Cognitive Aspects of Bilingualism
by: Istvan Kecskes, Liliana Albertazzi
By
* Publisher:Springer
* Number Of Pages:362
* Publication Date:2007-05-23
* Sales Rank:
* ISBN / ASIN:1402059345
* EAN:9781402059346
* Binding:Hardcover
* Manufacturer:Springer
* Studio:Springer
* Average Rating:
* Total Reviews:
Book Description:
A unique feature of this book is that chapters favor that line of cognitive linguistics which makes a clear distinction between real world and projected world. Information conveyed by language must be about the projected world. Both the experimental results and the systematic claims in this volume call for a weak form of whorfianism. Also, chapters add some relatively unexplored issues of bilingualism to the well-known ones, such as gender systems in the bilingual mind, context and task, synergic concepts, blending, the relationship between lexical categorization and ontological categorization among others.
The Cognitive Semiotics of Film
By Warren Buckland
* Publisher:Cambridge University Press
* Number Of Pages:186
* Publication Date:2000-05-29
* ISBN-10 / ASIN:0521780055
* ISBN-13 / EAN:9780521780056
* Binding:Hardcover
Product Description:
In The Cognitive Semiotics of Film, Warren Buckland argues that the conflict between cognitive film theory and contemporary film theory is unproductive. He examines and develops the work of "cognitive film semiotics," a neglected branch of film theory that combines the insights of cognitive science with those of linguistics and semiotics. Presenting a survey of cognitive film semiotics, this study also reevaluates the film semiotics of the 1960s, highlights the weaknesses of American cognitive film theory, and challenges the move toward "post-theory" in film studies.
On Interpreting Construction Schemas: From Action and Motion to Transitivity and Causality (Trends in Linguistics. Studies and Monographs)
By Delbecque, Nicole
* Publisher:Walter de Gruyter
* Number Of Pages:369
* Publication Date:2007-12-19
* ISBN-10 / ASIN:3110198657
* ISBN-13 / EAN:9783110198652
* Binding:Hardcover
Product Description:
This volume addresses the constructional variability with transitive and causative verbs from the point of view of their respective action and motion patterns. Drawing on the theoretical advances registered in cognitive approaches to language (Cognitive Grammar, Construction Grammar and space semantics), the papers substantiate new interpretations and adduce empirical evidence from various languages to refine or adjust existing analyses of transitivity and causation. The different contributions all address the crucial question of how concrete and abstract notions of human behavior drive linguistic expressions. Cognitive linguists consider that linguistic competence functions in terms of complex conceptual units: the native speaker knows and manipulates conceptual blocks without paying further attention to their constitutive parts or their internal organization. However, as this volume illustrates, the role of the constitutive parts and their internal organization cannot simply be reduced to zero. A multidimensional approach to construction schemas is at stake. That is, the speaker applies proper embodied subroutines to build a coherent meaning, but the construction schemas are also rooted in the linguistic patterns the speaker and hearer are familiar with. The
Human Language and Our Reptilian Brain: The Subcortical Bases of Speech, Syntax, and Thought (Perspectives in Cognitive Neuroscience)
by: Philip Lieberman
By
* Publisher:Harvard University Press
* Number Of Pages:240
* Publication Date:2002-05-31
* Sales Rank:856244
* ISBN / ASIN:067400793X
* EAN:9780674007932
* Binding:Paperback
* Manufacturer:Harvard University Press
* Studio:Harvard University Press
* Average Rating:4
* Total Reviews:4
Book Description:
This book is an entry into the fierce current debate among psycholinguists, neuroscientists, and evolutionary theorists about the nature and origins of human language. A prominent neuroscientist here takes up the Darwinian case, using data seldom considered by psycholinguists and neurolinguists to argue that human language--though more sophisticated than all other forms of animal communication--is not a qualitatively different ability from all forms of animal communication, does not require a quantum evolutionary leap to explain it, and is not unified in a single "language instinct."
Using clinical evidence from speech-impaired patients, functional neuroimaging, and evolutionary biology to make his case, Philip Lieberman contends that human language is not a single separate module but a functional neurological system made up of many separate abilities. Language remains as it began, Lieberman argues: a device for coping with the world. But in a blow to human narcissism, he makes the case that this most remarkable human ability is a by-product of our remote reptilian ancestors' abilities to dodge hazards, seize opportunities, and live to see another day.
Date: 2005-09-11Rating: 5
Review:
Revolutionary insights not yet fully elaborated
Last spring (2004)I was thinking about language understanding and thought, and I speculated that maybe both ran off the same brain circuits as all motor behavior and was derived from internalization of speech. I had just started learning about the basal ganglia and the orbito-frontal system involvement in prediction and sequencing. I went to the SF Cognitive Neuroscience meeting, and I met one of Lieberman's graduate students presenting a poster. When I started to share my views, he told me about Lieberman's book. Within a week I had it and had finished it, and my view of cognition and many other things has not been the same since.
