The papers of this volume investigate how grammar codes the subjective viewpoint of human language users, that is, how grammar reflects human conceptualization. Some of the articles deal with spatial relations and locations. They discuss how basic attributes of human conceptualization are encoded in the grammatical expression of spatial relations. Other articles concern embodiment in language, showing how conceptualization is mediated by one’s embodied experience of the world and ourselves. Finally, some of the articles discuss coding of person focusing on the subjec­tivity of conceptualization and how it is reflected in grammar.

The articles show that conceptualization reflects the speaker's construal of the situation, and furthermore, that it is intersubjective because it reflects the speaker's understanding of the relations between the speech act participants. The papers deal with Finnish, utilizing the rich resources of Finnish grammar to contribute to issues in contemporary linguistics and in particular to Cognitive Grammar.

Table of contents

Abbreviations & transcription symbols vii–viii Acknowledgements ix Introduction: Grammar from the human perspective Marja-Liisa Helasvuo and Lyle Campbell 1–10 An introduction to Finnish spatial relations: Local cases and adpositions Tuomas Huumo and Krista Ojutkangas 11–20 Part I: Space and location Spatial axes in language and conceptualisation: The case of bidirectional constructions Krista Ojutkangas 21–39 "I woke up from the sofa": Subjective directionality in Finnish expressions of a spatio-cognitive transfer Tuomas Huumo 41–65 Metonymy in locatives of state Tiina Onikki-Rantajääskö 67–100 Part II: The human perspective Body part names and grammaticalization Toni Suutari 101–128 On distinguishing between 'recipient' and 'beneficiary' in Finnish Seppo Kittilä 129–152 Oblique mentions of human referents in Finnish conversation: The effects of prominence in discourse and grammar Ritva Laury 153–171 Part III: Person Person in Finnish: Paradigmatic and syntagmatic relations in interaction Marja-Liisa Helasvuo and Lea Laitinen 173–207 Zero person in Finnish: A grammatical resource for construing human reference Lea Laitinen 209–231 Passive — personal or impersonal? A Finnish perspective Marja-Liisa Helasvuo 233–255 References 257–275 Index of terms 277–280