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The Cognitive Linguistics Reader

Edited by
Vyvyan Evans [+–]
Bangor University
View Website
Vyvyan Evans is Professor of Linguistics at Bangor University and author of numerous books relating to cognitive linguistics. These include How Words Mean, The Structure of Time, The Semantics of English Prepositions (with Andrea Tyler), Cognitive Linguistics (with Melanie Green), and A Glossary of Cognitive Linguistics.
Benjamin K. Bergen [+–]
University of California, San Diego
View Website
Benjamin K. Bergen is Associate Professor in the Department of Cognitive Science at the University of California, San Diego. He has published widely in cognitive, computational, neuro-, and psycholinguistics. Topics that his research touches include embodiment in syntax and semantics, linguistic relativism, natural language understanding, and connectionist language modeling.
Jörg Zinken [+–]
University of Portsmouth
Jörg Zinken is Senior Lecturer of Psychology of Communication and coordinator of the Language, Culture and Mind Research Group at the University of Portsmouth. His research interests cover topics from the interface between anthropological and cognitive linguistics, including universals and variation in multifunctionality patterns, contextual models of metaphor, and the semantics of prosody and syntax.

Cognitive Linguistics is the most rapidly expanding school in modern Linguistics. It aims to create a scientific approach to the study of language, incorporating the tools of philosophy, neuroscience and computer science. Cognitive approaches to language were initially based on philosophical thinking about the mind, but more recent work emphasizes the importance of convergent evidence from a broad empirical and methodological base.

The Cognitive Linguistics Reader brings together the key writings of the last two decades, both the classic foundational pieces and contemporary work. The essays and articles – selected to represent the full range, scope and diversity of the Cognitive Linguistics enterprise – are grouped by theme into sections with each section separately introduced. The book opens with a broad overview of Cognitive Linguistics designed for the introductory reader and closes with detailed further reading to guide the reader through the proliferating literature.

The Cognitive Linguistics Reader is both an ideal introduction to the full breadth and depth of Cognitive Linguistics and a single work of reference bringing together the most significant work in the field.