Neuroscience, linguistics and philosophy have yet to fully absorb the multple implications that fall out of Lieberman's insights. That the basal ganglia (our reptilian brain) are a key component of our "functional language system" as Lieberman argues is, in my widening view, only a starting point. There is a lot more here to be revealed about reason, thought, consciousness, and the place of mind in nature.
Until I get published (don't hold your breath) persons interested in these subjects should at least consider that with all the talk about the 'embodied mind' going on for more than a decade now, there have been very few specific proposals put on the table of how the things we associate with mind (awareness, reason, thought, intelligent problem solving etc) are actually embodied. Read this book and realize that the basal ganglia are the place in the brain "where the rubber meets the road" between all our stored knowledge and expectations and our actual moment to moment choices in action and those implicit in the stream of thought. These circuits are right there in the middle of where our lives are unfolding.
Don't be a zombie. Get a grip on the gator within. :-)
Date: 2004-02-15Rating: 5
Review:
Original and provocative
A highly original and intriguing thesis on the evolution of brain and language. Lieberman traces the origins of language syntax computations to brain mechanisms evolved originally to cooridinate complex patterns of action. Although I am not expert in linguistics, I take a basic biopsychology pespective onthe neuroscience of pattern generation, and see Lieberman's book as a novel voice that bridges disciplines in a valuable way. This book reinvigorates notions of 'action syntax' and provides a unique interdisciplinary perspective.
Date: 2003-08-11Rating: 1
Review:
Ignores Important Facts in Favor of an Agenda
There is no doubt Prof. Lieberman has made many meaningful contributions to anthropological linguistics and language evolution. However, as a leading "anti-Chomskyan," Lieberman has unfortunately allowed his zeal for non-Chomskyan thought to shape his interpretation of the facts: in the present work, he makes the facts fit the agenda, rather than the reverse.
It is true that more and more data point to the important role of subcortical structures in higher cognitive function (especially the basal ganglia & cerebellum). Lieberman, though, overinterprets and misinterprets data -- linguistic, neurological, evolutionary, and neurobiological -- in his quest to advance his own theoretical perspective. The result is a poorly reasoned approach and ill founded conclusions that may well hobble new-comers seeking to learn about the important role of non-cortical systems in human cognition.
Interested readers would do better to consult the _Handbook of Neurolinguistics (ed. B. Stemmer & H. A. Whitaker), _Clinical Neuropsychology_ (ed. K. Heilman & E. Valenstein), _The Neurocognition of Language_ (ed. C. M. Brown & P. Hagoort), _The Handbook of Adult Language Disorders (ed. A. Hillis), and anything written by Jeremy Schmamann.
Date: 2001-02-10Rating: 4
Review:
Chomsky would be turning in his grave(if he were dead)
Lieberman's "Human Language and Our Reptilian Brain" is a surprisingly readable and fascinating exploration of language and the brain by one of the most ardent anti-Chomskyian neurolinguists writing today(Lieberman, a professor at Brown Univeristy, embodies a healthy opposition to the Chomsky/Pinker madness at MIT). The thesis of the book is that there is no one neural center or "seat" of the human capacity for language. Rather, what we call "language" is in fact a functional system distributed throughout the brain, and is entangled with subcortical circuitry that is not normally associated with language function. Lieberman discredits the blatant intuitionism of Chomskyian linguistics by citing some of the most recent studies in neurolinguistics.
The book assumes some knowledge of neural anatomy, and serious scholars are encouraged to make use of the bibliography. But I think that Lieberman's work exemplifies the neuroscientific approach to understanding human behavior, and I recommend this book for anyone with an intellectual stake in the nature of language and the brain.
An Introduction to Language Processing with Perl and Prolog
An Outline of Theories, Implementation, and Application with Special Consideration of English, French, and German
Series: Cognitive Technologies
Nugues, Pierre M.
2006, XX, 514 p., 153 illus., Hardcover
ISBN: 978-3-540-25031-9
$109.00
About this book
The areas of natural language processing and computational linguistics have continued to grow in recent years, driven by the demand to automatically process text and spoken data. With the processing power and techniques now available, research is scaling up from lab prototypes to real-world, proven applications.
