The paper is focused on the complex relationship between language, thought, and the neurobiological mechanisms underlying language use and comprehension in contexts. The language-cognition interface has long intrigued scholars in all the domains of language investigation. Cognitive Linguistics (CL), an inherently interdisciplinary enterprise that emerged in the late 1970s out of dissatisfaction with purely formal approaches to language, has opened new perspectives into research on language in its relation to cognition, culture and contexts of use. Many hypotheses have been put forward over the years, and a remarkable body of theoretical and applied research has accumulated on the various dimensions of the language-cognition interface: the structural features of natural language categorization; the conceptualisation of events and of primary categories such as space, motion, time, events, colour and number; the role of imagery in the functioning of cognition; the functional principles of linguistic organization, including matters of universality and language specificity in diachronic change; the experiential grounding and the dynamic nature of grammar and meaning; the role of cognitive processes in language learning and acquisition. Recent advances in the neuroscience of language have further stimulated observational and experimental research into how language is organized in the human brain, mostly concentrating on such questions as the location of specific processes and representations, and the time and manner of realization of higher brain functions. Neurolinguistics and, quite recently, neuropragmatics have brought to the fore the neurobiological complexities of language use and comprehension in contexts, thus challenging existing paradigms of research and opening new scenarios of investigation which underline the need for a constant interplay among specialized domains. Within this research context, the monographic issue of Textus of which this paper represents a Preface hosts for the first time contributions with empirically-grounded, theoretical and applied research on different aspects of language representation and language use that are compatible with a neuro-cognitive perspective. Globally, they give an overview of current advanced research in the domains of meaning construction and representation, figurative language (with specific reference to metaphor), grammar and conceptualisation, and the computational modelling of cognitive processes. The Preface, written in collaboration with one of the most outstanding international representatives of Cognitive linguistics,is a critical introduction to the field of investigation and an original contribution to the Journal.

Cognition and the brain in language and linguistics. Preface.

BERTUCCELLI, MARCELLA;
2010-01-01

Abstract

The paper is focused on the complex relationship between language, thought, and the neurobiological mechanisms underlying language use and comprehension in contexts. The language-cognition interface has long intrigued scholars in all the domains of language investigation. Cognitive Linguistics (CL), an inherently interdisciplinary enterprise that emerged in the late 1970s out of dissatisfaction with purely formal approaches to language, has opened new perspectives into research on language in its relation to cognition, culture and contexts of use. Many hypotheses have been put forward over the years, and a remarkable body of theoretical and applied research has accumulated on the various dimensions of the language-cognition interface: the structural features of natural language categorization; the conceptualisation of events and of primary categories such as space, motion, time, events, colour and number; the role of imagery in the functioning of cognition; the functional principles of linguistic organization, including matters of universality and language specificity in diachronic change; the experiential grounding and the dynamic nature of grammar and meaning; the role of cognitive processes in language learning and acquisition. Recent advances in the neuroscience of language have further stimulated observational and experimental research into how language is organized in the human brain, mostly concentrating on such questions as the location of specific processes and representations, and the time and manner of realization of higher brain functions. Neurolinguistics and, quite recently, neuropragmatics have brought to the fore the neurobiological complexities of language use and comprehension in contexts, thus challenging existing paradigms of research and opening new scenarios of investigation which underline the need for a constant interplay among specialized domains. Within this research context, the monographic issue of Textus of which this paper represents a Preface hosts for the first time contributions with empirically-grounded, theoretical and applied research on different aspects of language representation and language use that are compatible with a neuro-cognitive perspective. Globally, they give an overview of current advanced research in the domains of meaning construction and representation, figurative language (with specific reference to metaphor), grammar and conceptualisation, and the computational modelling of cognitive processes. The Preface, written in collaboration with one of the most outstanding international representatives of Cognitive linguistics,is a critical introduction to the field of investigation and an original contribution to the Journal.
2010
Bertuccelli, Marcella; Ruiz de Mendoza Ibaňez, Francisco José
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11568/141311
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