Philosophical Perspectives for Pragmatics

John Benjamins, 2009. — xvii, 399 pages. — (Handbook of Pragmatics Highlights 3). — isbn 978 90 272 8920 9. The ten volumes of Handbook of Pragmatics Highlights focus on the most salient topics in the field of pragmatics, thus dividing its wide interdisciplinary spectrum in a transparent and manageable way. Each volume starts with an up-to-date overview of its field of interest and brings together some 12–20 entries on its most pertinent aspects. Since 1995 the Handbook of Pragmatics (HoP) and the HoP Online (in conjunction with the Bibliography of Pragmatics Online) have provided continuously updated state-of-the-art information for students and researchers interested in the science of language in use. Their value as a basic reference tool is now enhanced with the publication of a topically organized series of paperbacks presenting HoP Highlights. Whether your interests are predominantly philosophical, cognitive, grammatical, social, cultural, variational, interactional, or discursive, the HoP Highlights volumes make sure you always have the most relevant encyclopedic articles at your fingertips.

The ten volumes of Handbook of Pragmatics Highlights focus on the most salient topics in the field of pragmatics, thus dividing its wide interdisciplinary spectrum in a transparent and manageable way. While other volumes select philosophical, grammatical, social, variational, interactional, or discursive angles, this third volume focuses on the interface between language and cognition. Language use is impossible without the mobilization of a large variety of cognitive processes, each serving a different purpose. During the last half century cognitive approaches to language have been particularly successful, and the broad spectrum of contributions to this volume testify to this success. As cognitive approaches to language are by definition a subset of the larger enterprise of cognitive science, a contribution on this general topic sets the stage. This is joined by a chapter on cognitive grammar, a theoretical study of the architecture of human language that is deeply inspired by general cognitive principles. A chapter on experimentation offers a crash-course on basic issues of experimental design and on the rationale behind statistical testing in general and the most important statistical tests in particular, offering a methodological toolkit for understanding many of the other contributions. Different chapters cover a broad range of topics: language acquisition, psycholinguistics, specialized topics within the latter field (e.g. the bilingual mental lexicon, categorization), and aspects of language awareness. Some chapters home in on what have become indispensible perspectives on the cognitive underpinnings of language: the way language is represented and processed in the human brain and simulation studies. The ever-growing success of the latter type of studies is exemplified, for instance, by the highly flourishing connectionist tradition and the more general paradigm of artificial intelligence, each of which is dealt with in a separate contribution.

Preface To The Series -- Acknowledgements -- Perspectives On Language And Cognition: From Empiricism To Rationalism And Back Again / Dominiek Sandra -- Artificial Intelligence / Steven Gillis, Walter Daelemans & Koenraad Desmedt -- Categorization / Eleanor Rosch -- Cerebral Division Of Labour In Verbal Communication / Michel Paradis -- Cognitive Grammar / Ronald W. Langacker -- Cognitive Science / Seana Coulson & Teenie Matlock -- Comprehension Vs. Production / J. Cooper Cutting -- Connectionism / Ton Weijters & Antal Van Denbosch -- Consciousness And Language / Wallace Chafe -- Developmental Psychology / Susan M. Ervin-tripp -- Experimentation / Dominiek Sandra -- Language Acquisition / Steven Gillis & Dorit Ravid -- Metalinguistic Awareness / Elizabeth Mertz & Jonathan Yovel -- Perception And Language / Roger Lindsay -- Psycholinguistics / Dominiek Sandra -- The Multilingual Lexicon / Ton Dijkstra -- Index. Edited By Dominiek Sandra, Jan-ola Östman, Jef Verschueren. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Preface to the series Acknowledgements Perspectives on language and cognition: from empiricism to rationalism and back again / Dominiek Sandra Artificial intelligence / Steven Gillis, Walter Daelemans & Koenraad DeSmedt Categorization / Eleanor Rosch Cerebral representation of language / Michel Paradis Cognitive grammar / Ronald Langacker Cognitive science / Seana Coulson & Teenie Matlock Comprehension vs. production / J. Cooper Cutting Connectionism / Ton Weijters & Antal van denBosch Consciousness and language / Wallace Chafe Developmental psychology / Susan Ervin-Tripp Experimentation / Dominiek Sandra Language acquisition / Steven Gillis & Dorit Ravid Metalinguistic awareness / Elizabeth Mertz & Jonathan Yovel Perception and language / Roger Lindsay Psycholinguistics / Dominiek Sandra The multilingual lexicon / Ton Dijkstra Index.