This book teaches the principles of natural language processing, first covering linguistics issues such as encoding, entropy, and annotation schemes; defining words, tokens and parts of speech; and morphology. It then details the language-processing functions involved, including part-of-speech tagging using rules and stochastic techniques; using Prolog to write phase-structure grammars; parsing techniques and syntactic formalisms; semantics, predicate logic and lexical semantics; and analysis of discourse, and applications in dialog systems. The key feature of the book is the author's hands-on approach throughout, with extensive exercises, sample code in Prolog and Perl, and a detailed introduction to Prolog. The reader is supported with a companion website that contains teaching slides, programs, and additional material.
The book is suitable for researchers and students of natural language processing and computational linguistics.
Written for:
Scientists, researchers
Keywords:
Computational linguistics
Natural-language processing
Parsing
Perl
Prolog
Semantics
Syntax
Tagging
About the Author
Pierre Nugues’ research is focused on natural language processing for advanced user interfaces and spoken dialogue. This includes the design and the implementation of conversational agents within a multimodal framework and text visualization. He led the team that designed a navigation agent - Ulysse - that enables a user to navigate in a virtual reality environment using language, and the team that designed the CarSim system that generates animated 3D scenes from written texts.
Pierre Nugues has taught natural-language processing and computational linguistics at the following institutions: ISMRA, Caen, France; University of Nottigham, UK; Staffordshire University, UK; FH Konstanz, Germany; Lund University, Sweden; and Ghent University, Belgium.
Product Details
* Hardcover: 514 pages
* Publisher: Springer; 1 edition (May 11, 2006)
* Language: English
* ISBN-10: 354025031X
* ISBN-13: 978-3540250319
* Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.5 x 1.3 inches
* Shipping Weight: 2.03 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
* Average Customer Review: based on 1 review.
The Dynamics of Language Use: Functional And Contrastive Perspectives (Pragmatics and Beyond New Series)
By Maria de los Angeles Gomez-Gonzalez, Susanna M. Doval Suarez, International Contrastive Linguistics Co., Susana Ma Doval Suarez
* Publisher:John Benjamins Publishing Co
* Number Of Pages:413
* Publication Date:2005-10-30
* ISBN-10 / ASIN:9027253838
* ISBN-13 / EAN:9789027253835
Product Description:
This book brings together a collection of articles characterized by two main themes: the contrastive study of parallel phenomena in two or more languages, and an essentially functional approach in which language is regarded, first and foremost, as a rich and complex communication system, inextricably embedded in sociocultural and psychological contexts of use. The majority of the studies reported is empirical in nature, many making use of corpora or other textual materials in the language(s) under investigation. The book begins with an introductory section in which the editors provide surveys of the state of the art in both functional and contrastive linguistics. The other five sections of the volume are devoted to (i) a cognitive perspective on form and function, (ii) information structure, (iii) collocations and formulaic language, (iv) language learning, and (v) discourse and culture.
Summary: basic language use explored
Rating: 5
The Dynamics of Language Use: Functional And Contrastive Perspectives edited by Maria de Los Angeles Gomez-Gonzalez, Susanna M. Doval Suarez (Pragmatics and Beyond New Series: John Benjamins Publishing) This book brings together a collection of articles characterized by two main themes: the contrastive study of parallel phenomena in two or more languages, and an essentially functional approach in which language is regarded, first and foremost, as a rich and complex communication system, inextricably embedded in sociocultural and psychological contexts of use. The majority of the studies reported is empirical in nature, many making use of corpora or other textual materials in the language(s) under investigation. The book begins with an introductory section in which the editors provide surveys of the state of the art in both functional and contrastive linguistics. The other five sections of the volume are devoted to (i) a cognitive perspective on form and function, (ii) information structure, (iii) collocations and formulaic language, (iv) language learning, and (v) discourse and culture.
Excerpt: The book begins with two papers which strongly reflect the importance of cognitive phenomena in the study of form and function in language.
Wallace Chafe's paper tackles head-on the important but difficult question of the relationship between grammar and thought, his treatment of this issue being funda?mentally functional in nature. His starting point, namely that thoughts are filtered through the particular semantic resources permitted by the language, and that seman?tic structures are then converted to grammatical structures which are then symbolised by sounds, is uncontroversial. What is essentially functional about Chafe's position is the contention that for an understanding of why grammar is as it is, linguists need to pay more rather than less attention to grammar per se and more to semantics and its relationship with thought, as well as to language change. Chafe postulates four linked stages in the conversion of thoughts to semantic structures. Firstly, the speaker must select which thoughts s/he wishes to verbalise. Secondly, these thoughts must be categorised. Most thoughts consist of particular ideas relating to particular people, things, events, times and places, and these ideas must be recast as instances of more general and familiar categories. Thirdly, the speaker must select a complex orientation consisting of values for time, place, epistemological factors and attitude. Finally, categorisations and orientations must be combined. In explaining why the re?sulting semantic structure must be converted into a grammatical structure on its way to representation in sound, Chafe points out that as languages change, the relationship between the use of expressions and the thoughts they convey may become less direct, through the historical processes of lexicalisation, relating to ideas, and grammaticali?sation, concerned with orientations. Chafe's arguments are illustrated throughout by reference to an extended piece of authentic conversational interaction.
