General Readings in Cognitive Linguistics

Prepared by Vyv Evans

www.vyvevans.net

If you would like to find out more about various topics in cognitive linguistics, the　following listing provides suggestions for follow-up reading. I have restricted my　selection to published books (including both monographs, edited volumes and　volumes in press). The reading list is annotated and divided into three sections:

General Introductions to Cognitive Linguistics

Works of General Reference, and　Specific Topics and Theories　Note however, the following overview article, available on-line from my website:

Evans, Vyvyan; Benjamin Bergen and J.rg Zinken (In press.) Cognitive　Linguistics: An Overview. In V. Evans, B. Bergen and J. Zinken (eds.).

The Cognitive Linguistics Reader. London: Equinox.　General Introductions to Cognitive Linguistics

Croft, W., & Cruse, A. D. (2004). Cognitive Linguistics. Cambridge: Cambridge　University Press.

A recent introduction to cognitive linguistics. Particularly good coverage of lexical　semantics and constructional approaches to grammar, although less detail on other　aspects of cognitive linguistics.

Evans, V., & Green, M. (2006). Cognitive Linguistics: An Introduction. Mahwah, NJ　and Edinburgh: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates/Edinburgh University Press.

The most comprehensive general introduction to the field. Each chapter provides a　detailed annotated reading list and exercises. Also includes chapters which compare　cognitive linguistic theories with other theoretical frameworks.

Lee, D. (2001). Cognitive Linguistics: An Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University　Press.

The most accessible of the general introductions, focusing on general ideas rather than　detail. The selection of topics covered, is, nevertheless, a little uneven.　Ungerer, F., & Schmid, H.-J. (1996). Introduction to Cognitive Linguistics. London:

Longman.

Very clear explanations of the areas presented, particularly on prototype and basic　level objects research. However, the coverage is rather one-sided focusing on　cognitive semantics at the expense of cognitive approaches to grammar. The book is　also now over 10 years old.

Works of General Reference　Evans, V. (Forthcoming). Glossary of Cognitive Linguistics. Edinburgh: Edinburgh　University Press.

A glossary of over 350 specialist terms used in cognitive linguistics.　Geeraerts, D., & Cuyckens, H. (2006). Oxford Handbook of Cognitive Linguistics.

Oxford: Oxford University Press.

A major reference work containing original encyclopedia-like articles by leading　experts. Provides comprehensive coverage of all the key areas of cognitive linguistics.

Janssen, T., & Redeker, G. (1999). Cognitive Linguistics: Foundations, Scope and　Methodology. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.

An edited volume containing original articles by a selection of leading cognitive　linguists. The articles address the theoretical and empirical basis of cognitive

linguistics, and cognitive linguistic theories.

Specific Topics and Theories

BLENDING THEORY

Coulson, S. (2000). Semantic Leaps: Frame-Shifting and Conceptual Blending in Meaning Construction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

An important study on the role of conceptual blending in language comprehension.

Fauconnier, G., & Turner, M. (2002). The Way We Think: Conceptual Blending and the Mind’s Hidden Complexities. New York: Basic Books.

The definitive introduction to conceptual blending by the two architects of the theory.

Highly accessible.

CATEGORISATION

Lakoff, G. (1987). Women, Fire and Dangerous Things: What Categories Reveal

About the Mind. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

One of the classic texts in cognitive linguistics. Lakoff makes the case for a novel

theory of cognitive models in order to account for recent findings in human

categorisation. Also provides a philosophical framework for research in cognitive

linguistics which remains influential.

Taylor, J. (2003). Linguistic Categorization, 3rd edition. Oxford: Oxford University

Press.

Provides a highly accessible account of cognitive linguistic approaches to typicality

effects and fuzzy categories as manifested in language.

COGNITIVE GRAMMAR

Langacker, R. (1987/1991). Foundations of Cognitive Grammar, Volumes I and II.

Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.

Volume I of Langacker’s two-volume edifice lays out the theoretical assumptions of

his theory. Volume II applies the theoretical architecture to a range of grammatical

phenomena. These volumes are among the most important in cognitive linguistics.

Taylor, J. (2002). Cognitive Grammar. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

An excellent textbook introduction to Langacker’s theory.

COGNITIVE PSYCHOLINGUISTICS

D
browska, E. (2004). Language, Mind and Brain: Some Psychological and

Neurological Constraints on Grammar. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University

Press.

An excellent and highly accessible overview and review of the cognitive linguistic

position with respect to key issues in psychologuistics, including language acqusition,

lateralisation and modularity. Also includes a review of cognitive linguistic criticsims

of Chomsky’s Universal Grammar hypothesis.

