Abstract
This paper aims to establish the origin of the narrative schema in the perception of intentional movements. The distinction between mechanical and intentional movements is vital for human beings, and the narrative schema, which is underpinned by this distinction, is therefore a basic cognitive principle of intelligibility. This is the reason why the narrative schema is by no means confined to the domain of the literary work of art. It is rather a major principle for the combination of partial significations in many other domains. The paper explores the role traditionally assigned to the narrative schema within continental semiotics and, through an interpretation of Heider and Simmel's study on apparent behavior, it establishes the cognitive import of the narrative schema and its origin in visual perception; finally, it gives examples of the meaning organizing import of the narrative schema.
About the author
His research interests include morphodynamic semotics, cognitive linguistics and phenomenology of language, and aesthetic semiotics. His recent publications include ‘Presentation and representation in art — ontic and Gestaltic constraints on aesthetic experience’ (2002); Kunst — semiotiske beskrivelse af æstetisk betydning og oplevelse (2004); ‘The ideal scaffolding of language — E. Husserl's fourth logical investigation in the light of cognitive linguistics' (2004); and ‘Configuration sémantique et combinaison syntaxique dans la quatrieme recherche logique de Husserl’ (2004).
© Walter de Gruyter
