The elements of conceptual blending
We begin by sketching out the processes that give rise to conceptual blending and proceed in the next subsections to explore in detail how these processes apply in both linguistic and non-linguistic phenomena. We saw above that an integration network consists of at least four spaces: a generic space, two inputs and a blended space. We also saw that the generic space establishes counterpart connectors between input spaces, which are represented as the bold lines in integration network diagrams. These connections are established by matching, the conceptual operation responsible for identifying cross-space counterparts in the input spaces. Connectors between matched elements are then established, which, as we saw in the previous chapter, is a form of conceptual projection. Connectors can be established between matched elements on the basis of identity or role (as we saw in the CLINTON AS FRENCH PRESIDENT example), or based on metaphor (as we saw in the SURGEON AS BUTCHER example).
The input spaces give rise to selective projection. In other words, not all the structure from the inputs is projected to the blend, but only the matched information, which is required for purposes of local understanding. For example, in the CLINTON AS FRENCH PRESIDENT example, the fact that the role FRENCH PRESIDENT has a value in reality (currently Jacques Chirac) is not projected to the blend. Neither is the fact that Clinton speaks English rather than French, nor the fact that he is unlikely to have considered becoming president of France, nor the fact that he is ineligible, and so on. In other words, much of the structure in the inputs is irrelevant to, or even inconsistent with, the emergent meaning under construction. This type of information is therefore not projected into the blend. Selective projection is one reason why different language users, or even the same language user on different occasions, can produce different blends from the same inputs. In other words, the process of selective projection is not deterministic but flexible. However, projection, like the other aspects of blending, is subject to a set of governing principles. We return to this point later in the chapter (section 12.6).
In Blending Theory, there are three component processes that give rise to emergent structure: (1) composition; (2) completion; and (3) elaboration. The first involves the composition of elements from separate inputs. In the CLINTON AS FRENCH PRESIDENT example, composition brings together the value BILL CLINTON with the role FRENCH PRESIDENT in the blend, resulting in CLINTON AS FRENCH PRESIDENT. Similarly, the SURGEON AS BUTCHER blend composes the elements projected from the SURGEON input with those projected from the BUTCHER input. The second process, completion, involves schema induction. As we saw in the previous chapter, schema induction involves the unconscious and effortless recruitment of background frames. These complete the composition. For example, in the CLINTON AS FRENCH PRESIDENT example, the process of completion introduces the frames for FRENCH POLITICS and FRENCH MORAL ATTITUDES. Without the structure provided by these frames, we would lose the central inference emerging from the blend, which is that his affair with Lewinsky would not harm Clinton in France. This process of schema induction is called ‘completion’ because structure is recruited to ‘fill out’ or complete the information projected from the inputs in order to derive the blend. Finally, elaboration is the on-line processing that produces the structure unique to the blend. This process is sometimes called running the blend.
A further consequence of conceptual blending is that any space in the integration network can, as a result of the blend, undergo modification. For example, because the inputs remain connected to the CLINTON AS FRENCH PRESIDENT blend, the structure that emerges in the blend is projected back to the input spaces. This is called backward projection, and is the process that gives rise to the disanalogy between the US and France. In other words, the inputs are modified by the blend: a powerful contrast is established between the nature of French and American moral attitudes governing the behaviour of politicians and this information may contribute to the encyclopaedic know ledge system of the addressee. In a related manner, although integration networks are typically set up in response to the needs of local meaning construction, blends can, if salient and useful, become conventionalised within a speech or cultural community. We will see an example of the conventionalisation of a blend later in the chapter (section 12.5).
The processes that we have discussed in this section represent the constitutive processes of Blending Theory and are summarised in Table 12.2. These processes together comprise conceptual integration and the conceptual blending that arises from integration. As we will see later in the chapter, these processes also serve to constrain conceptual blending in important ways (section 12.6).
