An ecological view on cognitive linguistics: perspectives of applying the principles of cognitive ecology in linguistic researches

Abstract

The articlediscusses the perspectives of the development and the applicative potential of a recently appeared in cognitive science approach – the cognitive ecology. The approach proposes a new methodology of cognitive research, deeply based on a rather particular epistemic conception. In the article, we consequently examine the concepts of ecology and of cognitive system. The latter is considered from the point of view of different traditions existing on the field of modern cognitive researches. We pay a particular attention to the distributed cognition theory which has introduced the notion of languiging in the scientific context. The term is elaborated in order to denote the subject activities, firstly, linked with the language use and, simultaneously, deeply immerged in the situation of two or more cognitive agents interaction sharped around the understanding. We also present several examples of cognitive researches accomplished on the field of linguistics which share the philosophy of the ecological approach and those results illustrate the productivity of its methodology. In conclusion, we give ourdefinition of what is meant under the notion of cognitive ecology and we propose a draft of what could be a “credo” of the ecological approach in cognitive linguistics.