Natalya Naumova - COST: Dimensional Essence of the Substantiated Representation
The interdisciplinary studies [Langacker 2000; Shiffrin, Tannen, Hamilton, 2001; Talmy 2000] give the ground for the thorough analysis of the COST-concept multiple representation forms, converting details and specification during the knowledge transfer in business discourse. The verbal representation of COST implies the information on how much is needed to have something in exchange, eg. (1) ‘The delay in delivery cost the company over 1 billion’ [Ashley 2006, 145]; (2) ‘The merger has cost the company its independence’ [OBED, 123], whereas its noun representation provides the data on responsibility sharing between the parties to a deal, regulated by INCOTERMS. As a result of morphological shift from verb to noun in a business text (3) ‘CIF Singapore’ implies that the Seller bears all transportation costs up to the stated place of destination. Furthermore, in (4) ‘Our prices are quoted CFR Hamburg’ [Ashley 2006] the cost-constituent introduces both spacious and financial dimension to describe the commitment sharing between the Buyer and the Seller. Complex terminological units of the CIF, CPT-type illustrate representation of an integration network [Fauconnier 1998] on terminological level of the business discourse register, containing different key elements of several concepts, when the emerged new structure conveys the knowledge of delivery, finance and commitment details of an international trade agreement. The understanding of the location changes in (3) along with the transportation details in (4) is followed by the conclusion of where and how the property rights are being transferred from the Buyer to the Seller. Having stipulated the terms of delivery the parties to a deal compensate many meanings: who is charged with taxation, customs and bank service clearance. It reflects the influence of the terms of delivery on the total value of the goods. Substantiated representation contributes to mutual understanding between the parties in business discourse in terms of financial, delivery, arbitrational regulations. Broad lexical boundaries of the stative dimensional verb “cost” ensures the space for those pragmatic function combinations that makes highly informative business written discourse laconic and precise. In conclusion, it is worth mentioning that active functioning of the nominal form of the COST-concept proves high morphological potential of the Business English synergetic system. Aimed at accurate and clear stipulation of the responsibilities for rapid and effective influence on the addressee the language resources are limited within the genre, situational and discourse-type frameworks of Business discourse.
References
Ashley A. (2006): Oxford Handbook of Commercial Correspondence.– Oxford: OUP.
Fauconnier G. (1998): Mental Spaces: Aspects of Meaning Construction in Natural Language. – Cambridge: CUP. OBED (2007): Oxford Business English Dictionary. – 3d ed.– Oxford: OUP.
Jackendoff R. S. (1997): The Architecture of the Language Facility. – Cambridge: MIT Press.
Langacker R.W. (2000): Grammar and conceptualization. – Berlin, N.Y.: Mouton de Gruyter.
Shiffrin D., Tannen B., Hamilton H.E. (2001): The handbook of discourse analysis. – Oxford: Blackwell.
Talmy L. (2000): Toward a cognitive semantics. – Cambridge (Mass), L.: A Bradford Book, The MIT Press, 2000. – Vol.1: Concept Structuring Systems.