Az Eszterházy Károly Tanárképző Főiskola Tudományos Közleményei. 1998. Vol. 2. Eger Journal of English Studies.(Acta Academiae Paedagogicae Agriensis : Nova series ; Tom. 26)

Studies - Ágnes Deli: Cognition and politeness

In his discussion of schematic configurations Johnson (1987:2) emphasizes the overwhelming experience of physical FORCE and BALANCE and sets up a COMPULSION SCHEMA as follows: FORCE Figure B In cognitive semantics the concept of force dynamics has played a major role in the interpretation of CAUSATION and TRANSITIVITY as well as in a new explanation of the senses of modal verbs (cf. Radden, 1991). Sweetser (1990:49-75) suggests that the notions of modality are metaphorical extensions from the force-dynamic image schemas of the folkphysical world. Must denotes a compelling force which moves a subject toward an act. Johnson (1987:51-2) also makes notes about the sociophysical force of must. The compelling force, which is implied by the auxiliary must

, Johnson argues, is similar to the sense of physical force, illustrated by the compulsion schema in Figure 2 above. In a similar way, the concept of permission is understood as the removal of the potential barrier to one's action, which is represented by Johnson's (1987: 47) schema of REMOVAL OF RESTRAINT: My claim is that in discourse an act of demanding, i.e. commanding or asking a question (see Halliday, 1985:68) is basically a compellation, and as F Figure C 91