Language and Conceptualization

by Jan Nuyts, Eric Pederson

Overview

To what extent is conceptualization based on linguistic representation? And to what extent is it variable across cultures, communities or even individuals? Of crucial importance in the attempt to develop a comprehensive theory of human cognition, these remain among the most difficult questions in the cognitive sciences. This volume brings together ten new contributions from leading scholars working in a wide cross section of disciplines, including linguistics, anthropology, psychology and philosophy.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521553032
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	05/15/1997
Series:	Language Culture and Cognition , #1
Edition description:	1 PBK ED
Pages:	292
Product dimensions:	6.18(w) x 9.29(h) x 1.02(d)

Table of Contents

1. Overview: on the relationship between language and conceptualization Eric Pederson and Jan Nuyts; 2. From outer to inner space: linguistic categories and non-linguistic thinking Stephen C. Levinson; 3. Spatial operations in deixis, cognition and culture: where to orient oneself in Behlare Balthasar Bickel; 4. Remote worlds: the conceptual representation of linguistic world Paul Werth; 5. Role and individual interpretations of change predicates Eve Sweetser; 6. Changing place in English and German: language-specific preferences in the conceptualisation of spatial relations Mary Carroll; 7. Mapping conceptual representations into linguistic representations: the role of attention in grammar Russell S. Tomlin; 8. Growth points cross-linguistically David McNeill; 9. On the modularity of sentence processing: semantical generality and the language of thought Jay David Atlas; 10. The contextual basis of cognitive semantics Ronald W. Langacker; 11. The cognitive foundations of pragmatic principles: implications for theories of linguistic and cognitive representation Edward A. Robinson.

Editorial Reviews

"I recommend this book to anthropologists interested in language or cognition. ...all of the chapters provide succinct statements of general theory, detailed ethnographic observations, or interesting experimental results." Gary B. Palmer, American Anthropologist

"...the book is of interest to anthropological linguists interested in the relavance of our work to cognitive science." Malcah Yaeger-Dror, Language in Society

From the Publisher