Cognitive Semantics

The paper addresses the main questions to be dealt with by any semantic theory which is committed to provide an explanation of how meaning is possible. On one side the paper argues that the resources provided by the development of mathematical logic, theoretical computer science, cognitive psychology, and general linguistics in the 20th Century, however indispensable to investigate the structure of language, rely on the existence of end products in the morphogenesis of meaning. On the other, the paper argues that philosophy of language, which, either in the analytic or the structuralist or the hermeneutical tradition, made little use of such resources (when they are not simply rejected). Left the main question unanswered. Though phenomenology intended to focus on the constitutive process, it ended up mostly with philology. Cognitive semantics paved the way to focus on patterns of bodily interaction within the natural environment out of which basic schemes emerge and are metaphorically “lifted” to any universe of discourse. The explanatory commitment is thus endorsed through two hypotheses: (1) these schemes, of topological and kinaesthetic structure, determine the range of forms of atomic sentences of any natural language, and (2) the category-theoretic notion of universality allows for a proper analysis of how such schemes are “lifted”.

The concept of conceptual blending builds upon Fauconnier's theory of "mental spaces", which suggests that understanding meaning is not simply derived from comprehending words and sentences alone but involves constructing meaning, referred to as conceptualization. Although Fauconnier presented his theory, Turner linked meaning-making to conceptual metaphors. Ultimately, their collaboration revealed that certain semantic issues align with neither perspective. As a result, they developed the theory of conceptual blending, which facilitates the creation of new meanings, provides global insight, and enables conceptual compression for memory retention and manipulation of scattered domains of meaning. Conceptual blending is a mental operation that leads to the creation of new meanings, global insights, and conceptual compression for memory and manipulation of dispersed domains of meaning. The nature of the operation involves creating a partial match between two input mental spaces to selectively explore a new "blended" mental space and dynamically develop the emergent structure. Mental spaces are small conceptual packets constructed during thinking and speaking to enable understanding and practical action. They are highly detailed sets containing elements structured by cognitive frameworks and models. The purpose of this descriptive-analytical research was to answer the following question:  How has conceptual blending been employed in studying embodied metaphors in Surah Al-Hashr? To this end, the article attempts to evaluate the effectiveness of conceptual blending theory in the embodied metaphors of Surah Al-Hashr. These metaphors, derived from human bodily experiences, expand into non-physical, abstract, and intangible spaces, emphasizing the importance of emerging concepts in understanding and interpreting God's intended meaning. The study's findings indicate how the expansion of concepts and linguistic thought in Surah Al-Hashr's seven verses (2, 9, 10, 13, 14, 18, and 19) begins with bodily experiences and progresses through blended spaces. This ultimately challenges and analyzes cognitive processes, thus influencing the worldview of the audience.