Table of Contents

Preliminaries

Acknowledgements [+–] viii
Vyvyan Evans,Benjamin K. Bergen,Jörg Zinken
Bangor University
View Website
Vyvyan Evans is Professor of Linguistics at Bangor University and author of numerous books relating to cognitive linguistics. These include How Words Mean, The Structure of Time, The Semantics of English Prepositions (with Andrea Tyler), Cognitive Linguistics (with Melanie Green), and A Glossary of Cognitive Linguistics.
University of California, San Diego
View Website
Benjamin K. Bergen is Associate Professor in the Department of Cognitive Science at the University of California, San Diego. He has published widely in cognitive, computational, neuro-, and psycholinguistics. Topics that his research touches include embodiment in syntax and semantics, linguistic relativism, natural language understanding, and connectionist language modeling.
University of Portsmouth
Jörg Zinken is Senior Lecturer of Psychology of Communication and coordinator of the Language, Culture and Mind Research Group at the University of Portsmouth. His research interests cover topics from the interface between anthropological and cognitive linguistics, including universals and variation in multifunctionality patterns, contextual models of metaphor, and the semantics of prosody and syntax.
Cognitive Linguistics is the most rapidly expanding school in modern Linguistics. It aims to create a scientific approach to the study of language, incorporating the tools of philosophy, neuroscience and computer science. Cognitive approaches to language were initially based on philosophical thinking about the mind, but more recent work emphasizes the importance of convergent evidence from a broad empirical and methodological base. The Cognitive Linguistics Reader brings together the key writings of the last two decades, both the classic foundational pieces and contemporary work. The essays and articles – selected to represent the full range, scope and diversity of the Cognitive Linguistics enterprise – are grouped by theme into sections with each section separately introduced. The book opens with a broad overview of Cognitive Linguistics designed for the introductory reader and closes with detailed further reading to guide the reader through the proliferating literature. The Cognitive Linguistics Reader is both an ideal introduction to the full breadth and depth of Cognitive Linguistics and a single work of reference bringing together the most significant work in the field.
Original Sources of Papers [+–] ix-xi
Vyvyan Evans,Benjamin K. Bergen,Jörg Zinken
Bangor University
View Website
Vyvyan Evans is Professor of Linguistics at Bangor University and author of numerous books relating to cognitive linguistics. These include How Words Mean, The Structure of Time, The Semantics of English Prepositions (with Andrea Tyler), Cognitive Linguistics (with Melanie Green), and A Glossary of Cognitive Linguistics.
University of California, San Diego
View Website
Benjamin K. Bergen is Associate Professor in the Department of Cognitive Science at the University of California, San Diego. He has published widely in cognitive, computational, neuro-, and psycholinguistics. Topics that his research touches include embodiment in syntax and semantics, linguistic relativism, natural language understanding, and connectionist language modeling.
University of Portsmouth
Jörg Zinken is Senior Lecturer of Psychology of Communication and coordinator of the Language, Culture and Mind Research Group at the University of Portsmouth. His research interests cover topics from the interface between anthropological and cognitive linguistics, including universals and variation in multifunctionality patterns, contextual models of metaphor, and the semantics of prosody and syntax.
Cognitive Linguistics is the most rapidly expanding school in modern Linguistics. It aims to create a scientific approach to the study of language, incorporating the tools of philosophy, neuroscience and computer science. Cognitive approaches to language were initially based on philosophical thinking about the mind, but more recent work emphasizes the importance of convergent evidence from a broad empirical and methodological base. The Cognitive Linguistics Reader brings together the key writings of the last two decades, both the classic foundational pieces and contemporary work. The essays and articles – selected to represent the full range, scope and diversity of the Cognitive Linguistics enterprise – are grouped by theme into sections with each section separately introduced. The book opens with a broad overview of Cognitive Linguistics designed for the introductory reader and closes with detailed further reading to guide the reader through the proliferating literature. The Cognitive Linguistics Reader is both an ideal introduction to the full breadth and depth of Cognitive Linguistics and a single work of reference bringing together the most significant work in the field.
List of Contributors [+–] xii
Vyvyan Evans,Benjamin K. Bergen,Jörg Zinken
Bangor University
View Website
Vyvyan Evans is Professor of Linguistics at Bangor University and author of numerous books relating to cognitive linguistics. These include How Words Mean, The Structure of Time, The Semantics of English Prepositions (with Andrea Tyler), Cognitive Linguistics (with Melanie Green), and A Glossary of Cognitive Linguistics.
University of California, San Diego
View Website
Benjamin K. Bergen is Associate Professor in the Department of Cognitive Science at the University of California, San Diego. He has published widely in cognitive, computational, neuro-, and psycholinguistics. Topics that his research touches include embodiment in syntax and semantics, linguistic relativism, natural language understanding, and connectionist language modeling.
University of Portsmouth
Jörg Zinken is Senior Lecturer of Psychology of Communication and coordinator of the Language, Culture and Mind Research Group at the University of Portsmouth. His research interests cover topics from the interface between anthropological and cognitive linguistics, including universals and variation in multifunctionality patterns, contextual models of metaphor, and the semantics of prosody and syntax.
Cognitive Linguistics is the most rapidly expanding school in modern Linguistics. It aims to create a scientific approach to the study of language, incorporating the tools of philosophy, neuroscience and computer science. Cognitive approaches to language were initially based on philosophical thinking about the mind, but more recent work emphasizes the importance of convergent evidence from a broad empirical and methodological base. The Cognitive Linguistics Reader brings together the key writings of the last two decades, both the classic foundational pieces and contemporary work. The essays and articles – selected to represent the full range, scope and diversity of the Cognitive Linguistics enterprise – are grouped by theme into sections with each section separately introduced. The book opens with a broad overview of Cognitive Linguistics designed for the introductory reader and closes with detailed further reading to guide the reader through the proliferating literature. The Cognitive Linguistics Reader is both an ideal introduction to the full breadth and depth of Cognitive Linguistics and a single work of reference bringing together the most significant work in the field.
Preface [+–] xiii-xiv
Vyvyan Evans,Benjamin K. Bergen,Jörg Zinken
Bangor University
View Website
Vyvyan Evans is Professor of Linguistics at Bangor University and author of numerous books relating to cognitive linguistics. These include How Words Mean, The Structure of Time, The Semantics of English Prepositions (with Andrea Tyler), Cognitive Linguistics (with Melanie Green), and A Glossary of Cognitive Linguistics.
University of California, San Diego
View Website
Benjamin K. Bergen is Associate Professor in the Department of Cognitive Science at the University of California, San Diego. He has published widely in cognitive, computational, neuro-, and psycholinguistics. Topics that his research touches include embodiment in syntax and semantics, linguistic relativism, natural language understanding, and connectionist language modeling.
University of Portsmouth
Jörg Zinken is Senior Lecturer of Psychology of Communication and coordinator of the Language, Culture and Mind Research Group at the University of Portsmouth. His research interests cover topics from the interface between anthropological and cognitive linguistics, including universals and variation in multifunctionality patterns, contextual models of metaphor, and the semantics of prosody and syntax.
Cognitive Linguistics is the most rapidly expanding school in modern Linguistics. It aims to create a scientific approach to the study of language, incorporating the tools of philosophy, neuroscience and computer science. Cognitive approaches to language were initially based on philosophical thinking about the mind, but more recent work emphasizes the importance of convergent evidence from a broad empirical and methodological base. The Cognitive Linguistics Reader brings together the key writings of the last two decades, both the classic foundational pieces and contemporary work. The essays and articles – selected to represent the full range, scope and diversity of the Cognitive Linguistics enterprise – are grouped by theme into sections with each section separately introduced. The book opens with a broad overview of Cognitive Linguistics designed for the introductory reader and closes with detailed further reading to guide the reader through the proliferating literature. The Cognitive Linguistics Reader is both an ideal introduction to the full breadth and depth of Cognitive Linguistics and a single work of reference bringing together the most significant work in the field.

