Cognitive linguistics: Difference between revisions

From Citizendium
Jump to navigation Jump to search
imported>Anthony.Sebastian
(→‎Areas of study: Adding intro to section)
imported>Anthony.Sebastian
(→‎Areas of study: Adding info about CL activities)
Line 30: Line 30:


Cognitive linguistics, more than generative linguistics, seek to mesh together these findings into a coherent whole.  A further complication arises because the terminology of cognitive linguistics is not entirely stable, both because it is a relatively new field and because it interfaces with a number of other disciplines.
Cognitive linguistics, more than generative linguistics, seek to mesh together these findings into a coherent whole.  A further complication arises because the terminology of cognitive linguistics is not entirely stable, both because it is a relatively new field and because it interfaces with a number of other disciplines.
As an interdisciplinary group, scholars of cognitive linguistics publish articles in a variety of journals, including “Brain and Language”<ref>[http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/622799/description#description Brain and Language]</ref>, which focuses on the neurobiology of language, and a dedicated journal, “Cognitive Linguistics”,<ref>[http://www.cogling.group.shef.ac.uk/ Cognitive Linguistics]</ref> which focuses on such topics as:
<blockquote>
<p style="margin-left: 2.0%; margin-right: 6%; font-size: 1.0em; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">the structural characteristics of natural language categorization (such as prototypicality, cognitive models, metaphor, and imagery); functional principles of lingusitic organization (such as iconicity); the conceptual interface between syntax and semantics; the relationship between language and thought, including matters of universality and language specificity; the experiential background of language-in-use, including the cultural background, the discourse context, and the psychological environment of linguistic performance</p>
</blockquote>
Scholars of cognitive linguistics meet biennially at the International Cognitive Linguistic Conference<ref>http://www.cogling.org/iclcconfs.shtml International Cognitive Linguistic Conferences]</ref>, sponsored by the “International Cognitive Linguistic Association”<ref>[ http://www.cogling.org/index.shtml International Cognitive Linguistic Association]</ref>.


Insights and developments from cognitive linguistics are becoming accepted ways of analysing literary texts, too.  [[Cognitive Poetics]], as it has become known, has become an important part of modern stylistics.  The best summary of the discipline as it is currently stands is Peter Stockwell's ''Cognitive Poetics''.<ref> Stockwell, Peter (2002). ''Cognitive poetics: An Introduction''. London and New York: Routledge.</ref>
Insights and developments from cognitive linguistics are becoming accepted ways of analysing literary texts, too.  [[Cognitive Poetics]], as it has become known, has become an important part of modern stylistics.  The best summary of the discipline as it is currently stands is Peter Stockwell's ''Cognitive Poetics''.<ref> Stockwell, Peter (2002). ''Cognitive poetics: An Introduction''. London and New York: Routledge.</ref>

Revision as of 23:00, 24 November 2008

This article is developing and not approved.
Main Article
Discussion
Related Articles  [?]
Bibliography  [?]
External Links  [?]
Citable Version  [?]
 
This editable Main Article is under development and subject to a disclaimer.
Linguistics
Phonology
Syntax
Morphology
Semantics
Pragmatics
Theoretical linguistics
Generative linguistics
Cognitive linguistics
Language acquisition
First language acquisition
Second language acquisition
Applied linguistics
Psycholinguistics
Phonetics
Sociolinguistics
Creolistics
Evolutionary linguistics
Linguistic variation
Linguistic typology
Anthropological linguistics
Computational linguistics
Descriptive linguistics
Historical linguistics
Comparative linguistics
History of linguistics
Languagenaturalconstructed
Grammar

In linguistics and cognitive science, cognitive linguistics (CL) refers to the school of linguistics that views language as based in evolutionarily-developed and speciated faculties, and seeks explanations that advance or fit well into the current understandings of the human mind.

The guiding principle behind this area of linguistics is that language creation, learning, and usage are explained by reference to human cognition in general —the basic underlying mental processes that apply not only to language, but to all other areas of human intelligence.

Cognitive linguistics argues that language is both embodied and situated in a specific bioregion. This can be considered a more developed form of the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, in that not only are language and cognition mutually influential, but also embodied experience and environmental factors of the bioregion.

