Seems you have not registered as a member of localhost.saystem.shop!
You may have to register before you can download all our books and magazines, click the sign up button below to create a free account.
Sign, Method and the Sacred
To what extent can semiotics illuminate key problems in religious studies, given the centrality of symbols, language, and other modes of signification in religion and theology? The volume explores semiotic methodologies for the study of religion, with an emphasis on their critical and creative reconfigurations. The contributors come from different specialties, such as cognitive science, ethnography, linguistics, communication studies, art studies, religious studies, philosophy of religion, and theology. Part One consists of chapters focusing on theoretical perspectives. Part two focuses on applications in texts and case studies while still considering methodological issues. Many specific tra...
Questioning and Answering Practices across Contexts and Cultures
This book showcases innovative research about the multi-functional and dynamic interrelatedness of questioning and answering practices in institution- and culture-specific interactions ranging from under-explored to extensively researched ones: South-Korean talk shows, Japanese interviews, Chinese news interviews, police-civilian interactions in the USA, Italian interviews and courtroom examinations, Japanese parliamentary debates and Prime Minister’s Questions in the UK Parliament. Challenging the view that questions are asked with the purpose of seeking information and eliciting answers, these studies open up new research avenues through insightful investigations and critical scrutiny th...
Recurrent Gestures of Hausa Speakers
This book presents a repertoire of conventionalized co-speech gestures used by Hausa speakers from northern Nigeria.
The Body in Language
The Body in Language: Comparative studies of Linguistic Embodiment provides new insights into the theory of linguistic embodiment in its universal and cultural aspects. The contributions of the volume offer theoretical reflections on grammaticalization, lexical semantics, philosophy, multimodal communication and - by discussing metaphorization and metonymy in figurative language - on cognitive linguistics in general. Case studies contribute first-hand data on embodiment from more than 15 languages and present findings on the body in language in diverse cultures from various continents. Embodiment fundamentally underlies human conceptualization and the present discussions reveal a wide range of target domains in conceptual transfers with the body as the source domain.
Gestures We Live By
This book examines emblems (or emblematic gestures) from a pragmatic view, that is to say, as autonomous gestures that fulfill communicative functions, embody illocutionary values, and act as signals of cognitive relevance. Emblems are conceived as multimodal tools on the frontier between verbal and nonverbal modes, and are part of the communicative repertoire of individuals and sociocultural groups. Emblems constitute clear cases of embodiment and are susceptible to many processes of metaphorization (contrasting or not with verbal metaphors), metonymy, and interference between modalities. The applications of emblematic analysis are numerous, from lexicography to second language learning, or to natural language processing.
From Perception to Meaning
The 1987 landmark publications by G. Lakoff and M. Johnson made image schema one of the cornerstone concepts of the emerging experientialist paradigm of Cognitive Linguistics, a framework founded upon the rejection of the mind-body dichotomy and stressing the fundamentally embodied nature of meaning, imagination and reason - hence language. Conceived of as the pre-linguistic, dynamic and highly schematic gestalts arising directly from motor movement, object manipulation, and perceptual interaction, image schemas served to anchor abstract reasoning and imagination to sensori-motor patterns in the conceptual theory of metaphor. Being itself informed by preceding crosslinguistic work on semanti...
Cognitive Linguistics and Sociocultural Theory
By integrating cognitive linguistics and sociocultural theories, this groundbreaking book presents empirical studies on selected grammatical and semantic aspects that are challenging for second/foreign language learners. Through in-depth studies exploring eight different languages, this book offers insights generated through the synergy between cognitive linguistics and sociocultural theories that can be readily incorporated into teaching.
Are Abstract Concepts Like Dinosaur Feathers?
The human nervous system evolved for the control of complex physical actions. Yet, we are far from understanding the human capacity for complex abstract thought. One theory suggests that both abstract and concrete thinking is based on a single perceptual mechanism grounded in physical experience. Asking the question posed by psychologist Daniel Casasanto whether "abstract concepts are like dinosaur feathers" we investigate the evolutionary processes that allowed humans to deal with abstract phenomena by putting them in concrete terms. After all, we frequently resort to analogies, similes or metaphors when describing the intangible. We may say "put that into words" as if words were containers...
The Cursed Carolers in Context
The Cursed Carolers in Context explores the interplay between the forms and contexts in which the tale of the cursed carolers circulated and the meanings it had for medieval and early modern authors and audiences. The story of the cursed carolers has circulated in Europe since the eleventh century. In this story, a group of people in a village in Saxony skip Christmas mass to perform a circle dance in the cemetery, only to be cursed and forced to keep dancing for a whole year. By approaching the story in specific historical contexts, this book shows how the story of the cursed carolers became a space in which medieval readers, writers, and listeners could debate the meaning and significance ...
Beyond Language Boundaries
The way speakers in multilingual contexts develop own varieties in their interactions sheds light on code switching and multimodal dynamic co-constructions of grammar in use. This volume explores the intersection of multimodality and language use of multilingual speakers. Firstly, theoretical frames are discussed and empirical studies involving Catalan, German and Spanish as L1, L2 or FL are presented interconnecting verbal and gestural modalities into grammar description or exploring actions as sources for gestures, which may nonverbally represent the argument in German dynamic motion verbs. Other chapters focus on positionings in interviews, lexical access searches or proxemics in greeting...