COGNITIVE LEXICAL SEMANTICS

Cuyckens, H., & Zawada, B. (2001). Polysemy in Cognitive Linguistics. Amsterdam,

NJ: John Benjamins.

An edited collection of original articles presenting contemporary work and views on

modelling lexical polysemy in cognitive linguistics.

Cuyckens, H., Dirven, R., & Taylor, J. (2003). Cognitive Approaches to Lexical

Semantics. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.

An excellent representative selection of original articles relating to contemporary

approaches to cognitive lexical semantics.

Nerlich, B., Todd, Z., Herman, V., & Clarke, D. D. (2003). Polysemy: Flexible

Patterns in the Mind. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.

Another recent collected volume of papers on linguistic polysemy. However, the

strength of this volume, in addition to including excellent review articles by the

editors and John Taylor, also includes contributions from a range of scholars,

including those who work in frameworks outside cognitive linguistics.

Tyler, A., & Evans, V. (2003). The Semantics of English Prepositions: Spatial Scenes,

Embodied Experience and Cognition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

The most detailed cognitive linguistic study of English spatial relations. The book makes the case for the experiential basis of prepositional meanings and their

extensions. It also provides an account of polysemy as conceptual in nature.

CONCEPTUAL METAPHOR AND METONYMY

Barcelona, A. (2003). Metaphor and Metonymy at the Crossroads: A Cognitive

Perspective. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.

A collection of original articles addressing the relationship between metaphor and

metonymy. Several of the articles reflect the growing conviction in cognitive

linguistics that metonymy may be as, or even more, foundational than metaphor.

Dirven, R, P.rings, R. (2002). Metaphor and Metonymy in Comparison and Contrast.

Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.

A collection reproducing seminal and influential articles relating to conceptual

metaphor and metonymy.

Gibbs, R. (1994). The Poetics of Mind. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Presents psycholinguistic evidence for the conceptual basis of figurative language

phenomena such as metaphor.

Lakoff, G., & Johnson, M. (2003). Metaphors We Live By, 2nd, revised edition.

Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

This book, now a classic, and originally published in 1980, launched much of the

recent interest in metaphor.

Lakoff, G., & Johnson, M. (1999). Philosophy in the Flesh: The Embodied Mind and

its Challenge to Western Thought. New York: Basic Books.

An updating of Lakoff and Johnson’s seminal ideas on conceptual metaphors and the

notion of embodied cognition.

K.vecses, Z. (2002). Metaphor: A Practical Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University

Press.

An accessible textbook introduction to Conceptual Metaphor Theory.

Gibbs, R., & Steen, G. (1999). Metaphor in Cognitive Linguistics. Amsterdam, NJ:

John Benjamins.

An edited collection of original papers broadly reflecting the nature and scope of

recent research within the framework of Conceptual Metaphor Theory.

CONSTRUCTIONAL APPROACHES TO GRAMMAR

Croft, W. (2002). Radical Construction Grammar. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Presents Croft’s theory of Radical Construction Grammar.

Goldberg, A. (1995). Constructions: A Construction Grammar Approach to Verbal

Argument Structure. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

A classic. Makes a compelling case for a constructional approach to grammar

employing verbal argument constructions as a test case.

.stman, J.-O., & Fried, M. (2005). Construction Grammars: Cognitive Grounding

and Theoretical Extensions. Amsterdam, NJ: John Benjamins.

An edited collection of original papers addressing theoretical and methodological

issues relating to constructional approaches to grammar.

CULTURAL LINGUISTICS

Palmer, G. (1996). Toward a Theory of Cultural Linguistics. University of Texas

Press.

In this book Palmer makes a compelling case for applying cognitive linguistics to

cultural aspects of language, arguing for a theory of cultural linguistics.

EMBODIMENT AND CONCEPTUALIZATION

Nuyts, J., & Pederson, E. (1997) (Eds). Language and Conceptualization. Cambridge:

Cambridge University Press.

An important collection of articles on the relationship between language and

conceptual processes.

Varela, F., Thompson, E., & Rosch, E. (1991). The Embodied Mind. Cambridge, MA:

MIT Press.

One of the first book-length treatments in cognitive science which made the case for

the centrality of embodiment for cognition. Remains extremely important and is

highly accessible.

EMPIRICAL APPROACHES

Gonzalez-Marquez, M., Mittelberg, I., Coulson, S., & Spivey, M. J. (Eds) (2005),

Empirical Methods in Cognitive Linguistics. Amsterdam, NJ: John Benjamins.

