The qualification of Figure and Ground in factive-fictive motion: a tentative exploration of motion events in literary discourse

Abstract

This dissertation attempts to explore the factive-fictive divide from the perspective of the two most overlooked components of the motion schema: Figure and Ground. Scant information in the literature concerns both components, and most of the available knowledge in the field on the matter is achieved through the study of other components of the schema, mainly Path. By examining authentic occurrences in literary texts, more precisely, in Joseph Conrad’s novel "Heart of Darkness", this research aims at identifying whether certain semantic features of Figure and Ground as observed in real discourse may determine whether an event is experienced as factive or fictive. To distinguish categories, ranging from the most concrete—most perceptual—entities, to the most abstract—most perceptual—ones, some of the Talmy’s palpability-related parameters were selected. The results suggest that the relationship between abstraction, palpability and metaphorization in Figure and Ground may determine in most of the cases how an event is experienced in our minds.

El Trabajo de Fin de Máster (TFM) nace del interés por revisar la distinción entre movimiento factivo y movimiento fictivo establecida por Leonard Talmy, pionero en el estudio lingüísticocognitivo de este tipo de eventos. La originalidad de la disertación radica en dos puntos fundamentales: el cambio de foco que propone, y la selección de un tipo particular de discurso, como es el literario.