I Overview

1. The Cognitive Linguistics Enterprise: An Overview [+–] 1-36
Vyvyan Evans,Benjamin K. Bergen,Jörg Zinken
Bangor University
View Website
Vyvyan Evans is Professor of Linguistics at Bangor University and author of numerous books relating to cognitive linguistics. These include How Words Mean, The Structure of Time, The Semantics of English Prepositions (with Andrea Tyler), Cognitive Linguistics (with Melanie Green), and A Glossary of Cognitive Linguistics.
University of California, San Diego
View Website
Benjamin K. Bergen is Associate Professor in the Department of Cognitive Science at the University of California, San Diego. He has published widely in cognitive, computational, neuro-, and psycholinguistics. Topics that his research touches include embodiment in syntax and semantics, linguistic relativism, natural language understanding, and connectionist language modeling.
University of Portsmouth
Jörg Zinken is Senior Lecturer of Psychology of Communication and coordinator of the Language, Culture and Mind Research Group at the University of Portsmouth. His research interests cover topics from the interface between anthropological and cognitive linguistics, including universals and variation in multifunctionality patterns, contextual models of metaphor, and the semantics of prosody and syntax.
The book opens with an extended, original chapter by the volume editors offering a broad overview of Cognitive Linguistics designed for the introductory reader.

II Empirical Methods in Cognitive Linguistics

Introduction [+–] 37-39
Benjamin K. Bergen
University of California, San Diego
View Website
Benjamin K. Bergen is Associate Professor in the Department of Cognitive Science at the University of California, San Diego. He has published widely in cognitive, computational, neuro-, and psycholinguistics. Topics that his research touches include embodiment in syntax and semantics, linguistic relativism, natural language understanding, and connectionist language modeling.
This chapter offers an overview of the content of the section devoted to empirical methods in cognitive linguistics.
2. Why Cognitive Linguists Should Care More About Empirical Methods [+–] 40-56
Raymond W. Gibbs
University of California, Santa Cruz
View Website

The book opens with an argument for the importance to linguistics of defining theoretical models that make empirical predictions suitable for testing.
3. Towards an Empirical Lexical Semantics [+–] 57-74
Hubert Cuyckens,Dominiek Sandra,Sally Rice
University of Leuven
View Website

University of Antwerp
University of Alberta
This essay presents a range of studies investigating classic questions pertaining to the structure of word meaning using experimental methods from psycholinguistics
4. Collostructions: Investigating the Interaction of Words and Constructions [+–] 75-105
Anatol Stefanowitsch,Stefan Th. Gries
Freie Universität Berlin
University of California, Santa Barbara
View Website

This essay presents implementable statistical means for investigating how words interact with larger constructions in large language corpora.
5. Conceptual Integration and Metaphor: An Event-related Potential Study [+–] 106-124
Seana Coulson,Cyma Van Petten
University of California, San Diego
Binghamton University
The study addressed in this essay, the last in the section, exemplifies recent work investigating neural activity underlying the use of metaphor and conceptual integration, central areas of cognitive linguistic study.