Competition and Variation in Natural Languages: The Case for Case (Perspectives on Cognitive Science)
By Mengistu Amberber, Helen de Hoop
* Publisher:Elsevier Science
* Number Of Pages:374
* Publication Date:2005-09-30
* ISBN-10 / ASIN:0080446515
* ISBN-13 / EAN:9780080446516
* Binding:Hardcover
Book Description:
This volume combines different perspectives on case-marking: (1) typological and descriptive approaches of various types and instances of case-marking in the languages of the world as well as comparison with languages that express similar types of relations without morphological case-marking; (2) formal analyses in different theoretical frameworks of the syntactic, semantic, and morphological properties of case-marking; (3) a historical approach of case-marking; (4) a psycholinguistic approach of case-marking.
Although there are a number of publications on case related issues, there is no volume such as the present one, which exclusively looks at case marking, competition and variation from a cross-linguistic perspective and within the context of different contemporary theoretical approaches to the study of language.
In addition to chapters with broad conceptual orientation, the volume offers detailed empirical studies of case in a number of diverse languages including: Amharic, Basque, Dutch, Hindi, Japanese, Kuuk Thaayorre, Malagasy and Yurakaré.
The volume will be of interest to researchers and advanced students in the cognitive sciences, general linguistics, typology, historical linguistics, formal linguistics, and psycholinguistics. The book will interest scholars working within the context of formal syntactic and semantic theories as it provides insight into the properties of case from a cross-linguistic perspective. The book also will be of interest to cognitive scientists interested in the relationship between meaning and grammar, in particular, and the human mind's capacity in the mapping of meaning onto grammar, in general.
Summary: preserve minor languages from extinction
Rating: 4
Perhaps unintentionally, this collection of papers is an eloquent argument for the preservation of minor languages, some of which might face extinction. The authors compare various languages, to demonstrate how different societies have implemented case.
One such choice is Kuuk Thaayorre. Spoken by only around 300 Aborigines in Queensland. As explained, many of the youngsters of this group are fluent in English, and only partially in the Kuuk Thaayorre. The long term prognosis for the latter is dubious. Yet from this very obscure language is derived an insightful analysis, that is quite possibly unique to the language.
The Boundaries of Babel: The Brain and the Enigma of Impossible Languages (Current Studies in Linguistics)
By Andrea Moro
* Publisher:The MIT Press
* Number Of Pages:257
* Publication Date:2008-06-30
* ISBN-10 / ASIN:0262134985
* ISBN-13 / EAN:9780262134989
* Binding:Hardcover
Product Description:
"Andrea Moro has gained a unique position in formulating and implementing constructive approaches to difficult and demanding tasks. He is able to address them with a deep understanding of modern linguistics, a field to which he has made a major contribution of his own, and mastery of the relevant technology and its potential. His new book is a lucid introduction to these exciting areas, superbly informed and imaginatively presented, with intriguing implications well beyond biolinguistics.... A rare achievement...."
—Noam Chomsky, from the foreword
In The Boundaries of Babel, Andrea Moro tells the story of an encounter between two cultures: contemporary theoretical linguistics and the cognitive neurosciences. The study of language within a biological context has been ongoing for more than fifty years. The development of neuroimaging technology offers new opportunities to enrich the "biolinguistic perspective" and extend it beyond an abstract framework for inquiry. As a leading theoretical linguist in the generative tradition and also a cognitive scientist schooled in the new imaging technology, Moro is uniquely equipped to explore this.
Moro examines what he calls the "hidden" revolution in contemporary science: the discovery that the number of possible grammars is not infinite and that their number is biologically limited. This radical but little-discussed change in the way we look at language, he claims, will require us to rethink not just the fundamentals of linguistics and neurosciences but also our view of the human mind. Moro searches for neurobiological correlates of "the boundaries of Babel"—the constraints on the apparent chaotic variation in human languages—by using an original experimental design based on artificial languages. He offers a critical overview of some of the fundamental results from linguistics over the last fifty years, in particular regarding syntax, then uses these essential aspects of language to examine two neuroimaging experiments in which he took part. He describes the two neuroimaging techniques used (positron emission topography, or PET, and functional magnetic resonance imaging, or fMRI), but makes it clear that techniques and machines do not provide interesting data without a sound theoretical framework. Finally, he discusses some speculative aspects of modern research in biolinguistics regarding the impact of the linear structure of linguistics expression on grammar, and more generally, some core aspects of language acquisition, genetics, and evolution.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Formal grammar : theory and implementation / edited by Robert Levine.
p. cm. — (Vancouver studies in cognitive science : v. 2)
Papers from a Feb. 1989 conference hosted by the Cognitive Science
Programme at Simon Fraser University. Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 0-19-507314-2 (cloth). - ISBN 0-19-507310-X (ppr.)
