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The article discusses the intersection of Cognitive Linguistics and second language (L2) classrooms, highlighting the challenges faced by researchers in conducting empirical studies in this field. It emphasizes the importance of including qualitative data, addressing methodological considerations, and aligning research goals with classroom needs. The Thematic Section presents studies on ACL applications in English and Spanish L2 classrooms, focusing on vocabulary, idiomatic expressions, grammatical constructions, and effects-of-instruction research. The studies aim to improve understanding of the learning process in instructional contexts and provide valuable insights for future research in language education. [Extracted from the article]

Cognitive Linguistics offers valuable insights for second language instruction, particularly in enhancing motivated polysemy to facilitate vocabulary acquisition. This paper reports on a longitudinal, classroom-based study and analyses the design, implementation, and assessment of activities inspired by Cognitive Linguistics, elucidating the polysemous meanings of the particles IN/OUT and UP/DOWN. The study involved an experimental group comprising 81 Spanish secondary school students and a control group of 26 students. Following a pre-test/post-test design, participants completed two tests (a gap-fill particle test and a lexical depth test) designed to measure students' command of polysemous meanings. Despite positive teacher feedback and a perceived increase in awareness of polysemy, the experimental learners showed no statistically significant improvement in the test results. We conclude that a comprehensive approach is required to evaluate learning outcomes, encompassing pedagogical experience, classroom-based research factors, and effective assessment measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to explore the shortcomings and challenges of Applied Cognitive Linguistics (ACL) in L2 classrooms and research. It examines the main issues and presents a case study with three quasi-experimental classroom studies. These experiments taught the Spanish past simple tenses using approaches informed by Cognitive Linguistics and Communicative Language Teaching, plus a control group, through a pretest/posttest design. Results favored cognitive-pedagogical instruction, but only in one production task (Alonso-Aparicio & Llopis-García, 2019). Subsequent studies replicated and extended the first, with further changes in instruction and assessment design, but found no significant differences between experimental groups in the posttest. The discussion highlights the steps taken to ensure study success, pointing out shortcomings in traditional assessment tests that favor notional-functional instruction. We suggest alternative testing tasks that consider cognitive-based approaches and new avenues for future research, aligning with Martín-Gascón et al. (2023). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Applied Cognitive Linguistics (ACL, henceforth) offers a vision of language closely tied to our experiences and views of the world, showing great promise for foreign language teaching and learning. Building upon this meaning-centered perspective, this paper discusses an interventional, quasi-experimental study assessing the effectiveness of incorporating animated images into materials for teaching comparative constructions in L2 Spanish. Conducted in three phases with varying participation rates (69 students in the first, 18 in the second, and 27 in the third), the study faced numerous factors that hindered data collection process and thereby influenced the results. Although the findings were not statistically significant, they suggest a slight improvement in post-test performance in both the experimental and comparison groups. While the potential of ACL in second language teaching and learning is undeniable, so are the challenges faced in L2 classrooms. This underscores the need for further empirical research to bridge the gap between theoretical principles and their practical implementation in real classroom settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The document "Review of Lu, Kudrnáčová & Janda (2021): Corpus approaches to language, thought and communication" explores the intersection of corpus linguistics and cognitive linguistics, focusing on the use of corpora in linguistic research. The volume contains six studies that highlight different approaches to cognitive linguistic analysis and the study of linguistic phenomena supported by quantitative data collection. By combining quantitative and qualitative methods, researchers can test various hypotheses, identify phenomena not studied by traditional methods, and support their findings with statistical counts or examples from the corpus. The document provides valuable insights for those interested in corpus-based approaches to linguistic analysis and serves as a practical reference tool for researchers working with big data in cognitive linguistics. [Extracted from the article]

