Meaning-Making Through the Lens of Cognitive Semantics: A Case Study of John Donne’s ‘Holy Sonnets: Death, Be not Proud’

This paper aims at investigating semantic construal operations in John Donne’s ‘Holy Sonnets: Death, be not Proud’, through a cognitive semantic perspective. Langacker (Essentials of cognitive grammar. Oxford University Press, 2013) cognitive model views construal operations as cognitive processes that involve the interpretation of language in relation to a specific frame or mental model. The study will adopt Langacker’s cognitive model as a theoretical framework to explore the construal mechanisms involved in the interpretation of Donne’s poem. The data of the study consists of 25 post-graduate students’ responses majoring in English Language and literature to a questionnaire that involved questions related to the construal operations of specificity, focusing, prominence, and perspective. The study revealed how construal operations contribute to the creation of meaning in language through the parameters outlined in the framework. The participants’ apparent reflection and understanding of the text stems from the ‘focusing’ operation which comes as a result of their shared academic background knowledge during their post-graduate studies. The paper also has practical applications for language teaching and learning. It provides insights into how language can effectively be taught and learned by focusing on the cognitive operations involved in meaning-making in teaching literary texts at graduate and post-graduate levels.