1. Formalization (Linguistics)—Congresses.
2. Grammar, Comparative and general—Congresses.
3. Computational linguistics—Congresses.
4. Biolinguistics—Congresses. I. Levine, Robert, 1947- .
II. Simon Fraser University. Cognitive Science Programme.
III. Series. P128.F67F67 1992 415—dc20 91-23867
Knowledge Representation and the Semantics of Natural Language (Cognitive Technologies)
by: Hermann Helbig
By
* Publisher:Springer
* Number Of Pages:647
* Publication Date:2005-11-02
* Sales Rank:435240
* ISBN / ASIN:3540244611
* EAN:9783540244615
* Binding:Hardcover
* Manufacturer:Springer
* Studio:Springer
* Average Rating:4
* Total Reviews:1
Book Description: )
The book presents an interdisciplinary approach to knowledge representation and the treatment of semantic phenomena of natural language, which is positioned between artificial intelligence, computational linguistics, and cognitive psychology. The proposed method is based on Multilayered Extended Semantic Networks (MultiNets), which can be used for theoretical investigations into the semantics of natural language, for cognitive modeling, for describing lexical entries in a computational lexicon, and for natural language processing (NLP). Part I deals with fundamental problems of semantic knowledge representation and semantic interpretation of natural language phenomena. Part II provides a systematic description of the representational means of MultiNet, one of the most comprehensive and thoroughly specified collections of relations and functions used in real NLP applications. MultiNet is embedded into a system of software tools comprising a workbench for the knowledge engineer, a semantic interpreter translating natural language expressions into formal meaning structures, and a workbench for the computer lexicographer. The book has been used for courses in artificial intelligence at several universities and is one of the cornerstones for teaching computational linguistics in a virtual electronic laboratory.
Date: 2006-11-26Rating: 4
Review:
Wealth of information, buried in jargon
This book has a wealth of solid information about knowledge representation (KR). It is focused on Multinets, an advanced type of semantic network. The author brings years of experience to this subject. The book deals thoroughly with many aspects of KR such as relationships, categories, generalization, real vs hypothetical, cardinality, and variability, just to name a few. Although the book is focused on Multinets, the concepts should be relevant to other knowledge representation schemes.
Frequent natural language statements clarify the issues under discussion. For example, here are two of the statements on page 49 that illustrate different types of information that can be communicated by "is".
"'A bachelor is an adult unmarried man.' (Relation EQU), 'The cherry is red.' (Relation PROP), . . ."
In other words, the first "is" links equivalent ideas, the second "is" indicates "red" as a property.
The book also contains numerous, well designed, helpful diagrams.
Unfortunately, the jargon is very thick, and difficult to navigate. For example, from page 20: "As already mentioned, the arcs of the semantic network have to be considered as epistemologically and cognitively justified categories which function as fundamental deep semantic relations in the framework of meaning representation." After reading this sentence several times, I think part of what it means is "the arcs of semantic networks should match actual deep semantic relations". But I'm not sure. I frequently find myself reading sentences several times, then moving on, only partly satisfied.
If you can get past the jargon, the book contains a thorough, solidly supported treatment of the knowledge representation of natural language.
Perhaps someone with more prior experience with knowledge representation would find the book more approachable.
Based on the quantity of information, the strong relevance to knowledge representation and the clarifying examples, I give this a generous 4 star rating. However, I'm worried that some readers will find the jargon so impenetrable that the book would lose most of its value to them.
The Inheritance and Innateness of Grammars (New Directions in Cognitive Science)
By Myrna Gopnik
* Publisher:Oxford University Press, USA
* Number Of Pages:240
* Publication Date:1997-06-05
* ISBN-10 / ASIN:0195115333
* ISBN-13 / EAN:9780195115338
* Binding:Hardcover
Product Description:
Is language somehow innate in the structure of the human brain, or is it completely learned? This debate is still at the heart of linguistics, especially as it intersects with psychology and cognitive science. In collecting papers which discuss the evidence and arguments regarding this difficult question, The Inheritance and Innateness of Grammars considers cases ranging from infants who are just beginning to learn the properties of a native language to language-impaired adults who will never learn one. These studies show that, while precursors of language exist in other creatures, the abilities necessary for constructing full-fledged grammars are part of the biological endowment of human beings. The essays that comprise this volume test the range and specificity of that endowment, while also contributing to our understanding of the intricate and complex relationship between language and biology.