Areas of study

Cognitive linguists explore the mental underpinnings of language that account for the generation of thinking, which includes conceptualization, meaning (semantics), metaphor, grammar, and many other aspects of the language facility as it relates to thinking. It incorporates ideas from philosophy, neuroscience, psychology, and computer science, and develops theoretical insights based on empirical (observational, experimental) methodologies.

Cognitive linguistics is divided into two main areas of study, which are currently being reunified, as linguists have grown to understand their mutual interdependence:

Aspects of cognition that are of interest to cognitive linguists include:

Related work that interfaces with many of the above themes:

  • Computational models of metaphor and language acquisition.
  • Psycholinguistics research.
  • Conceptual semantics, pursued by generative linguist Ray Jackendoff is related because of its active psychological realism and the incorporation of prototype structure and images.

Cognitive linguistics, more than generative linguistics, seek to mesh together these findings into a coherent whole. A further complication arises because the terminology of cognitive linguistics is not entirely stable, both because it is a relatively new field and because it interfaces with a number of other disciplines.

As an interdisciplinary group, scholars of cognitive linguistics publish articles in a variety of journals, including “Brain and Language”[1], which focuses on the neurobiology of language, and a dedicated journal, “Cognitive Linguistics”,[2] which focuses on such topics as:

the structural characteristics of natural language categorization (such as prototypicality, cognitive models, metaphor, and imagery); functional principles of lingusitic organization (such as iconicity); the conceptual interface between syntax and semantics; the relationship between language and thought, including matters of universality and language specificity; the experiential background of language-in-use, including the cultural background, the discourse context, and the psychological environment of linguistic performance

Scholars of cognitive linguistics meet biennially at the International Cognitive Linguistic Conference[3], sponsored by the “International Cognitive Linguistic Association”[4].

Insights and developments from cognitive linguistics are becoming accepted ways of analysing literary texts, too. Cognitive Poetics, as it has become known, has become an important part of modern stylistics. The best summary of the discipline as it is currently stands is Peter Stockwell's Cognitive Poetics.[5]

See also

Endnotes

  1. Brain and Language
  2. Cognitive Linguistics
  3. http://www.cogling.org/iclcconfs.shtml International Cognitive Linguistic Conferences]
  4. [ http://www.cogling.org/index.shtml International Cognitive Linguistic Association]
  5. Stockwell, Peter (2002). Cognitive poetics: An Introduction. London and New York: Routledge.

References

  • Gilles Fauconnier has written a brief, manifesto-like introduction to Cognitive linguistics, which compares it to mainstream, Chomsky-inspired linguistics. See Introduction to Methods and Generalizations. In T. Janssen and G. Redeker (Eds). Scope and Foundations of Cognitive Linguistics. The Hague: Mouton De Gruyter. Cognitive Linguistics Research Series. (on-line version)
  • Grady, Oakley, and Coulson (1999). "Blending and Metaphor". In Metaphor in cognitive linguistics, Steen and Gibbs (eds.). Philadelphia: John Benjamins. (online version)
  • Schmid, H. J. et. al. (1996). An Introduction to Cognitive Linguistics. New York, Longman.
  • Fauconnier, G. (1997). Mappings in Thought and Language.
  • Taylor, J. R. (2002). Cognitive Grammar. Oxford, Oxford University Press.
  • Croft, W. & D.A. Cruse (2004) Cognitive Linguistics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  • Tomasello, M. (2003). Constructing a Language. A Usage-Based Theory of Language Acquisition. Harvard University Press.
  • Evans, Vyvyan, Benjamin K. Bergen and Jörg Zinken. The Cognitive Linguistics Enterprise: An Overview. To appear in Vyvyan Evans, Benjamin K. Bergen and Jörg Zinken (Eds). The Cognitive Linguistics Reader. Equinox Publishers. Due to be published November 2006.
  • Rohrer, T. Embodiment and Experientialism in Cognitive Linguistics. In the Handbook of Cognitive Linguistics, Dirk Geeraerts and Herbert Cuyckens, eds., Oxford University Press, forthcoming.

External links