Cognitive Linguistics And The Study Of Chinese

Bringing together contributions from a group of prominent researchers, within a cognitive-linguistic framework, this volume sheds light on linguistic structures and usages characteristic of the Chinese language, including noun-verb inclusion, the conceptual spatialization of actions, existential constructions, conceptual structures and coherence, idioms and metaphors, language acquisition of caused motion, etc. The contributions are committed to the principle of “converging evidence” that has been advocated in Cognitive Linguistics since its inception. Some studies in this volume combine introspective methods with theoretical analysis, while others rely on corpus-based, experimental and neuroscientific methods. Featuring diverse topics and multiple methods, this collection will be useful to readers who are interested in the grammatical and conceptual structure of Chinese, as well as in the state-of-the-art of Cognitive Linguistics in China.

The Chinese language contains a set of mind-sets that differ from those in English. Such differences between languages require mind-set conversion in cross-cultural communication. In applying cognitive linguistic theories to examining cross-cultural communication cases, this book explores cognitive mind-sets in English and Chinese as well as the processes of converting them from one language to another. It focuses on the principles by which a language selects its cognitive perspective based on its cultural convention, perception, and the conventional ways of representation of the world. In analyzing the linguistic rules and culturally driven cognitive motivation through an issue-driven and case study approach, this book helps students and other readers understand better the cross-cultural cognitive motivation between English and Chinese. In so doing, this book aims at enhancing the interest level and study efficacy for foreign language learning. This book can serve as a reference for instructors in syllabus designing as well as for linguistic professional training. The book is also suitable to be used as a reference for undergraduate and postgraduate students majoring in linguistics, translation, and teaching Chinese as foreign language to speakers of other languages. Finally, it can be a useful reference for undergraduates who learn Chinese as a foreign language.

Although cognitive processes are fundamental in shaping the language that we speak, they are often overlooked in language teaching and learning. This groundbreaking book addresses how to use key cognitive linguistic (CL) concepts to analyze the Chinese language and to advance L2 Chinese teaching and learning. It presents an overview of the most prominent CL research published in both Chinese and English and explores how it applies to L1 and L2 Chinese studies. Including sample lesson plans and classroom activities, it demonstrates to language teachers how to use CL-based approaches to explain and teach a wide range of linguistic phenomena to their students. Researchers will also gain new insights from the summaries of recent advances and contrastive analyses between English and Chinese. Covering up-to-date research, yet written in a clear and engaging style, it will foster a new understanding of teaching and learning Chinese.

This book aims to further understanding of the acquisition of Chinese as a foreign or second language. The six independent studies, which focus on various aspects of the learning process from morphosyntax to pragmatics to peer interaction, offer empirical insights into instructed learners under an array of instructional conditions.

This book explores socio-cultural meanings of ‘self’ in the Chinese language through analysing a range of conversations among Chinese immigrants to Australia qualitatively on the topics of individuality, social relationships and collective identity. If language, culture and cognition are major roads, this book is the junction that unites them by arguing that selfhood occurs at their interface. It provides an interdisciplinary approach to unpack manifestations and perceptions of ‘self’ in the contemporary Chinese diaspora discourse from the perspectives of Sociolinguistics, Cognitive Linguistics and the newly developed Cultural Linguistics. This book not only discusses empirical and theoretical issues on the conceptualisation and communication of social identity in a cross-cultural context, it also reveals how traditional and modern ideas in Chinese culture are interacting with those of other world cultures. Considering the power of language, enduring and emerging beliefs and stances that permeate these speakers’ views on their social being and outlooks on life impart their significance in cross-cultural communication and pragmatics. As of January 2023, this e-book is freely available, thanks to the support of libraries working with Knowledge Unlatched.

Introducing the English translations of 8 selected research articles originally written in Chinese by Professor Yuan Yulin, Cognition-based Studies on Chinese Grammar is an essential reading for researchers in Chinese syntax. Yuan Yulin is one of the very first Chinese scholars who introduced cognitive sciences into the study of Chinese language some twenty years ago, and his work is well-known and highly regarded in China for its originality and theoretical contribution. The collection covers the core of his engagement with Chinese language studies, ranging from lexical exploration to grammatical discussion. Cognition-based Studies on Chinese Grammar is designed for students or researchers who specialize in the Chinese language, contemporary Chinese grammar and cognitive linguistics. It can also serve as a reference book for instructors or teachers engaged in Chinese language pedagogy or in teaching Chinese as a second or foreign language.

What are the linguistic constituents and structural components of Chinese characters and words? Does the spoken language provide a basis for reading different writing systems, including Chinese? How do the results of current neuroimaging and electrophysio

The Routledge Handbook of Cognitive Linguistics provides a comprehensive introduction and essential reference work to cognitive linguistics. It encompasses a wide range of perspectives and approaches, covering all the key areas of cognitive linguistics and drawing on interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary research in pragmatics, discourse analysis, biolinguistics, ecolinguistics, evolutionary linguistics, neuroscience, language pedagogy, and translation studies. The forty-three chapters, written by international specialists in the field, cover four major areas: • Basic theories and hypotheses, including cognitive semantics, cognitive grammar, construction grammar, frame semantics, natural semantic metalanguage, and word grammar; • Central topics, including embodiment, image schemas, categorization, metaphor and metonymy, construal, iconicity, motivation, constructionalization, intersubjectivity, grounding, multimodality, cognitive pragmatics, cognitive poetics, humor, and linguistic synaesthesia, among others; • Interfaces between cognitive linguistics and other areas of linguistic study, including cultural linguistics, linguistic typology, figurative language, signed languages, gesture, language acquisition and pedagogy, translation studies, and digital lexicography; • New directions in cognitive linguistics, demonstrating the relevance of the approach to social, diachronic, neuroscientific, biological, ecological, multimodal, and quantitative studies. The Routledge Handbook of Cognitive Linguistics is an indispensable resource for undergraduate and postgraduate students, and for all researchers working in this area.