Summary: Crap.
Rating: 1
The contributors to this volume seem totally unaware of recent (post 1986) developments in theoretical linguistics. It seems that Extended Standard Theory is still alive and well in Vancouver, and deemed more empirically and conceptually appropriate than a Principles & Parameters or Minimalist aproach to language. I advise you steer clear of this abysmal title, unless you want a good laugh.
The Onset of Language (Cambridge Studies in Cognitive and Perceptual Development)
By Nobuo Masataka
* Publisher: Cambridge University Press
* Number Of Pages: 294
* Publication Date: 2003-11-24
* ISBN-10 / ASIN: 0521593964
* ISBN-13 / EAN: 9780521593960
* Binding: Hardcover
Book Description:
Outlining an approach to the development of communicative behavior from early infancy to the onset of single word utterances, Nobuo Masataka's research is rooted in ethology and dynamic action theory. He argues that expressive and communicative actions are organized as a complex and cooperative system with other elements of the infant's physiology, behavior and social environments. This book offers new insights into the precursors of speech and will be of interest to researchers and students of psychology, linguistics and animal behavior biology.
Download Description:
The Onset of Language outlines an approach to the development of expressive and communicative behaviour from early infancy to the onset of single word utterances. Nobuo Masataka's research is rooted in ethology and dynamic action theory. He argues that expressive and communicative actions are organised as a complex and cooperative system with other elements of the infant's physiology, behaviour and the social environments. Overall, humans are provided with a finite set of specific behaviour patterns, each of which is phylogenetically inherited as a primate species. However, the patterns are uniquely organised during ontogeny and a coordinated structure emerges which eventually leads us to acquire language. This fascinating book offers exciting, new insights into the precursors of speech and will be of interest to researchers and students of psychology, linguistics and animal behaviour biology.
Towards A Natural Narratology
By Monik Fludernik
* Publisher:Routledge
* Number Of Pages:472
* Publication Date:1996-09-06
* ISBN-10 / ASIN:0415124824
* ISBN-13 / EAN:9780415124829
* Binding:Hardcover
* Publisher:Routledge
* Publication Date:1996-08-01
* ISBN-10 / ASIN:0203432509
* ISBN-13 / EAN:9780203432501
9786610157471 6610157472 ebook
Product Description:
Towards a "Natural" Narratology makes an intervention into ongoing debates in literary theory and criticism. Monika Fludernik argues for a new narrative theory which builds on insights from conversational narrative while touching on key issues for poststructuralists. Drawing on insights from cognitive linguistics, discourse analysis and structuralist narratology, the author examines narrative structures as they have developed from oral storytelling to the realist novel and beyond. This is a ground-breaking work of synthesis which makes a significant contribution to fundamental issues in literary theory. Fludernik's new model entails a radical reconceptualization of current narratological thinking, integrating narrative theory within a wide range of topical debates in literary studies.
Editorial Reviews Review
'Meticulously researched and cogently argued, this landmark work in narratology is perhaps the most distinguished recent contribution to the study of narrative....This highly recommendable book will be essential reading not only for all graduate students of English literature, literary theory, and narrative texts, but for the growing number of people concerned with building bridges between the traditionally separate disciplines of literary studies, linguistics, and cognitive theory' - European Journal of English Studies
Summary: A superb book made inaccessible by the publisher
Rating: 5
Fludernik's book is the most important contribution to narratology of the past decade, but Routledge UK has published it only in hardback and at a price that makes even libraries hesitate to buy it.
It considers a much wider historical range of narratives than usual --from jokes and saints' lives to postmodern fictions. It critiques the centrality of plot in most theories of narrative, replacing it with what she calls, drawing on cognitive science, the frame of "experiencing" (it is the quality of having been experienced by someone that is crucial for narrative). And she is very skillful in distinghishing between violations of narrative conventions or expectations that readers have trouble processing and those that they easily assimilate.
This is a powerful theoretical work with lots of concrete analyses. It should be available for course adoption in an inexpensive paperback.
Grammars of Space: Explorations in Cognitive Diversity (Language Culture and Cognition)
By Stephen C. Levinson, David P. Wilkins
* Publisher:Cambridge University Press
* Number Of Pages:640
* Publication Date:2006-10-09
* ISBN-10 / ASIN:0521855837
* ISBN-13 / EAN:9780521855839
* Binding:Hardcover
Product Description:
Spatial language - that is, the way languages structure the spatial domain - is an important area of research, offering insights into one of the most central areas of human cognition. In this collection, a team of leading scholars review the spatial domain across a wide variety of languages. Contrary to existing assumptions, they show that there is great variation in the way space is conceptually structured across languages, thus substantiating the controversial question of how far the foundations of human cognition are innate. Grammars of Space is a supplement to the psychological information provided in its companion volume, Space in Language and Cognition. It represents a new kind of work in linguistics, 'Semantic Typology', which asks what are the semantic parameters used to structure particular semantic fields. Comprehensive and informative, it will be essential reading for those working on comparative linguistics, spatial cognition, and the interface between them.
