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DARWIN’S THEORY OF EVOLUTION ranks among the most influential of modern scientific theories. Applying the methodology of COGNITIVE SEMANTICS , this study investigates how metaphors based on domains of JOURNEY, STRUGGLE, TREE and HUMAN AGENCY serve to conceptualize key concepts of Darwin’s theory — such as evolutionary change, natural selection, and relationships among organisms. At the outset the author identifies original metaphors in The Origin of Species, to turn to their realizations in modern discourse on evolution in later chapters. Thus, the study uncovers how metaphors contribute to structuring the theory by expressing it in a coherent and attractive way, and how they provide mental tools for reasoning. As the first comprehensive study of conceptual metaphors that underlie Darwin’s theory and affect the way we talk and think about evolution, it may be of interest not only to linguists and evolutionary biologists but also to anyone interested in the interconnection between thought and language.
Metaphor is a fascinating phenomenon, but it is also complex and multi-faceted, varying in how it is manifested in different modes of expression, languages, cultures, or time-scales. How then can we reliably identify metaphors in different contexts? How does the language or culture of speakers and hearers affect the way metaphors are produced or interpreted? Are the methods employed to explore metaphors in one context applicable in others? The sixteen chapters that make up this volume offer not only detailed studies of the situated use of metaphor in language, gesture, and visuals around the world – providing important insights into the different factors that produce variation – but also careful explication and discussion of the methodological issues that arise when researchers approach metaphor in diverse ‘real world’ contexts. The book constitutes an important contribution to applied metaphor studies, and will prove an invaluable resource for the novice and experienced metaphor researcher alike.
Although recent linguistic and media-studies' research has increasingly dealt with forms of imagery beyond language, such as in audiovisual formats, only little attention has been paid to the specific media character of audiovisual images. This raises a theoretical as well as methodological problem: How can processes of figurative meaning making in audiovisual media be adequately conceptualized and described? The book intends to bridge this research gap with an analysis of campaign commercials, a hitherto largely underexplored object of study in metaphor and metonymy research. To achieve this goal, a transdisciplinary film-analytical and cognitive-linguistic account of audiovisual figurativi...
This collection serves as a showcase for literary translation research with a focus on African perspectives, highlighting theoretical and methodological developments in the discipline while shedding further light on the literary landscape in Africa. The book offers a framework for understanding key approaches and topics in literary translation situated in the African context, covering foundational concepts as well as new directions within the field. The first half of the volume focuses on the translation product, exploring such topics as translation strategies, literary genres, and self-translation, while the second half examines process and reception, allowing for an in-depth look at agency...
The monograph presents new findings and perspectives in the study of variation in metonymy, both theoretical and methodological. Theoretically, it sheds light on metonymy from an onomasiological perspective, which helps to discover the different conceptual or lexical "pathways" through which a concept or a group of concepts has been designated by going back to the source concepts. In addition, it broadens the perspective of Cognitive Linguistics research on metonymy by looking into how metonymic conceptualization and usage may vary along various dimensions. Three case studies explore significant variation in metonymy across different languages, time periods, genres and social lects. Methodologically, the monograph responds to the call in Cognitive Linguistics to adopt usage-based empirical methodologies. The case studies show that quantification and statistical techniques constitute essential parts of an empirical analysis based on corpus data. The empirical findings demonstrate the essential need to extend research on metonymy in a variationist Cognitive Linguistics direction by studying metonymy’s cultural, historical and social-lectal variation.
Cognitive foundations of language introduces the reader to the abilities and processes in which research in Cognitive Linguistics is grounded. The book looks at key concepts, such as embodiment, salience, entrenchment, construal, categorization, and collaborative communication, and discusses their genesis and implications for cognitive linguistic research.
Corpora are used widely in linguistics, but not always wisely. This book attempts to frame corpus linguistics systematically as a variant of the observational method. The first part introduces the reader to the general methodological discussions surrounding corpus data as well as the practice of doing corpus linguistics, including issues such as the scientific research cycle, research design, extraction of corpus data and statistical evaluation. The second part consists of a number of case studies from the main areas of corpus linguistics (lexical associations, morphology, grammar, text and metaphor), surveying the range of issues studied in corpus linguistics while at the same time showing how they fit into the methodology outlined in the first part.
In times of crisis, how do people conceptualise and communicate their experiences through different forms and channels? How can original research in cognitive linguistics, discourse analysis and crisis studies advance our understanding of the ways in which we interact with and communicate about crisis events? In answering these questions, this volume examines the unique functions, features and applications of the metaphors and frames that emerge from and give shape to crisis-related discourses. The chapters in this volume present original concepts, approaches, authentic data and findings of crisis discourses in a wide range of organisational, political and personal contexts that affect a diverse body of language users and communities. This book will appeal to a broad readership in linguistics, sociological studies, cognitive sciences, crisis studies as well as language and communication researchers and practitioners.
This book focuses on linguistic synaesthesia in a hitherto less-studied language – Mandarin Chinese – and adopts a corpus-driven approach to support the analysis and argumentation. The study identifies directional tendencies and underlying mechanisms for Mandarin synaesthetic adjectives. By doing so, it not only provides an added layer of understanding for theories of linguistic synaesthesia, but also offers evidence to help refine previous theories, such as Embodiment Theory and Conceptual Metaphor Theory. In brief, the book makes a significant contribution to the development of Cognitive Linguistics. The intended readership includes, but is not limited to, graduate students in linguistics and researchers interested in Chinese linguistics in particular, and in lexical semantics and cognitive linguistics in general.