III Prototypes, Polysemy and Word-meaning

Introduction [+–] 125129
Vyvyan Evans
Bangor University
View Website
Vyvyan Evans is Professor of Linguistics at Bangor University and author of numerous books relating to cognitive linguistics. These include How Words Mean, The Structure of Time, The Semantics of English Prepositions (with Andrea Tyler), Cognitive Linguistics (with Melanie Green), and A Glossary of Cognitive Linguistics.
This chapter offers an overview of the contents of the section devoted to prototypes, polysemy and word-meaning.
6. Cognitive Models and Prototype Theory [+–] 130-167
George Lakoff
University of California, Berkeley
View Website

In this essay, George Lakoff summarizes his seminal work on categorization and the theory of idealized cognitive models which he proposed.
7. Where does Prototypicality Come From? [+–] 168-185
Dirk Geeraerts
University of Leuven
View Website

In this essay, the author takes up the topic of Prototypicality, which is representative of his work on the diachronic aspects of lexical semantic change.
8. Reconsidering Prepositional Polysemy Networks: The Case of OVER [+–] 186-237
Andrea Tyler,Vyvyan Evans
Georgetown University
View Website

Bangor University
View Website
Vyvyan Evans is Professor of Linguistics at Bangor University and author of numerous books relating to cognitive linguistics. These include How Words Mean, The Structure of Time, The Semantics of English Prepositions (with Andrea Tyler), Cognitive Linguistics (with Melanie Green), and A Glossary of Cognitive Linguistics.
In this essay, the authors employ the model of Principled Polysemy in a re-analysis of the preposition ‘over’ , attempting to provide a methodologically constrained account of the semantics associated with the word.
9. Frame Semantics [+–] 238-262
Charles Fillmore
University of California, San Diego (formerly)
View Website
1929-2014
This essay is primarily concerned with the need to account for and model the conceptual knowledge that lexical items provide access to, or, in the author’s terms, are ‘relatavised to’. A ‘frame’ being a schamtisation of experience (a knowledge structure).

IV Metaphor, Metonymy and Blending

Introduction [+–] 263-266
Jörg Zinken
University of Portsmouth
Jörg Zinken is Senior Lecturer of Psychology of Communication and coordinator of the Language, Culture and Mind Research Group at the University of Portsmouth. His research interests cover topics from the interface between anthropological and cognitive linguistics, including universals and variation in multifunctionality patterns, contextual models of metaphor, and the semantics of prosody and syntax.
This chapter offers an overview of the section devoted to Metaphor, Metonymy and Blending.
10. The Contemporary Theory of Metaphor [+–] 267-315
George Lakoff
University of California, Berkeley
View Website

In this essay, the author discusses three kinds of generalizations that leas to the identification of conceptual metaphor. Generalizations over polysemous words, generalizations over the patterns of inference of such polysemous words in their different contexts and generalizations over conventional and novel metaphors.
11. A Typology of Motivation for Conceptual Metaphor: Correlation vs. Resemblance [+–] 316-334
Joseph Grady
Cultural Logic, LLC, Providence
View Website

In this essay, the author compares ‘correlation metaphors’ with a more traditional type of metaphor, which he terms ‘ resemblance metaphors, understood on the basis of stereotypical impressions about the source concept.
12. Towards a Theory of Metonymy [+–] 335-359
Gunter Radden,Zoltán Kövecses
University of Hamburg (ret.)
Eötvös Loránd University
View Website

This essay provides an extensive typology of metonymic relationships to produce a synthesis of the research efforts of a number of researchers working on a distinctive cognitive linguistic approach to metonymy.
13. Conceptual Integration Networks [+–] 360-419
Gilles Fauconnier
University of California San Diego
This paper offers a very complete technical exposition of Blending Theory, which takes the interest in cognitive semantics in imaginative language and thought to another level.
14. Blending and Metaphor [+–] 420-440
Joseph Grady,Todd Oakley,Seana Coulson
Cultural Logic, LLC, Providence
View Website

Case Western Reserve University
View Website

University of California, San Diego
This essay discusses the possibilities of integrating the perspectives of Conceptual Metaphor Theory and Blending Theory.

