A Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics David Crystal

98 concatenate
take into account the range of other functions recognized by the theory in which
it is used – in particular, the contrast which is often made between conative and
expressive (personal) and referential (situational) functions.
concatenate (v.)
see concatenation
concatenation (n.) A term used in the formal representation of linguistic
structures, and especially in generative grammar, to refer to a process for
forming strings of elements, the elements being seen in a relation of linear
succession, e.g. X + Y + Z or X » Y » Z (i.e. X is concatenated with or ‘chained
together’ with Y, etc.). The concatenative properties of linguistic units are also
central to some approaches in phonetics and phonology, such as demisyllabic
analysis.
conceptual blending/integration see blending 2
conceptual metaphor A theory, associated with cognitive semantics, in which
metaphor is seen as a process of understanding one conceptual domain in terms
of another. A typical metaphor is a mapping between a better-known, more
concrete conceptual domain (the ‘source domain’) and the conceptual domain
which it helps to organize (the ‘target domain’). Thus a conceptual metaphor
such as THEORIES ARE BUILDINGS, as described by George Lakoff (b. 1941) and
Mark Johnson (b. 1949), has physical objects as source and abstract mental
entities as target, and gives rise to an open set of linguistic metaphors, such
as Your theories lack foundation and He needs to construct a stronger argument.
In its view of metaphor as a general cognitive process, this approach
contrasts with the purely stylistic account of metaphor, with its distinction
between literal and figurative meaning, and its focus on rhetorical and literary
contexts.
conceptual processes
see perception
concessive (adj.) In grammar, referring to a word or construction which
expresses the meaning of ‘concession’. The point expressed in the main clause
continues to be valid despite the point being made in the subordinate clause
(the concessive clause). In English, the most widely used markers of concession
are although and though.
concord (n.) A term used in grammatical theory and description to refer to a
formal relationship between elements, whereby a form of one word requires
a corresponding form of another. In English, for example, a singular subject
co-occurs with the third-person singular form of the verb in the present tense,
e.g. he walks (v. they walk); in Latin, there is concord between the number,
gender and case of adjectives and nouns. This formal correspondence was
traditionally referred to as agreement (the adjective ‘agrees’ with the noun,
etc.), and is usually contrasted in grammatical discussion with the notion of
government. Negative concord refers to cases where an element expressing
negation requires some other element(s) in the sentence to be negative. In
Spanish, for example, sentences such as No tengo ningún dinero (‘I have no