Conversations in the Cognitive Neurosciences
by: Michael S. Gazzaniga (Editor)
en
Book Details:
Title: Conversations in the Cognitive Neurosciences
Authors: Michael S. Gazzaniga (Editor)
Publisher: The MIT Press (November 1, 1996)
Paperback: 183 pages
Language: English
ISBN: 026257117X
List Price: $20.00
Amazon Sales Rank: #1,237,283
Review:
"All too frequently, the book does not measure up to the movie, the novel lacks the punch of the serialized chapters, and the entire antholoy is a pale reflection of the most arresting short stories. Conversations in the Cognitive Neurosciences is a happy exception. Michael Gazzaniga has integrated a series of interviews with leading brain and mind scientists. The result is a thematically coherent whole that is rich in substance and style. Using focused but open-ended questions to engage thoughtful, articulate practitioners, Gazzaniga elicits a rich mix of historical perspective and cutting-edge science. Each of the interviews provides wonderfully personal and insightful accounts of cognitive neuroscience and the relationship of mind and brain."
-- Ira B. Black, MD, UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School
Book Description:
Conversations in the Cognitive Neurosciences is a brief, informative yet informal guide to recent developments in the cognitive neurosciences by the scientists who are in the thick of things.
"Getting a fix on important questions and how to think about them from an experimental point of view is what scientists talk about, sometimes endlessly. It is those conversations that thrill and motivate," observes Michael Gazzaniga. Yet all too often these exciting interactions are lost to students, researchers, and others who are "doing" science. Conversations in the Cognitive Neurosciences brings together a series of interviews with prominent individuals in neuroscience, linguistics, philosophy, and psychology that have appeared over the past few years in the Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience.
The ten interviews are divided into five sections: basic neuroscience approaches to cognition (Floyd Bloom and Mark Raichle), attentional and perceptual processes (Michael I. Posner and William T. Newsome), neural basis of memory (Randy Gallistel and Endel Tulving), language (Steven Pinker and Alfonso Caramazza), and imagery and consciousness (Stephen M. Kosslyn and Daniel C. Dennett).
Linguistics: An Introduction to Language and Communication
by: Adrian Akmajian Richard A. Demers Ann K. Farmer Robert M. Harnish
en
0262511231 9780262511230
Book Description
This popular introductory linguistics text is unique in the way various themes are integrated throughout the book. One primary theme is the question, "How is a speaker
Morphosyntactic Persistence in Spoken English: A Corpus Study at the Intersection of Variationist Sociolinguistics, Psycholinguistics, and Discourse Analysis ... in Linguistics. Studies and Monographs)
By Benedikt Szmrecsanyi
* Publisher:Mouton de Gruyter
* Number Of Pages:248
* Publication Date:2006-05-01
* ISBN-10 / ASIN:3110190125
* ISBN-13 / EAN:9783110190120
* Binding:Hardcover
Product Description:
Language users are creatures of habit with a tendency to re-use morphosyntactic material that they have produced or heard before. In other words, linguistic patterns and tokens, once used, persist in discourse. The present book is the first large-scale corpus analysis to explore the determinants of this persistence, drawing on regression analyses of a variety of functional, discourse-functional, cognitive, psycholinguistic, and external factors. The case studies investigated include the alternation between synthetic and analytic comparatives, between the s-genitive and the of-genitive, between gerundial and infinitival complementation, particle placement, and future marker choice in a number of corpora sampling different spoken registers and geographical varieties of English. Providing a probabilistic framework for examining the ways in which persistence - among several other internal and external factors - influences speakers' linguistic choices, the book departs from most writings in the field in that it seeks to bridge several research traditions. While it is concerned, in a classically variationist spirit, with internal and external determinants of grammatical variation in English, it also draws heavily on ideas and evidence developed by psycholinguists and discourse analysts. In seeking to construct a comprehensive model of how speakers make linguistic choices, the study ultimately contributes to a theory of how spoken language works. The book is of interest to graduate students and researchers in variationist sociolinguistics, probabilistic linguistics, psycholinguistics, and computational linguistics.