This review study focuses on the challenges faced when conducting effects-of-instruction research in Applied Cognitive Linguistics. It offers an overview of relevant research that has sought to demonstrate the effectiveness of a cognitive-based approach to second language (L2) pedagogy and provides illustrations from previous work in L2 Spanish by the author and colleagues of some of the factors that can influence findings in quasi-experimental research. More specifically, the study addresses some of the difficulties encountered in the design of materials and assessment tests, during the pedagogical intervention and the data collection and data analysis phases. These include choice of assessment, test effects, sample size, withdrawal, and time-on-task, among others. Along with these methodological issues, a discussion of possible solutions as well as pedagogical and methodological implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines cognitive representations of Ethiopia and Egypt's hydro-political stances on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam. Data were analysed using image schema theory and conceptual metaphor theory to identify how political leaders deploy conceptual structures to construct, maintain, and reproduce (counter-)hydro-hegemony for water management and international relations broadly. Results suggest that the gerd represents physical and symbolic boundaries constructed/activated to block and animate power. Egypt prefers multilateralism on gerd matters; whereas, Ethiopia acts unilaterally in its national interest. The findings indicate that international public opinion can be cognitively and discursively manipulated to legitimise (in)action sanctioning (counter)hydro-hegemony using original metaphor mappings and mini-narratives. This study posits that interstate hydro-disputes can be viewed as either a journey or trial. While Egypt suggested a family-threat-journey-destination script where all regions correlate to garner power, Ethiopia invoked a victim -threat-defendant-plaintiff-trial narrative to defend confrontational move(s) and motivate the illegitimate jury to dismiss the case. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reports an interview with Robert D. Van Valin, Jr., which was held on March 2, 2023, with follow-up e-mail exchanges. Robert Van Valin is the primary developer of Role and Reference Grammar (RRG), a syntactic theory whose principles and commitments intersect with those of Cognitive Linguistics (CL). The article discusses RRG vis-à-vis CL and other approaches to the study of language. It aims to raise awareness about the shared principles of RRG and CL, to enhance cross-fertilization between the two approaches and ultimately inspire new research directions in linguistic theory. The paper is organized into three main parts: (i) background information on the birth and development of RRG, (ii) general principles and commitments of RRG and CL, and (iii) specific issues in the study of language. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

"Introduction to Cognitive Pragmatics" by K.-U. Panther is a book that explores the relationship between pragmatics and cognitive linguistics. The author argues that both fields have common interests, such as studying authentic data and considering participants' mental processes. The book covers various aspects of meaning, including semantics, pragmatics, entailment, presupposition, and implicature. It also discusses the role of inferential reasoning, metaphor, and metonymy in communication. The author emphasizes the importance of cognitive and pragmatic analysis in understanding language-in-use and language-in-context. While some readers may have wanted more in-depth explanations of cognitive theories and an index of metonymic shifting patterns, the book is a comprehensive reference for those interested in interpreting meaning in language. [Extracted from the article]

In Cognitive Linguistics, the noun-participle compound is a grammatical category with instances of different degrees of membership. The purpose of this study is to explore the categorization processes and schematic networks in noun-participle compounding. Working with the data of noun-participle compounds from COHA, we identified three types of participles: deverbal, denominal and ambicategorical. Two schemas [Nj-Vk-ed]A and [Nj-Nk-ed]A are established as generalizations of compounds of deverbal (e.g. man-made) and denominal participles (e.g. life-sized). Compounds of ambicategorical participles (e.g. snow-covered), are sanctioned by two schemas simultaneously, which give rise to ambiguous morphological readings. This study confirms the labor division between mother-daughter links and sister links in a schema network. The higher-level generalization is encoded by paradigmatically-related sister schemas, with the sister relations built on the shared structure links and a bi-directional conversion of the stem of ppl (i.e., noun-to-verb or verb-to-noun). The sister schemas as a paradigm is a more parsimonious generalization of the compounds, than the posited mother schema. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study examines two cognitive linguistics approaches to foreign language teaching. One draws on the conventionality of language use that a variety of expressions can be understood as instances of more general patterns, e.g., kick them out and eat it up as verb-object-particle, whereas the other centers on linguistic creativeness such as novel combinations or associations, e.g., chest down the ball. Noting that English verb-particle constructions (VPCs) exemplify both linguistic conventionality and creativeness, two types of instruction have been developed–namely, top-down instruction and bottom-up instruction. The top-down instruction presents VPCs as instances of conventional argument structures such as motion and resultative constructions (Goldberg, 2015), whereas the bottom-up instruction focuses on creative compositions of literal and metaphorical meanings (Lakoff & Johnson, 1980). The two types of