{"id":649,"date":"2010-05-12T22:00:26","date_gmt":"2010-05-12T20:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/elanguage.net\/blogs\/booknotices\/?p=649"},"modified":"2010-05-11T11:41:10","modified_gmt":"2010-05-11T09:41:10","slug":"cognitive-linguistics-investigations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/?p=649","title":{"rendered":"Cognitive linguistics investigations"},"content":{"rendered":"
Cognitive linguistics investigations<\/strong>: Across languages, fields and philosophical boundaries. Ed. by June Luchjenbroers<\/strong>. (Human cognitive processing 15.) Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 2006. Pp. 334. ISBN 9027223688<\/a>. $180 (Hb).<\/div>\n

Reviewed by Sandra Cristina Becker<\/strong>, Federal University of Minas Gerais<\/em><\/p>\n

Bringing together work from the most recent investigations on cognitive linguistics, a team of leading experts explores language processing, sharing the view that mental concepts provide the base of categorization and that language reflects patterns of thought and offers a window to cognitive function. Divided into three thematic parts, this volume pins down correspondences between language and cognition within this nonformalist paradigm.<\/p>\n

Following a brief introduction by the editor, \u2018Cultural models and conceptual mappings\u2019 are addressed in Part 1. Gary B. Palmer<\/strong> draws attention to cultural linguistics to highlight the governing role played by \u2018scenarios\u2019 (including discourse scenarios) in categorization. Palmer relies on case studies on grammatical voice and emotion language in Tagalog to deal with the manifestation of agency or the lack of it. Reporting his finding on Shona noun classifiers, the author draws upon \u2018polycentric category\u2019 <\/em>to describe a network of salient categories and their respective chains. Ch. 3, \u2018Purple persuasion\u2019, is an ingenious account on conceptual integration by Seana Coulson<\/strong> and Todd Oakley<\/strong>. The authors analyze how speakers exploit elements of blending in two examples of persuasive discourse: one is an e-mail message asking voters to take a stand; the other consists of an appeal for monetary donations, as the pun in its title suggests. The intertwining of human actions and conceptual blends are richly described. Teenie Matlock<\/strong> provides a sharp understanding of cognitive processes underlying figurative uses of motion verbs. The so-called fictive motion sentences were depicted by participants in three different studies. Results pointed to the dynamic and reflective nature of human perception and actions in the world. In Ch. 5, June Luchjenbroers<\/strong> deftly integrates into her research the dimensions of physical space and the many mental spaces required in discourse. The author explores the dynamics of the \u2018comfort zone\u2019 and its relevance to the speaker\u2019s navigation through mental spaces.<\/p>\n

Part 2 looks at \u2018Computational models and conceptual mappings\u2019. Ping Li<\/strong>\u2019s \u2018In search of meaning: The acquisition of semantic structure and morphological systems\u2019 presents some insights into the comprehension of Whorf\u2019s classic puzzle involving cryptotypes and sheds some light on the acquisition of semantic structures. Joost Schilperoord<\/strong> and Arie Verhagen<\/strong> discuss the cognitive status of linguistic entities and base their assumptions on evidence from actual language in Ch. 7. They put conceptual structure to the test in explaining linguistic communication. Detailed treatment is given to word recognition of New Zealand English in Paul Warren<\/strong>\u2019s outstanding investigation. EAR\/AIR diphthongs are taken under consideration to describe and draw an elaborated picture of sound merger processes.<\/p>\n

Part 3 deals with \u2018Linguistic components and conceptual mappings\u2019. Cliff Goddard<\/strong>\u2019s significant contribution turns to the relevance of verbal explanation and the natural semantic metalanguage (NSM) approach for cognitive-linguistics-driven studies in Ch. 9. Categorization is carefully explored and a new model is proposed by Robin Turner<\/strong>. In Ch. 10 Turner clarifies the striking question between the linguistic and cultural differences between man and woman in Turkish. Iraide Ibarretxe-Antu\u00f1ano<\/strong> chooses tactile verbs to richly illustrate a number of points raised on meaning extension in Ch. 11. She analyses the phenomenon of polysemy in English, Basque, and Spanish through the lenses of lexicalization patterns. In Ch. 12, Maarten Lemmens<\/strong> turns to lexical causatives highlighting the role of experience on the conceptualization process of these entities. He not only presents interesting findings but also proposes new directions for research on transitive and ergative constructions. Satoshi Uehara<\/strong>\u2019s study focuses on predicates in Japanese and gives a semantic account for their grammatical behavior in Ch. 13. David Gough uses perception organization and connectionism to explain the structure of the Xhosa verbal system. Ch. 15 offers Ming-Ming Pu<\/strong>\u2019s investigation of some narratives in different languages and reveals determinant underlying cognitive activities that have a crucial role on discourse processing.<\/p>\n

As a whole, this volume manages to raise interesting research questions and shed some light on intriguing aspects of language. It also presents a fascinating picture of cognitive linguistics that can be considered quite a new enterprise. More should be done to set the stage for a major shift in the direction of understanding language within this paradigm. This volume definitely advances this new theory and paves the way to further investigations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cognitive linguistics investigations: Across languages, fields and philosophical boundaries. Ed. by June Luchjenbroers. (Human cognitive processing 15.) Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 2006. Pp. 334. ISBN 9027223688. $180 (Hb). Reviewed by Sandra Cristina Becker, Federal University of Minas Gerais Bringing together work from the most recent investigations on cognitive linguistics, a team of leading experts explores language […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/649"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=649"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/649\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":650,"href":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/649\/revisions\/650"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=649"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=649"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.linguisticsociety.org\/booknotices\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=649"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}