Context and Content: Essays on Intentionality in Speech and Thought (Oxford Cognitive Science Series)
By Robert C. Stalnaker
* Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
* Number Of Pages: 296
* Publication Date: 1999-07-01
* ISBN-10 / ASIN: 0198237073
* ISBN-13 / EAN: 9780198237075
* Binding: Paperback
Book Description:
In Context and Content Robert Stalnaker develops a philosophical picture of the nature of speech and thought and the relations between them. Two themes in particular run through these collected essays: the role that the context in which speech takes place plays in accounting for the way language is used to express thought, and the role of the external environment in determining the contents of our thoughts. Stalnaker argues against the widespread assumption of the priority of linguistic over mental representation, which he suggests has had a distorting influence on our understanding. The first part of the book develops a framework for representing contexts and the way they interact with the interpretation of what is said in them. This framework is used to help to explain a range of linguistic phenomena concerning presupposition and assertion, conditional statements, the attribution of beliefs, and the use of names, descriptions, and pronouns to refer. Stalnaker then draws out the conception of thought and its content that is implicit in this framework. He defends externalism about thought--the assumption that our thoughts have the contents they have in virtue of the way we are situated in the world--and explores the role of linguistic action and linguistic structure in determining the contents of our thoughts. Context and Content offers philosophers and cognitive scientists a summation of Stalnaker's important and influential work in this area. His new introduction to the volume gives an overview of this work and offers a convenient way in for those who are new to it. The Oxford Cognitive Science series is a new forum for the best contemporary work in this flourishing field, where various disciplines--cognitive psychology, philosophy, linguistics, cognitive neuroscience, and computational theory--join forces in the investigation of thought, awareness, understanding, and associated workings of the mind. Each book constitutes an original contribution to its subject, but will be accessible beyond the ranks of specialists, so as to reach a broad interdisciplinary readership. The series will be carefully shaped and steered with the aim of representing the most important developments in the field and bringing together its constituent disciplines.
Sublexical Representations in Visual Word Recognition: Special Issue of Language and Cognitive Processes (Language and Cognitive Processes 2004)
By M. Carreiras
* Publisher:Psychology Press
* Number Of Pages:144
* Publication Date:2004-08-19
* ISBN-10 / ASIN:1841699756
* ISBN-13 / EAN:9781841699752
* Binding:Paperback
Product Description:
This special issue samples the state of the art in research that attempts to describe the functional units that intervene between low-level perceptual processes and access to whole-word representations in long-term memory during visual word recognition. The different articles in this special issue cover various candidates for such processing units, defined in terms of orthographic, phonological, or morphological information. The most obvious candidate in terms of orthographic information is the individual letter. One article examines the way in which a word's component letters are combined in the correct order during early orthographic processing. At a slightly higher level of representation, several articles provide a focus on the role of syllabic representations in the processing of polysyllabic words, and examine the extent to which such syllabic representations are orthographic or phonological in nature. One article provides evidence concerning the role of interfixes in the processing of compound words, thus addressing the issue of how morphological representations exert their influence on the word recognition process. Altogether, the papers included in this special issue report a series of challenging findings that cannot be ignored by current computational models of visual word. Evidence is provided in favor of more flexible orthographic coding schemes than are typically used in models of visual word recognition. The syllabic effects that are reported call for a syllabic level of representation that is absent in the vast majority of computational models, and the effects of paradigmatic analogy in processing morphologically complex words should help limit the possible ways of representing morphological information in the visual word recognition system.
Language, People, Numbers: Corpus Linguistics and Society (Language & Computers)
By Andrea Gerbig, Oliver Mason
* Publisher:Rodopi
* Number Of Pages:336
* Publication Date:2008-01-28
* ISBN-10 / ASIN:9042023503
* ISBN-13 / EAN:9789042023505
* Binding:Hardcover
Product Description:
The contributions to this volume offer a broad range of novel insights about data-based or data-driven approaches to the study of both structure and function of language, reflecting the increasing shift towards corpus-based methods of analysis in a wide range of areas in linguistics. Corpora can be used as models of human linguistic experience, and the contributors demonstrate that there is ample scope for integrating such models into the descriptions of discourse, grammar, and meaning. Continually improving technological development facilitates the design of larger and more comprehensive corpora documenting language use in a multitude of genres, styles and modes, even starting to include visual aspects. Software to investigate these data also becomes increasingly powerful and more refined. The sixteen original articles in this volume cover substantial ground on both the theoretical as well as applied levels. Having such data and software resources at their disposal, the contributing researchers rethink the long discussed interplay between language system and use from various angles, considering socio-cultural and cognitive involvement and representation, with synchronic as well as diachronic perspectives in view. These theories and quantitative / qualitative methods are applied to a range of topics from language acquisition and teaching to literature and politics. All of the authors in this volume reveal the profound and leading impact that Mike Stubbs' work has continued to contribute to the field of corpus-based description of language structure, use and function.