instruction were provided for Korean EFL learners, and their knowledge of VPCs was measured by a pretest, an immediate posttest, and a four-week delayed posttest. Results of the immediate posttest showed that both types of instruction were effective in improving the learners' knowledge of literal and figurative VPCs. In the delayed posttest, significantly greater retention was observed for the construction-based top-down instruction. This finding highlights the importance of argument structures as super-constructions in teaching VPCs to EFL learners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ladewig, Silva H. Integrating gestures: The dimension of multimodality in Cognitive Grammar Berlin & Boston Mouton de Gruyter 2020 9783110668414 Hardcover €99,95 One strand of linguistic research which has stimulated significant interest in spoken languages is the study of gesture usage in cognitive linguistic approaches. The author Silva Ladewig discusses the development of Cognitive Grammar and the symbolic nature of linguistic items, further comprehensively highlighting the monomodal and multimodality of meaning with illustrations. Through qualitative analysis and perception experiments, this book proves that gestures can be integrated into the syntax of speech, thus expanding the scope of Cognitive Grammar substantially. [Extracted from the article]

This study reports on the differential effectiveness of two pedagogical approaches to teaching L1-Italian students the Russian verbs of motion (глаголы движения, VoMs). The first is a Cognitive Linguistics, embodied approach, where the teacher used techniques such as image schemas, drawings and bodily activation to help the learners explore and understand the logic of VoMs. The second is a classic PPP approach, that works with mnemonic exercises, drills, and reproduction techniques, and that used classic metalinguistic terms to explain VoMs. 54 L1-Italian Russian students enrolled at the second year of University have been recruited in the study. Two groups were created: group A received a 160 minutes embodied treatment about VoMs, whereas group B received a 160 minutes classical PPP treatment on VoMs. The informants have been tested in a classical pre, post and delayed-post test fashion with three different temporized tasks. Results show an accrued competence on VoMs of group A, that outperformed group B in all the tests. The relevance of these findings for L2 teaching will be discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cognitive Linguistics claims that language is not purely abstract and arbitrary, but meaningful and grounded in concepts arising from our embodied experiences (Oakley, 2007). The potential of using imagery and bodily representations to explain the conceptual motivation of grammar has been widely recognized in the context of language acquisition and teaching. This study investigates whether an increase of learners' bodily engagement through the performance of bodily movements and locomotion produces even greater learning outcomes. To this end, we refer to Talmy's (2000) Force Dynamic System to conduct a pretest-posttest interventional study with two groups of learners dealing with the German modal verb system. Whereas the first group watched multimedia animations (low bodily engagement), the second group was asked to perform bodily movements in line with the force-dynamic notions underlying the different modal verbs (high bodily engagement). The results show that both groups produced similar learning gains and that an increased bodily engagement could not be associated directly with a significantly better performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the Cognitive Linguistics literature, the way viewers understand printed ads whose interpretation is based on metaphors and/or metonymies is conditioned by the principle whereby the source and target domains are called upon by the linguistic expression at roughly the same time (cf. Gibbs, 2006). Nonetheless, Herrero-Ruiz (2019) has shown how certain contextual effects are generated when one of the metaphoric/metonymic domains appears at a later stage in the interpretation process (direct vs. delayed domain appearance). In this paper, we shall describe various analytical patterns grounded in this new perspective as well as the specific interpretive routes that they imply. In doing so, we offer an alternative to the existing approaches that try to account for the possible interpretations printed ads based on metaphors and/or metonymies may elicit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers language evolution from a cognitive-grammar (CG) perspective taking Classical Arabic Case Marking (CACM) as a case in point and a departure point. It is argued that the accusative case is diachronically the baseline case mark, designating the Objective Scene (OS) and demarcating an object of perception in the initial stage of maximal subjectivity in which the ground (G) is totally implicit. Such maximum is then attenuated through a process of objectification such that g entities are gradually put onstage to fulfill the functions of identification and predication. The nominative case, then, figures to mark such emerging entities in their baseline, immediate status. This conception of G with its functions is later extended to mark entities external to G, which gives rise to the full, nominative-marked, baseline existential core (C∃) comprising the existential predicate (P∃) and the existential subject (S∃). The truncation (T) of a verb's nominative case is argued to fulfill the semantic function