A recent edited volume comprising original articles by prominent cognitive linguists

and psychologists. The collection both makes the case for empirical methods in

cognitive linguistics and represents the state-of-the-art.

IMAGE SCHEMAs

Hampe, B. (2005). From Perception to Meaning: Image Schemas in Cognitive

Linguistics. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.

An outstanding recent contribution to image schema theory. An edited collection of

papers by leading scholars presenting a range of often conflicting positions on the

nature of image schemas.

Johnson, M. (1987). The Body in the Mind: The Bodily Basis of Meaning, Imagination

and Reason. Chicago: Chicago University Press.

One of the classic texts in cognitive linguistics. Provides the first detailed treatment of

image schemas.

Mandler, J. (2004). The Foundations of Mind: Origins of Conceptual Thought.

Oxford: Oxford University Press.

An important study by a leading developmental psychologist. Mandler describes how

image schemas derive from perceptual experience in pre-linguistic infants.

LANGUAGE ACQUISITION AND LANGUAGE USE

Barlow, M., & Kemmer, S. (2000) (Eds.). Usage-Based Models of Language.

Stanford, CA: CSLI Publications.

An important collection of original aricles which provide various perspectives on how

best to model knowledge of language in terms of usage-based factors.

Tomasello, M. (2003). Constructing a Language: A Usage-Based Theory of

Language Acquisition. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

An important recent synthesis of empirical findings relating to first language

acquisition. Presents the case for a usage-based perspective on language acquisition.

LANGUAGE AND CONCEPTUAL STRUCTURE

Evans, V. (2004). The Structure of Time: Language, Meaning and Temporal

Cognition. Amsterdam, NJ: John Benjamins.

Investigates the relationship between lexical and conceptual structure in the domain of

time.

Talmy, L. (2000). Toward a Cognitive Semantics, Vol. I and II. Cambridge, MA: MIT

Press.

Brings together, and updates, Talmy’s classic papers in which he explores how

language encodes various aspects of conceptual structure including space, force-

dynamics and motion.

LANGUAGE CHANGE

Croft, W. (2000). Explaining Language Change: An Evolutionary Perspective.

London: Longman.

A seminal work by one of the most original thinkers currently working in cognitive

linguistics. Croft presents a usage-based theory of language change which applies

insights from the generalised theory of natural selection to language.

Sweetser, E. (1990). From Etymology to Pragmatics: Metaphorical and Cultural

Aspects of Semantic Structure. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Another highly influential and now classic text in cognitive linguistics. Sweetser uses

ideas from metaphor theory and image schema theory in order to account for semantic

aspects of grammatical change.

LINGUISTIC DIVERSITY AND RELATIVITY

Gentner, D., & Goldin-Meadow, S. (2003). Language in Mind: Advances in the Study

of Language and Thought. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

A recent collection of original papers by some of the most prominent cognitive

scientists who work on cross-linguistic diversity and the relationship between

language, mind and thought.

Gumperz, J., & Levinson, S. (1996) (Eds.). Rethinking Linguistic Relativity.

Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

An important collection of articles from the mid 1990s which did much to revitalise

the linguistic relativity debate. Of particular importance are articles by Bowerman,

Lucy, Levinson, and Slobin.

Levinson, S. (2003). Space in Language and Cognition. Cambridge: Cambridge

University Press.

An extremely important book. Presents a synthesis of over a decade’s research on

cross-cultural studies on the representation of space. Levinson uses his research as a

platform to argue for the pervasive effects of cross-linguistic variation on non-

linguistic cognition.

MENTAL SPACES THEORY

Dancygier, B., & Sweetser, E. (2005). Mental Spaces in Grammar: Conditional

Constructions. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Presents a theoretical account of conditional constructions using the framework of

mental spaces theory.

Fauconnier, G. (1994). Mental Spaces. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

This is a revised edition of Fauconnier’s classic book, first published in English in

1985. Presents a ground-breaking theory of semantic reference, successfully resolving

many semantic phenomena which had bedevilled formal approaches.

Fauconnier, G. (1997). Mappings in Thought and Language. Cambridge: Cambridge

University Press.

In this volume Fauconnier updates and extends his theory of mental spaces. He also

introduces his collaborative work with Mark Turner on Conceptual Blending.

Fauconnier, G., & Sweetser, E. (1996). Spaces, Worlds and Grammar. Chicago:

University of Chicago Press.

An edited volume consisting of original articles which address various semantic and

grammatical issues making use of Fauconnier’s theory of mental spaces.

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