Cognitive Approaches to English: Fundamental, Methodological, Interdisciplinary and Applied Aspects (Hardback)

"Cognitive Approaches to English features a careful selection of scholarly contributions to four stimulating areas of linguistic enquiry that are at the cutting edge of present-day research in cognitive linguistics: motivation in grammar, lexical-grammatical interaction, intercultural variation, and theory-driven second language pedagogy. Two important assets of the volume are the emphasis on usage-based analysis and the broad range of compatible theoretical perspectives. Because of its richness in topics and perspectives, I expect the book to be of great value to a broad readership both within cognitive linguistics and in neighboring approaches to language with an interest in the influence of cognition and culture on linguistic structure, language learning and language use."-Francisco J. Ruiz de Mendoza Ibanez, University of La Rioja "This volume convincingly demonstrates the fruitfulness of cognitive linguistics as a paradigm for the elucidation of the lexico-grammatical and semantic structure of English in its socio-cultural context. The authors analyze such diverse and theoretically challenging topics as idioms, compounds, conversions, nominalizations, light verbs, modality, polysemy, figurative meaning, and cross-cultural variation in metaphor use. A particularly useful feature of the book is a set of papers that apply cognitive linguistic models to the teaching of English as a foreign language. This collection testifies to the vibrancy of cognitive linguistics in Central Europe. It is a most welcome contribution to the growing body of research on the conceptual, functional, and cultural motivations of language structure and use."-Klaus-Uwe Panther and Linda L. Thornburg, University of Hamburg