of situating a process out of existential reality yielding the existential predicate minus (P-∃), which represents a basic elaboration on baseline C∃. Processes being extensions from perception, the accusative case attenuates to mark entities (D) that demarcate processes, implementing the semantic function of processual modification. Finally, a genitive-marked entity (RP) is proposed to implement the semantic function of referential modification, anchoring and referencing the conceptions of all those facets of reality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to examine the target concepts of metaphorical and metonymical uses of blood in Jordanian Arabic (JA) through adopting Conceptual Metaphor Theory as based on the notion of main meaning focus (Kövecses, 2010, 2011) as a theoretical framework. A 40,000 words specialized corpus was built for the purpose of this study. Data was analyzed employing WordSmith Tools (version 6), which enables the processing of Arabic data. The results reveal that blood as a source domain can be used to conceptualize character traits, essence and emotion in JA through metonymy-based-metaphors and scenic metaphors in which the source domain is constructed metonymically. Similarities and differences were detected between JA and other languages investigated in the literature. Similarities were ascribed to cognitive embodiment of bodily substances, i.e., blood, to conceptualize abstract concepts such as character traits and emotion, while differences were attributed to socio-cultural embodiment of certain qualities of blood shared by members of the Jordanian community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an analysis of nonce words that relies on Cognitive Grammar (CG) using the English version of "Jabberwocky" and its two Ukrainian renditions. We identify great variation among the versions, both inter-lingual and intra-lingual. In particular, not only do the versions differ greatly in terms of construal presented in CG terms, but there are various elements that do not, and simply cannot, get through between the English version and the Ukrainian ones. We accordingly propose that the use of Multiple-Parallel-Text (MultiParT) approach can not only help make generalizations across representative text producers within the same language but also allow one to investigate how different systems of human communication are equipped to produce unconventional meaning using its own conventionalized means, and that use of CG is capable of providing a reliable analytical framework with high descriptive adequacy. We also propose that a combination of MultiParT and CG may constitute an advantage in cross-linguistic research of literary semantics and cognitive poetics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study intends to test the Graded Salience Hypothesis, in order to investigate the factors involved in comprehension. This research considered predictions derived from this hypothesis by evaluating the salience of idioms in the Persian language. We intended to measure Reading Time (RTs), and the design comprised 2 Contexts (figurative, literal), 3 Types of Statements (familiar vs. unfamiliar vs. less familiar) and RTs (long, short, equal). Two types of contexts (figuratively inviting and literally inviting contexts) were prepared. The software for this experiment was prepared for the purpose of self-paced reading experiments. Two pretests were performed. In the first pretest, participants rated the expressions on a 1–7 familiarity scale. The second pretest was designed to confirm that contexts are equally supportive. Then, expressions were divided according to their familiarity (familiar, less-familiar, unfamiliar). Sentences were used so that, according to the second pretest, their contexts would be equally supportive. Sentences were displayed on a PC, controlled by Windows 7. The self-paced reading task was applied using the Moving Windows software. In the first part of the experiment, participants read each idiom in figuratively inviting contexts and their RTs were recorded. In the second part of the experiment, participants read each idiom in literally inviting contexts and their RTs were recorded. Results of testing these idioms support the Graded Salience Hypothesis, but not entirely. Such findings suggested that sometimes context affects the access of salient information and a semi serial process is witnessed. Results indicate that the salient meaning of both familiar and less familiar idioms is figurative. In addition, salient meanings in the space following the unfamiliar idiom and the first word of the next (spillover) sentence, were both, figurative and literal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intercultural communicative competence (ICC) links three notions, i.e. language, culture and cognition, which are declared crucial in approaches to ICC in educational context. Despite the announced importance of the notions, none of the ICC models specifies the relationship between these elements in a motivated way and hence unjustified dichotomies arise. Educational approaches to ICC can be divided into cognitive or social ones with the former emphasizing an autonomous nature of language, culture and cognition and the latter focusing on social aspects and thus marginalizing cognition. The article aims to stress the need for a socio-cognitive approach to ICC which will view language, culture and cognition in a holistic way. While this approach is based on complexity science, cognitive psychology, grounded cognition and intercultural pragmatics, we