Issues in Cognitive Linguistics: 1993 Proceedings of the International Cognitive Linguistics Conference (review)

Originating in the late 1970s and early 1980s, cognitive linguistics has grown into an almost exponentially expanding field where divergent academic backgrounds meet to explore how human perception, observation, and experience of the world influences language use.

The present volume brings together 27 selected papers from the Third International Cognitive Linguistics Conference (Leuven, Belgium, 1993). Roughly, this volume falls into six thematic sections. Section 1 actually consists of only one paper—‘Bridges between generative and cognitive linguistics’ (3–19) by Frederick J. Newmeyer. The first paper (23–34) in Section 2, which has lexical semantics and morphology as its focus, is contributed by Michel Aurnague and Laure Vieu, who argue that geometrical, functional, and pragmatic aspects must be taken into consideration in adopting ‘A modular approach to the semantics of space in language’. In ‘Beer and semantics’ (35–55), Dirk Geeraerts presents an onomasiological account of Belgian beer names, illustrating important factors influencing the selection of a name for a particular type of beer. The next chapter (57–74), co-authored by Gábor Győri and Irén Hegedűs, attempts to present ‘a clarification of the cognitive processes that could have underlain seemingly contradictory semantic development within groups of etymologically related words’ (68). In ‘Categorization and analogical change: The case of athematic 1sg -m in the Slavic languages’ (75–95), Laura A. Janda touches upon exaptative analogical extension, trying to show that not all defunct morphology must wither and die.

In ‘Contrast and schemas: Antonymous adjectives’ (97–112), Arthur Mettinger claims that the characterization of adjectival opposites is best performed in terms of ‘image schemas’. John Newman’s ‘Figurative giving’ (113–40) presents a comparison of grammatical or semigrammatical functions of give morphemes. Kiki Nikiforidou, in ‘Nominalizations, metonymy and lexicographic practice’ (141–63), tries to identify some of the factors a semantic analysis of nominalizations should not overlook. In ‘Langacker semantics for three Coeur d’Alene prefixes glossed as “on” ’ (165–224), Roy H. Ogawa and Gary B. Palmer argue that the concept of network of schemas developed by Ronald Langacker is conducive to understanding the semantics of three morphemes of contact in Coeur d’Alene. In ‘Aspects of prepositions and prepositional aspect’ (225–47), Sally A. Rice highlights the grammaticalized role of aspectual particles overlooked in catalogues of prepositional function. Yoshiko Tagashira’s chapter deals with ‘Some aspects of relational nouns’ (249–76). The last chapter of Section 2, contributed by Adger Williams, is entitled ‘Prototype marker or reflexive marker: Russian -sja and categorical change’ (277–95).

The four chapters in Section 3 are devoted to metaphor. Alan Cienki, by way of diachronic and synchronic semantic analyses of the semantic development of the roots -lev- ‘left’ and -prav-‘right’, demonstrates the strengths and weaknesses of the left/right polarity in Russian (299–329). In ‘ “Unnatural barriers”: Why metaphor matters (or, linguistics meets the geopolitics of law)’ (331–45), David Delaney and Michele Emanatian apply ‘a metaphor analysis to judicial reasoning about racial segregation and urban change’ (332). Joseph Hilferty’s paper (347–65) shows that ‘through’s metaphorical uses signifying means draw on its prototypical spatial sense’ (347). Olaf Jäkel’s contribution (367–88) challenges the unidirectionality hypothesis in the cognitive theory of metaphor.

Eight chapters comprise the ‘Syntax and semantics’ section. Kenneth William Cook (391–405) argues that Samoan is an active zone language. Nicole Delbecque looks at ‘Two transitive construction frames in Spanish: The prepositional and the nonprepositional accusative’ (407–24). Lena Ekberg (425–45), discussing Swedish abstract transitional phrases, investigates an in-between phenomenon in the...