Conceptual Integration and Formal Expression

TLDR

Conceptual blending merges structures from multiple mental spaces into a new blended space, producing emergent meaning that underlies many cognitive processes such as metaphor and counterfactuals. The study explores conceptual blending through a many‑space model that extends the traditional two‑domain framework. The authors present new examples demonstrating that meaning is non‑compositional and that blending generates novel understandings of composite forms.

Abstract

Abstract We pursue our exploration of conceptual blending and of the "many-space" model, which replaces the standard "two-domain" model. In blending, structure from two or more input mental spaces is projected to a separate "blended" space, which inherits partial structure from the inputs and has emergent structure of its own. New examples are presented. We show that meaning is not compositional in the usual sense and that blending operates to produce understandings of composite forms. Formal expression in language is a way of prompting hearer and reader to assemble and develop conceptual constructions, including blends; there is no encoding of concepts into words or decoding of words into concepts. Blending is at work in many areas of cognition and action, including metaphor, counterfactuals, and conceptual change. We point out two fundamental aspects of this general process: cross-space mapping of counterparts and integration of events.