demonstrate that cognitive linguistics can become an encompassing framework for a holistic model of ICC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study investigates the semantic structure of the word near assuming that its distinct senses form a semantic network with a prototypical spatial sense at the center and various extended senses at different distances away from the prototype. In order to explain the extensions of near, the cognitive notions of construal, image schema transformation, metaphor and metonymy are taken into consideration. The conceptual blending theory is used to explain the semantic structure of the complex preposition near to. The research reveals that the word near functions as a preposition (also a part of the complex preposition near to), an adverb, an adjective and a verb, and that its semantic structure is best viewed as a continuum encoding both lexical and grammatical information. At the same time, the analysis shows that the polysemy of near is rather impoverished when compared to the polysemies of other spatial prepositions, such as in, on, at or over. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the analysis of the Portuguese future subjunctive mood would contribute to a greater understanding of the general meaning of the subjunctive mood, this verb form has received considerably little attention compared to the other subjunctive forms, namely, the past and present subjunctives. The aim of the present paper is to fill this gap. Using the theoretical perspective of Cognitive Grammar, it will be shown that the Portuguese future subjunctive shares many characteristic features with other tenses of the subjunctive mood. In particular, the analysis shows that the Portuguese future subjunctive can be explained by the concept of dominion. Thus, the present paper provides a conceptually grounded and unified explanation for the meaning of the Portuguese subjunctive mood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since Aristotle, scholars have regarded similes and metaphors as equivalent figures of speech sharing very similar comprehension, interpretation and usage patterns. By analysing the use of similes in real discourse, the aim of this study is to show that these two analogical figures reflect different cognitive processes, as well as different discursive functions, using as a framework cognitive models. To this end, this work presents, first, the main differentiating features of the two figures existing in the literature. And, second, it analyses 100 natural-occurring similes in English opinion discourse (news, interviews and commentary sections) in order to explain the conceptual-semantic and formal-syntactic factors which explain why similes and metaphors are not interchangeable in the discourse type under study; that is, why metaphors can usually be transformed into similes by adding like, whereas the opposite process seems to depend on specific conditions of structure, use and interpretation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the polysemy of the Croatian verbal prefix od- '(away) from' from a Cognitive Grammar perspective (Langacker, 1987, 1991, etc.; Taylor, 2002). Despite the seemingly inordinate semantic heterogeneity of od-prefixed verbs, we argue that the different uses of od- are semantically motivated and that this has at least as much to do with the existence of a single abstract sanctioning schema as it does with the motivated extensions from the prototype, viz. spatial ablativity, or other category members. In this way we depart not only from the deep-rooted Croatian tradition, which tends to ignore any semantic motivation among different uses of a single prefix (e.g. Babić, 1986), but also from those cognitive linguistic approaches which rely on meaning chains, i.e. categorization by extension, to account for the polysemy of prefixes, prepositions and particles (e.g. Janda, 1985, 1986, 1988; Šarić, 2006a, 2006b, 2008, etc.). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On the basis of corpus data and in consonance with cognitively-oriented constructionist approaches to language, mainly the work by Goldberg (1995, 2006) and the developments in Ruiz de Mendoza and Mairal (2008, 2011), we offer a fine-grained analysis of some specific instantiations of the resultative pattern based on the prepositional phrase to death. The analysis starts off from the classification of verb classes made by Levin (1993). The verbs in some of these classes are readily available for fusion into the resultative configuration. Others call for reconstrual in terms of high-level metaphor and/or metonymy before they can conform to the requirements of the pattern mentioned above. Thus, we focus on the way in which the resultative pattern overwrites the properties of some lexical groups of verbs through the licensing activity of such cognitive mechanisms as high-level metaphor and metonymy. Additionally, the prepositional phrase to death is shown to perform two key communicative functions from among those put forward by Boas (2003): placing emphasis on an end point or rendering a vague point clear. Finally, the paper examines the hyperbolic load of the PP to death in some contexts where this PP is seen as converting an argument-structure construction into an implicational one conveying the speaker's (usually negative) reaction to a given state of affairs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article argues that certain phenomena concerning metaphor that have been studied largely separately are in fact strongly interrelated, to the extent of forming an indivisible complex that should ideally be addressed in a unified way. The phenomena addressed here are metaphor compounding, metaphor elaboration (often called metaphor extension), metaphor replacement, metaphor strength-modification, and unrealistic source-domain situations. The interrelationships between phenomena that the article discusses include: the potential for unrealism and partial forms of replacement to be implicated in compounding; the way strength-modification can arise from compounding and replacement; and the affinity between elaboration and weak forms of replacement. The article also sketches how the author's ATT-Meta approach to metaphor, which has previously been presented as handling elaboration and compounding, and hence some types of strengthening, is suitable also for handling the other phenomena. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses everyday expressions of anger in Kiswahili, a Bantu language spoken in Eastern Africa. Following Lakoff and Kövecses (1987), linguistic expressions of anger, collected from both written and oral discourses, were analyzed for metaphoric and metonymic content. Our findings reveal that Kiswahili manifests some striking differences in conceptualization of anger. A notable difference is found in the locality in which anger is perceived to originate, or the conceptualized "originating locality" of anger. The onset of anger, or stage at which a person 'becomes angry', is depicted via predicates such as shik-w-a 'catch.PASS' and ingi-w-a 'enter.PASS'. A participant is seen as having been 'caught' or 'entered' by anger, thus construing anger as an externally-originating emotion. Consequently, we propose a prototypical cognitive model that appears to reflect the anger scenario in Kiswahili. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the value of Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT) in the interdisciplinary study of emotion. The insights provided by a quantitative, corpus-based analysis of anger metaphors in three languages (English, Spanish, Russian) are compared to those obtained from two other methodologies of a more psycholinguistic kind: a feature-rating and a labelling task. The three methodologies are used to test in language several hypotheses on cross-cultural differences in anger experiences derived from earlier findings in emotion psychology. The three methods are found to be complementary and provide convergent evidence that support the hypotheses, with each method contributing additional pertinent data on some of the issues addressed. We discuss the contribution of CMT, its relative importance and specificity, and highlight several methodological and analytical adaptations that CMT studies should undergo for its results to become more informative to other disciplines in the study of emotion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, Cognitive Linguistics (CL) has established itself not only as a solid theoretical approach but also as an important source from which different applications to other fields have emerged. In this introductory article, we explore some of the current, most relevant topics in applied CL-oriented studies grouped into three main strands: Analyses of figurative language (both metaphor and metonymy) in use, constructions and typology. An outline of the contents of the eight chapters included in this special issue is provided, explaining their contributions to these research areas and highlighting their methodological rigour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An interview with cognitive linguistics professor Günter Radden is presented. He commented on topics including how did he became acquainted with linguistic motivation, cognitive grammar and conceptual metaphor; how does metaphor fits in linguistic environment; his work on English grammar and prepositions; and how does motivation fit into the cognitive linguistic framework.

Increasingly global markets impose strains on the branding industry for the design of trademarks with a worldwide appeal. This paper explores the potential benefits of the exploitation of embodied schemata for this purpose. A corpus of international automobile brands is analyzed in search of the image schemas at work in the conceptualization of different car categories (i.e. minis, family cars, sports cars, and off-road 4 × 4s). Our findings evince that, together with other well-known strategies (i.e. sound symbolism), multimodal image schemas can be added to the inventory of branding tools which help to imbue brands with a globally comprehensible semantics. In the context of branding, it is also attested that the structure of the general schemas is fleshed out through their interaction with the most salient attributes of the target product/service named by a particular brand, rather than in relation to other contextual or cultural facts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This Special Volume of Review of Cognitive Linguistics includes 13 papers dealing with Multimodality and Cognitive Linguistics. The introduction provides an overview of three of the main approaches dealing with multimodality - Cognitive Linguistics and multimodal metaphors (Forceville & Urios-Aparisi, 2009), social semiotics and systemic functional grammar, and multimodal interactional analysis (Jewitt, 2009, p. 29). The paper summarizes the contributions to the volume, highlighting the main objectives and conclusions of each of the papers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper relates the functional model of Dialogic Syntax and its key