Over the past decade, Cognitive Linguistics has grown to be one of the most broadly appealing and dynamic frameworks for the study of natural language. Essentially, this new school of linguistics focuses on the meaning side of language: linguistic form is analysed as an expression of meaning. And meaning itself is not something that exists in isolation, but it is integrated with the full spectrum of human experience: the fact that we are embodied beings just as much as the fact that we are cultural beings.

Cognitive Linguistics: Basic Readings brings together twelve foundational articles, each of which introduces one of the basic concepts of Cognitive Linguistics, such as conceptual metaphor, image schemas, mental spaces, construction grammar, prototypicality and radial sets. The collection features the founding fathers of Cognitive Linguistics: George Lakoff, Ron Langacker, Len Talmy, Gilles Fauconnier, and Charles Fillmore, together with some of the most influential younger scholars. By its choice of seminal papers and leading authors, this book is specifically suited for an introductory course in Cognitive Linguistics. This is further supported by a general introduction to the theory and, specifically, the practice of Cognitive Linguistics and by trajectories for further reading that start out from the individual chapters.

Contents

Introduction: A rough guide to cognitive linguistics Dirk Geeraerts

Cognitive Grammar: Introduction to "concept, image, and symbol" Ronald W. Langacker

Grammatical construal: The relation of grammar to cognition Leonard Talmy

Radial network: Cognitive topology and lexical networks Claudia Brugman and George Lakoff

Prototype theory: Prospects and problems of prototype theory Dirk Geeraerts

Schematic network: Ambiguity, polysemy, and vagueness David Tuggy

Conceptual metaphor: The contemporary theory of metaphor George Lakoff

Image schema: The cognitive psychological reality of image schemas and their transformations Raymond W. Gibbs, Jr. and Herbert L. Colston

Metonymy: The role of domains in the interpretation of metaphors and metonymies William Croft

Mental spaces: Conceptual integration networks Gilles Fauconnier and Mark Turner

Frame semantics Charles J.Fillmore

Construction Grammar: The inherent semantics of argument structure: The case of the English ditransitive construction Adele E. Goldberg

Usage-based linguistics: First steps toward a usage-based theory of language acquisition Michael Tomasello

Epilogue: Trajectories for further reading Dirk Geeraerts