V Cognitive Approaches to Grammar

Introduction [+–] 441-443
Benjamin K. Bergen
University of California, San Diego
View Website
Benjamin K. Bergen is Associate Professor in the Department of Cognitive Science at the University of California, San Diego. He has published widely in cognitive, computational, neuro-, and psycholinguistics. Topics that his research touches include embodiment in syntax and semantics, linguistic relativism, natural language understanding, and connectionist language modeling.
This chapter offers an overview of the contents of the section devoted to cognitive approaches to grammar.
15. An Introduction to Cognitive Grammar [+–] 444-480
Ronald Langacker
University of California, San Diego
This chapter comprises Langacker’s seminal introduction to cognitive grammar, which has in the decades since its original publication developed into the most fully formed and influential cognitive theory of grammar.
16. The Relation of Grammar to Cognition [+–] 481-544
Leonard Talmy
This essay provides a complement to the preceding theoretical chapter by providing a wealth of typological analysis.
17. Regularity and Idiomaticity: The Case of ‘let alone’ [+–] 545-588
Charles Fillmore,Paul Kay,Mary Catherine O’Connor
University of California, San Diego (formerly)
View Website
1929-2014
University of California, Berkeley
Boston University
This essay represents a stream of grammatical theory known as Construction Grammar and applies that theory to the case of ‘let alone’.
18. Constructions: A New Theoretical Approach to Language [+–] 589-600
Adele Goldberg
Princeton University
In this essay, the author surveys the current state of construction grammars, identifying their key components and distinguishing them from competing models.
19. Embodied Construction Grammar in Simulation-based Language Understanding [+–] 601-637
Benjamin K. Bergen,Nancy Chang
University of California, San Diego
View Website
Benjamin K. Bergen is Associate Professor in the Department of Cognitive Science at the University of California, San Diego. He has published widely in cognitive, computational, neuro-, and psycholinguistics. Topics that his research touches include embodiment in syntax and semantics, linguistic relativism, natural language understanding, and connectionist language modeling.
University of California, Berkeley
This contribution introduces Embodied Construction Grammar which weds together key elements of Cognitive Grammar and construction grammars, by applying the formal rigor of constructional approaches in the context of an embodied theory of language understanding.
20. Logical and Typological Arguments for Radical Construction Grammar [+–] 638-674
William Croft
University of New Mexico
In this essay, the author develops the theoretical ramifications of taking seriously the notion of constructions, arguing on the basis of logical and typological evidence that constructions, not grammatical categories, are the linguistic primitives that best lend themselves to typological investigation and explanation

VI Conceptual Structure in Language

Introduction [+–] 675-679
Vyvyan Evans
Bangor University
View Website
Vyvyan Evans is Professor of Linguistics at Bangor University and author of numerous books relating to cognitive linguistics. These include How Words Mean, The Structure of Time, The Semantics of English Prepositions (with Andrea Tyler), Cognitive Linguistics (with Melanie Green), and A Glossary of Cognitive Linguistics.
This chapter provides an overview of the contents of the section of the book devoted to conceptual structure in language.
21. Force Dynamics in Language and Cognition [+–] 680-732
Leonard Talmy
This paper relates to the schematic system of FORCE-DYNAMICS and argues that this system, as it is manifested in semantic structure, relates to the way in which objects are conceived relative to the exertion of force, which derives in embodied terms, from the haptic system.
22. How We Conceptualise Time: Language, Meaning and Temporal Cognition [+–] 733-765
Vyvyan Evans
Bangor University
View Website
Vyvyan Evans is Professor of Linguistics at Bangor University and author of numerous books relating to cognitive linguistics. These include How Words Mean, The Structure of Time, The Semantics of English Prepositions (with Andrea Tyler), Cognitive Linguistics (with Melanie Green), and A Glossary of Cognitive Linguistics.
In contrast to the previous paper in this section, this chapter is concerned with the way the open-class semantic system encodes conceptual structure, here relating to the domain of TIME and employs novel lexical semantic analysis of the lexeme TIME.
23. How Language Structures Space [+–] 766-830
Leonard Talmy
This paper argues that spatial representation in language encodes spacial scenes which reflects our conceptualization of space.

