Wow! eBook
Textual Choices in Discourse: A view from cognitive linguistics: 40
Author(s): Barbara Dancygier (Editor), José Sanders (Editor), Lieven Vandelanotte (Editor)
- Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing Co
- Publication Date: 18 July 2012
- Language: English
- Print length: 204 pages
- ISBN-10: 9027202591
- ISBN-13: 9789027202598
Book Description
In recent years, research in cognitive linguistics has expanded its interests to cover a variety of texts – spoken, written, or multimodal. Analytical tools such as conceptual metaphor, frame semantics, mental spaces and grammatical constructions have been productively applied in various discourse contexts. In this volume, originally published as a special issue of English Text Construction 3:2 (2010), the contributors, a mix of established and emerging authors in the field, analyse broadcast and print journalism, argumentative scientific discourse, radio lectures on music, and the main literary genres (the poetry of Szymborska and bpNichol, the drama of Shakespeare, the modernist prose of Virginia Woolf and recent fiction by John Banville). Collectively the findings suggest a need to broaden and refine the cognitive linguistic repertoire, while also uncovering new ways to interpret textual data. The book will appeal to researchers and graduate students with interests in cognitive poetics and linguistics, stylistics, pragmatics and construction grammar.
Editorial Reviews
Review
This collection succeeds in achieving its goal of offering ‘a better understanding of genre differences’ and ‘a clearer appreciation of the applicability of the cognitive framework now in use’ (185). On the one hand, it opens a new window to discourse genres from the perspective of CL, either by proposing a unified model (e.g. Mike Borkent’s article), or by borrowing notions that are considered to belong to a broadly conceived CL (e.g. joint attention). On the other hand, it contributes to CL by ‘expanding the range of facts to be explained’ and making CL reach ‘beyond the traditionally conceived boundaries of linguistic inquiry’ (1). Moreover, some researchers pose new challenges for CL. For instance, Dancygier argues that poetic discourse challenges some claims of constructional grammar (40), and Semino warns that blending theory needs to pay greater attention to interpretative variability and genre differences (112). Overall, this book shows the cross-fertilization between CL and discourse analysis, and is a great resource for anyone interested in these areas. — Zhen-qiang Fan, Zhejiang Gongshang University, on e-Language, 19 June 2013
This innovative volume provides a wealth of illuminating insights into how to apply cognitive linguistic theories to many different discourse genres. The editors have strong reputations in this area and bring together an impressive array of articles from well-known and emerging authors. This valuable collection is full of thought-provoking and challenging ideas, covering an exceptionally wide range of text types including poetry, drama, narrative, print and radio journalism, popular science, political writing and lectures. — Catherine Emmott, University of Glasgow
