The Construal Of Spatial Meaning Windows Into Conceptual Space

This book considers how language users express and understand literal and metaphorical spatial meaning not only in language but also through gesture and pointing. Researchers explore the ways in which theoretical developments in language and cognition, new empirical techniques, and new computational facilities have led to a greater understanding of the relationship between physical space and mental space as expressed in human communication.

This book provides important insights into the domain of interactions between language and cognition, focusing on SPACE and expressions of SPACE. Both literal and metaphorical forms of expression are included. The research reported is carried out within the broad framework of Cognitive Linguistics, which encompasses a wide variety of empirical methods and research topics. Our approach to the construal of spatial meaning is inclusive rather than restricted in that we take linguistics to encompass both verbal and non-verbal communication systems. The various authors draw on new developments and new knowledge, available partly thanks to theoretical development in the area of language and cognition, and partly due to the development of new empirical techniques and computational facilities. As the title of the volume suggests, the centre of gravity is at this interface between theoretical and empirical development and progress. The contributions also reflect the multidisciplinary character of the study of space. At the heart of them all is the relation between physical space and mental space as expressed in human communication. The techniques used include various types of experiments (such as eye-tracking) as well as video analysis and corpus investigation. The structure of the book reflects a spatial metaphor of a window through which we as analysts are able to get a glimpse of inner space through the investigation of eye movement, pointing, gesture, drawing, speech and writing.