concept of resonance (Du Bois 2001 [20091) to Cognitive Grammar (Langacker, 1987, 1991, 2001, 2008, 2009) with the aim of inquiring into the prospects, potential gains, and limitations of a Cognitive Grammar-inspired discourse analysis. First the two frameworks are compared from a theoretical point of view, focusing on how Du Bois' account and Langacker's Current Discourse Space Model (2001, 2008) deal with prior discourse as a resource for new usage events. In the subsequent case study, the theory is confronted with interactional data from Austrian parliamentary debates. Specific attention is paid to construal operations, more specifically viewpoint phenomena and subjectification, which are explored in relation to resonance activation. Drawing on detailed analyses that combine insights and concepts from Dialogic Syntax and Cognitive Grammar, strengths, shortcomings, and future challenges of Cognitive Grammar discourse studies are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper is devoted to an analysis of the relation between language and culture in the context of Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT). Section 2 deals in an explicitly critical way with some problems in the concept of "culture" as used in "mainstream" schools of CL. Section 3 offers a brief review of the problems involved in the studies on the concept of "time" and its metaphors. Section 4 reviews some interpretations of the concept of "time" in Amerindian cultures. Section 5 analyses the linguistic expression of time in Quechua, in an attempt to (dis)confirm the "past in front" conceptualisation proposed by some researchers for the (geographically and culturally close, but genetically unrelated) Aymara language. Some final conclusions follow. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An interview with scholar Antonio Barcelona is presented. Barcelona says that his interest in the cognitive linguistics (CL) movement after reading the books "Women, Fire and Dangerous Things," by George Lakoff and "Foundations of Cognitive Grammar" by Ron Langacker. He mentions that he became aware of metonymy's role in the conceptual structure of the cognitive models of emotions. He adds that most metaphors are motivated by one or more metonymies.

The present contribution argues that illocutionary interpretation is not only metonymic (Panther & Thornburg, 1998, 2003), but also a matter of active zone/profile discrepancy (Langacker, 1987, 1999). The theoretical framework is the Lexical Constructional Model propounded by Ruiz de Mendoza & Mairal (2008, 2011) and Mairal & Ruiz de Mendoza (2009). In this study I examine active zone/profile discrepancy in a number of expressions that are constructionally polysemous from an illocutionary perspective. Such is the case of the utterance Stay away from me if you don’t want to get in trouble, which profiles an instruction to avoid some negative consequences and can be understood either as a threat or a warning depending on the active zone. The results of the analysis provide evidence of the need to consider cognitive construal operations in the approach to illocution adopted by the Lexical Constructional Model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues that a cognitive account of metaphor comprehension needs to include awareness of metaphoricity in order to fully explain the processes involved. In Relevance Theory as well as in other cognitively oriented approaches, much can be gained by making explicit the difference between conscious and subconscious processing: whether a communicator is aware of an expression’s metaphoricity or not may have an impact on the type of cognitive processing involved. A theoretical investigation is offered which explores the potential role of reflective reasoning in metaphor understanding. The discussion is based on the relevance-theoretic account, which explains the subconscious inferential processes involved. However, it leaves open the question of the potential impact of conscious availability of the tension between literal and figurative meaning, which is reminiscent of domain mappings in Cognitive Linguistics. Within metaphor research, a focus on awareness offers valuable findings for cognitively oriented schools of thought. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Motion metaphors occur at different levels, from prepositional phrases to discourse, including theoretical metaphors. After reviewing Relevance Theory as a bottom-up approach, and Cognitive Linguistics and Segmented Discourse Representation Theory as top-down ones, an integrated approach to metaphor in discourse construction is developed, based on a cognitive operation of connection of lower units into higher ones, similar to subsumption in the Lexical Constructional Model and to chunking in the Usage-Based Approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article I review studies published between 1996 and 2010 in which the effectiveness of Cognitive-Semantics informed second language pedagogy was put to the test. Altogether, the published evidence is manifestly favourable, although questions remain as to the scope of application of the approach and the precise properties that produce its positive effects. It must also be recognised that Cognitive Semantic ventures into language pedagogy stand a lot to gain from a closer collaboration with ‘mainstream’ applied linguistics, not only with regard to general insights into the nature of second language acquisition but also with regard to this type of research methodology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]