Cognitive Linguistics

by Geeraerts, Dirk

• ISBN13: 9783110190854
• ISBN10: 3110190850
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2006-09-01
• Publisher: De Gruyter

Summary

Over the past decade, Cognitive Linguistics has grown to be one of the most broadly appealing and dynamic frameworks for the study of natural language. Essentially, this new school of linguistics focuses on the meaning side of language: linguistic form is analysed as an expression of meaning. And meaning itself is not something that exists in isolation, but it is integrated with the full spectrum of human experience: the fact that we are embodied beings just as much as the fact that we are cultural beings. Cognitive Linguistics: Basic Readings brings together twelve foundational articles, each of which introduces one of the basic concepts of Cognitive linguistics, like conceptual metaphor, image schemas, mental spaces, construction grammar, prototypicality and radial sets. The collection features the founding fathers of Cognitive Linguistics: George Lakoff, Ron Langacker, Len Talmy, Gilles Fauconnier, and Charles Fillmore, together with some of the most influential younger scholars. By its choice of seminal papers and leading authors, Basic Readings is specifically suited for an introductory course in Cognitive Linguistics. This is further supported by a general introduction to the theory and, specifically, the practice of Cognitive Linguistics and by trajectories for further reading that start out from the individual chapters.

Table of Contents

Introduction : a rough guide to cognitive linguistics	p. 1
Cognitive grammar : introduction to concept, image, and symbol	p. 29
Grammatical construal : the relation of grammar to cognition	p. 69
Radial network : cognitive topology and lexical networks	p. 109
Prototype theory : prospects and problems of prototype theory	p. 141
Schematic network : ambiguity, polysemy, and vagueness	p. 167
Conceptual metaphor : the contemporary theory of metaphor	p. 185
Image schema : the cognitive psychological reality of image schemas and their transformations	p. 239
Metonymy : the role of domains in the interpretation of metaphors and metonymies	p. 269
Mental spaces : conceptual integration networks	p. 303
Frame semantics	p. 373
Construction grammar : the inherent semantics of argument structure : the case of the English ditransitive construction	p. 401
Usage-based linguistics : first steps toward a usage-based theory of language acquisition	p. 439
Epilogue : trajectories for further reading	p. 459
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