Abstract
This chapter addresses derived embodiment, the process that takes us from the perceptually informed to the imagined understanding that seems constitutive of interactional expertise-like knowledge. Focus is on describing and explaining the notion of second order linguification processes. Though interactional expertise exemplifies the type of knowledge formation in which principles of derived embodiment can be found, I aim to show that the mechanism is typical of ordinary knowledge acquisition. I claim that while environmental stimuli are central to acquisition of concrete language, intentionally or unintentionally the interlocutor takes over at the abstract level. Thus, children who were more or less at equal footing in the concrete phase may diverge strikingly from each other in the abstract phase due to the inequality of the social conditions (the ability of the interlocutor). Hence, while the significance of biologically constrained learning is discussed in Chaps. 3 and 4, in Chap. 5 the significance of the interlocutor is discussed to explore the anatomy of the social in abstract language acquisition. Focus is on by what means the interlocutor calls forth particular phenomenal experiences in derived embodiment mechanisms. Thus, the argument entails both instructed fear conditioning, a powerful and telling example of training of a shaman novice by a shaman master as well as the use of metaphors in teaching singers.
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Notes
- 1.
‘Metaphor’ derives from the Latin metaphora “carrying over”. To understand metaphors involves the recognition of circumstances characteristic of metaphor use. According to Rapp et al. (2004, p. 395) metaphors in speech and writing are used to help us in understanding: “When we hear someone state that ‘hard work is a ladder’ or that ‘life is a journey’, we instantly realise that these sentences are not meant to be taken literally but refer to a metaphoric meaning. Verbal metaphors are used for conceptualizing and making expressible relevant parts of our lives that are otherwise difficult to explain”.
- 2.
Studies with transcranial magnetic stimulation (Watkins et al. 2003) applied to the face area to evoke motor-evoked potentials of the lips showed that listening to and observing speech enhanced the size of the motor-evoked potentials. The results suggest that exposure to different aspects of speech activities, as when for instance the interlocutor talks about ‘teddy’, are included in the resultant neural underpinnings of linguistic activity.
- 3.
The ability to introduce phenomenally strong images in conversation is corroborated by studies on implanted memories using guided imagery procedures, see also Chap. 2 (e.g. Hyman and Pentland 1996; Porter et al. 1999).
- 4.
Kealy and Arbuthnott (2003, p. 803) write further on the use of guided imagery: “Such explicit direction to focus on sensory experience is typical of the use of imagery to intensify current experience, and is present in both co-created and guided imagery. Intensifying current experience is commonly thought to improve the efficacy of psychotherapeutic conversations […]. ‘Change will occur most effectively when the emotion scheme is accessed in the session and reflected on. […] Use of imagery and metaphoric language as well as empathetic conjectures that move beyond the surface, closer to underlying feelings, are helpful in evoking emotions’ (Greenberg and Paivio 1997, pp. 116–117)”.
- 5.
Arbuthnott et al. (2002, p. 526) state: “Setting: Imagine that you are at the legislative building. You notice a crowd of excited people, so you go over to see what is going on. The prime minister of Canada just happens to be visiting. One of his aides tells everyone that if they get into a line, the prime minister will shake their hands. You decide to wait in line (Question: Where were you in the line?).
Action: As you wait, you watch the prime minister shake the hands of the people ahead of you in line. The prime minister finally gets to you. (Question: What happens next?)”
- 6.
Gibbs (2013) distinguishes between traditional metaphor scholars who study “A is B” statements, or ‘resemblance’ metaphors, such as “My job is a jail”, “The man is a wolf”, and “My surgeon is a butcher” and cognitive linguists who study ‘correlation’ metaphors that reflect recurring correlations in bodily experiences, such as “life is a journey”, or “knowing is seeing”. I do not intend a particular understanding of metaphor use. There may or may not be actual metaphors involved, but for simplicity when I use the expressions ‘metaphor’ or ‘metaphorical expressions’ I am referring to linguistic tools that readily recruit imagery in the perceiver to elicit sensations and associations when one struggles to understand.
As we returned to in the last part of this chapter, the metaphors of interest here are characterised by being novel in the sense that they possess the capacity to elicit conscious reflection.
- 7.
This example is from Noll (1985) who refers to Reichel-Dolmatoff (1975). The shaman and the Jaguar. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press.
- 8.
The opening paragraph to Chapter A2 from Kierkegaard’s Writings, ‘the point of view’ Volume 22 translated by Howard V. Hong and Edna H. Hong. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1998.
- 9.
(http://www.projectlearnet.org/tutorials/concrete_vs_abstract_thinking.html. Accessed 22nd February, 2014).
- 10.
Studies on right and left hemisphere activation show further complexity with respect to the representations of metaphors. Thus, the right and left hemisphere (RH and LH) seem to encode idiomatic meanings differently. Priming studies that test the effect of different interstimulus intervals have revealed that LH predominantly selects a single interpretation on the cost of alternatives, whereas RH activates diffuse semantic fields and by that keeps alternative interpretations open in time. The result is the ability to solve putative ambiguous idioms and expressions and retain the ability to revise first interpretations in light of additional stimuli piling up. So, while RH is busy keeping many alternative routes to understanding expressions open at a time, LH settles on one interpretation.
Openness to different interpretations as demonstrated by RH activation in metaphor studies might actually reflect a kind of creativity which opposes the rigidity of the LH activation (Mashalet al. 2007).
- 11.
Chen et al. (2008) distinguish between so-called nominal and predicate metaphors. While nominal metaphors semantically align distinct nouns, predicate metaphors use motion terms figuratively. Chen et al. emphasise that it is far from obvious that results obtained with nominal metaphors generalise to predicate metaphors. At issue in predicate metaphor comprehension is the fact that the level of abstraction in action event and verb processing plays an important role and may be reflected in the anatomical organisation.
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Schilhab, T. (2017). Derived Embodiment and Interactional Expertise. In: Derived Embodiment in Abstract Language. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-56056-4_5
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