domain |
Working Definition:
a conceptual domain is "a coherent area of conceptualization relative to which semantic units may be characterized" (Foundations of Cognitive Grammar, 488).
Disciplinary Definitions:
The general meaning of the word "domain" is "sphere, area, orbit, field, arena," but it also means a "territory over which rule or control is exercised" ( Wordnet). Both senses apply here.
In a more technical sense, a conceptual domain is "a coherent area of conceptualization relative to which semantic units may be characterized" (Foundations of Cognitive Grammar, 488). Langacker distinguishes between two types of conceptual domains—basic and abstract. Though the sense of domain used in this entry is "abstract,"
his account of a basic domain is helpful in understanding the term. He writes:
The concept [KNUCKLE], for example, presupposes the coneption of a finger. It would be virtually impossible to explain what a knuckle is without somehow invoking the conception of a finger as a holistic entity; it would also be misguided, for the position of a knuckle in relation to the finger as a whole is surely a central and crucial feature of our understanding of the notion. Given the concept [FINGER], however, [KNUCKLE] is easily and straightforwardly characterized. [FINGER] provides the necessary context—or domain—for the characterization of [KNUCKLE] and hence constitutes one of its primary conceptual components. (147-148.)
The conceptual domain [COMMUNICATION] similarly provides a necessary context or domain for characterizing [SENDER], [MESSAGE], [RECEIVER], [CODE], [CONTEXT]. It needs to be noted that "most concepts require specifications in more than one domain for their characterizaiton" (154).
The concept [BANANA], for example, includes in its matrix
a specification for shape in the spatial (and/or visual) domain; a color configuration involving the coordination of color space with this domain; a location in the domain of taste/smell sesnations; as well as numerous specifications pertaining to abstract domains, e.g., the knowledge that bananas are eaten, that they grow in bunches on trees, that they come from tropical areas, and so on.
With respect to te "meaning" of the word "banana," Langacker takes an encyclopedic view rather than a dictionary view (155ff.).
As a conceptual domain, communication "characterizes" the technical concepts used in studying the phenomena to which we refer when using the term. For example, the term "sender" does not necessarily imply a message. Senders can send packages of fruit. However, placed in the abstract domain, communication, itself understood in the domain of "technical term," it characterizes the qualities of the senders of message/texts not of baskets of fruit.
In his " Scientific Theories and Their Domains" (1977), Frederick Suppe offers a conception of a theoretical domain as an alternative to Kuhn's "paradigm." The conception of a conceptual domain in this entry is not indebted to Suppe whose concept of a domain is a logical category. Rather it is indebted to Ronald Langacker linguistic conception of a domain in his Foundations of Cognitive Grammar (147ff.).
Zenon W. Pylyshyn concludes "Computing in CS" with sme observations on "The Domain of CS":
What makes some area of study a natural scientific domain is the discovery (not the stipulation) that some relatively uniform set of principles can account for phenomenon in that domain. It is never the case that we can stipulate in advance preccisely what will fall into that natural domain. NOr can we stipulate in advance what the class of principles is that will define the domain; the evolution of the boundaries of a scientific domain is a gradual process, requiring provisional conjectures as one proceeds.
Cognitive science has been viewed as the study of the natural domain of cognition, where dognition includes prototypical phenomena of perception, problem solving, reasoning, learning, memory, and so on. (Foundations of CS, 85)
Comments:
See Communication as a Cognitive Map of a Domain
Notes
In his "Epilogue" to the paperback edition of The Mind's New Science, Howard Gardner writes:
There are the individuals, possessing various skills and talents, who choose to work on a set of issues. There is the surrounding field, the ensemble of institutions, organizations, roles, publication outlets, and so on, which selects the contributions of certain individuals as particularly notable. Finally, there is the domain, the organized structure of knowledge in a discipline or activity. This structure alters over time, and the revised domain becomes the body of knowledge encountered by the next generation of works in a discipline. (398)
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last revised:
August 5, 2007
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