An Introduction to Cognitive Linguistics

by Ungerer, Friedrich; Schmid, Hans-Jorg

• ISBN13: 9780582239661
• ISBN10: 0582239664
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2007-01-01
• Publisher: Pearson ESL

Summary

Cognitive linguists share the belief that language is based on our experience of the world. Although scientific in its claims, cognitive linguistics appeals to the intuitive feeling that our use of language is related to how we perceive things and situations around us. This comprehensive text provides a clear introduction to the major approaches that are guided by these assumptions. It is the first text to draw together all the important aspects of both cognitive semantics and syntax and it includes original proposals for a cognitive theory of word-formation and cognitive hierarchies. An Introduction to Cognitive Linguistics explains the central concepts and the assumptions on which they are based in a clear and logical style, tracing their historical roots in linguistics or psychology. Chapters consider the mental process of categorization and its result, the cognitive categories which influence our use of words, the role of metaphor for understanding abstract concepts and analyse attempts to define clause patterns, word classes and other aspects of syntax based on general cognitive principles. This text also brings together issues which have not originated in cognitive linguistic research, but have benefited from being put on a cognitive basis, namely iconicity, grammaticalization, lexical change and language teaching.

Table of Contents

Typographical conventions

Acknowledgements

Introduction

Prototypes and Categories

Colours, squares, birds and cups: early empirical research into lexical categories

The internal structure of categories: prototypes, attributes, family resemblances and gestalt

Context-dependence and cultural models

Levels of Categorization

Basic level categories of organisms and concrete objects

Superordinate categories and experiential hierarchies

Subordinate categories, composite terms and word-formation

Basic level categories and basic experiences: actions, events, properties, states and locations

Conceptual Metaphors and Metonymies

Metaphors and metonymies: from figures of speech to conceptual systems

Metaphors, metonymies and the structure of emotion categories

Metaphors as a way of thinking; examples from science and politics

Figure and Ground

Figure and ground, trajector and landmark: early research into prepositions

Figure, ground and two metaphors: a cognitive explanation of simple clause patterns

Other types of prominence and cognitive processing

The Frame and Attention Approach

Frames and scripts

Event-frames and the windowing of attention

Language-specific framing and its use in narratives

Other Issues in Cognitive Linguistics

Iconicity

Grammaticalization

Lexical change and prototypicality

Effects on foreign language teaching

Conclusion

References

Index

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