnson. 1999. Philosophy in the Flesh. New
York: Basic Books.
Merleau-Ponty, Maurice. 1945. Phenomenology of Perception. Trans. by
Colin Smith 2002. London: Routledge Classics.
Commissioned
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