June Luchjenbroers (ed.): Cognitive Linguistics Investigations: Across Languages, Fields and Philosophical Boundaries.

Abstract

This edited book presents fourteen studies in cognitive linguistics, with an introduction by the editor. The origin of the book is a workshop in 1998 ‘on a range of research topics of specific interest to the cognitive linguistics paradigm’ (p. ix). Similar editorial comments suggest that the book is best approached as a series of case studies in, or about, cognitive linguistics. In this review I will focus on the claim that each of these studies can be said to make about cognitive linguistics. The first section of the volume (entitled ‘Cultural models and conceptual mappings’) opens with a chapter by Gary Palmer, who asks when cognitive linguistics becomes cultural. He presents two case studies, one on Tagalog voice and another on Shona noun classifiers, to argue that grammar is driven by cultural schemata, including scenarios and categories. However, scenarios and categories being cognitive entities, too, this raises the issue of how cultural schemata relate to, or are demarcated from, conceptual schemata. To me, it is therefore not entirely clear yet when, or how, cognitive linguistics becomes cultural. Seana Coulson and Todd Oakley then present two case studies in conceptual blending. They analyse two pieces of persuasive discourse to demonstrate how blending theory can help to describe the intended meanings of these texts. This is interpreted as also revealing the mental operations required to turn readers into a persuaded and compliant audience. The implicit claim about (this particular brand of) cognitive linguistics is therefore that it is a useful analytical tool for the analysis of persuasive discourse. Fictive motion is the topic of the next chapter, by Teenie Matlock. She presents an experimental study to test the basic prediction about the mental processing of fictive motion sentences, that they involve mental simulation of motion. The findings are supportive of the prediction, suggesting that this particular cognitive linguistic hypothesis may be upheld and used in further research on the relation between language and cognition. Gesture is the topic of the next chapter, by editor June Luchjenbroers. She examines the nature and function of gesture in the physical space in front of the speaker for the creation of mental spaces in on-going discourse. The claim for cognitive linguistics that may be derived from this study, I think, is that it should not ignore gesture and needs to pay more attention to it if cognitive linguistics wishes to engage with ‘live’ language use. Luchjenbroers’ chapter is the last chapter of the first part of the book. I am not sure whether the cultural theme is sufficiently prominent in the topics of these chapters to warrant it as highlighting a specific perspective.