VII Language Acquisition, Diversity and Change

Introduction [+–] 831-833
Jörg Zinken
University of Portsmouth
Jörg Zinken is Senior Lecturer of Psychology of Communication and coordinator of the Language, Culture and Mind Research Group at the University of Portsmouth. His research interests cover topics from the interface between anthropological and cognitive linguistics, including universals and variation in multifunctionality patterns, contextual models of metaphor, and the semantics of prosody and syntax.
This chapter provides an overview of the section of the book devoted to language acquisition, diversity and change.
24. A Usage-based Approach to Child Language Acquisition [+–] 834-848
Michael Tomasello
Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
In this essay, the author synthesises some of his research on child language acquisition, focusing on the acquisition of syntactic categories and argues from a perspective that is at odds with the one (rule-based) that has long been dominant in research on language acquisition. His usage-based perspective shows its potential as a challenge to cognitivist treatments of language and cognition,
25. Space Under Construction: Language-specific Spatial Categorization in First Language Acquisition [+–] 849-879
Melissa Bowerman,Soonja Choi
Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics (formerly)
1942-2011
San Diego State University
In this essay the authors argue that children actively construct semantic categories from the language they grow into. They provide a synthesis of their research into the acquisition of morphemes expressing spatial relations by Dutch and Korean children and argue that children do more than merely match the ‘labels’ that language provides with the appropriate fully-formed concepts.
Does Language Shape Thought? English and Mandarin Speakers’ Conceptions of Time [+–] 880-901
Lera Boroditsky
https://psychology.stanford.edu/lboroditsky
Whorfian effects, in the classical sense of diversity in non-linguistic cognition that is correlated with the diversity in semantic categories, are addressed in this chapter through the presentation of a series of experiments that show such a correlation with respect to conventional figurative expressions used in English and Mandarin for talking about temporal relations.
27. Language and Thought Online: Cognitive Consequences of Linguistic Relativity [+–] 902-928
Dan Slobin
University of California, Berkeley
View Website

The essay provides an overview of the author’s research on the ‘thinking for speaking’ framework and places it in a general framework for the study of Whorfian effects of language on cognition.
28. Linguistic Selection: An Utterance-based Evolutionary Theory of Language [+–] 929-966
William Croft
University of New Mexico
In this essay the author argues against an ‘essentialist’ view which defines language as a system of abstract rules; instead, in his evolutionary model of language, the utterance is the fundamental unit of analysis. By adopting such a radically usage-based approach, the author integrates change as an integral part for a theory of language and encourages the discussion of the representationalist view of meaning underlying much of cognitive semantics.

End Matter

Annotated Further Reading [+–] 967-974
Vyvyan Evans,Benjamin K. Bergen,Jörg Zinken
Bangor University
View Website
Vyvyan Evans is Professor of Linguistics at Bangor University and author of numerous books relating to cognitive linguistics. These include How Words Mean, The Structure of Time, The Semantics of English Prepositions (with Andrea Tyler), Cognitive Linguistics (with Melanie Green), and A Glossary of Cognitive Linguistics.
University of California, San Diego
View Website
Benjamin K. Bergen is Associate Professor in the Department of Cognitive Science at the University of California, San Diego. He has published widely in cognitive, computational, neuro-, and psycholinguistics. Topics that his research touches include embodiment in syntax and semantics, linguistic relativism, natural language understanding, and connectionist language modeling.
University of Portsmouth
Jörg Zinken is Senior Lecturer of Psychology of Communication and coordinator of the Language, Culture and Mind Research Group at the University of Portsmouth. His research interests cover topics from the interface between anthropological and cognitive linguistics, including universals and variation in multifunctionality patterns, contextual models of metaphor, and the semantics of prosody and syntax.
The book closes with detailed further reading to guide the reader through the proliferating literature.

ISBN-13 (Hardback)
9781845531096
Price (Hardback)
£190.00 / $235.00
ISBN-13 (Paperback)
9781845531102
Price (Paperback)
£65.00 / $85.00
Publication
01/11/2007
Pages
992
Size
244 x 169mm
Readership
academics and students

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