The embodiment of linguistic meaning
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Patric Bach
Abstract
Embodied views of language hold that linguistic meaning is derived from the interaction experience of the listener/speaker and the sensory, motor, and internal states that go along with it. This chapter reviews three kinds of evidence that support such views. (1) Linguistic descriptions draw upon processes and brain regions that support the event’s actual sensory experience. (2) These perceptual event representations are treated by the cognitive apparatus just like real events, triggering the motor behaviours that would be elicited in such circumstances. (3) The representation of action content draws upon information encoded in the understander’s own action control systems. Outstanding questions, problems, and implications of such an embodied view of linguistic meaning are discussed. Keywords: action simulation; embodied cognition; language; perceptual symbols; semantics
Abstract
Embodied views of language hold that linguistic meaning is derived from the interaction experience of the listener/speaker and the sensory, motor, and internal states that go along with it. This chapter reviews three kinds of evidence that support such views. (1) Linguistic descriptions draw upon processes and brain regions that support the event’s actual sensory experience. (2) These perceptual event representations are treated by the cognitive apparatus just like real events, triggering the motor behaviours that would be elicited in such circumstances. (3) The representation of action content draws upon information encoded in the understander’s own action control systems. Outstanding questions, problems, and implications of such an embodied view of linguistic meaning are discussed. Keywords: action simulation; embodied cognition; language; perceptual symbols; semantics
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents vii
- List of contributors ix
- Preface xi
- Practical theories and empirical practice – facets of a complex interaction 1
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Part I. Empirical practice
- The embodiment of linguistic meaning 35
- Infants’ encoding of social interaction as a conceptual foundation for the acquisition of argument structure 55
- Referring to colour and taste in Kilivila 71
- Yucatec demonstratives in interaction 99
- Many languages, one knowledge base 129
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Part II. Practical theories
- Nen assentives and the phenomenon of dialogic parallelisms 159
- Evidentiality, modality, focus and other puzzles 185
- Does Searle’s challenge affect chances for approximating assertion and quotative modal wollen ? 245
- The pragmatics of argumentation 257
- Implicature of complex sentences in error models 273
- The semantics of functional spaces 307
- Language index 325
- Name index 327
- Subject index 333
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents vii
- List of contributors ix
- Preface xi
- Practical theories and empirical practice – facets of a complex interaction 1
-
Part I. Empirical practice
- The embodiment of linguistic meaning 35
- Infants’ encoding of social interaction as a conceptual foundation for the acquisition of argument structure 55
- Referring to colour and taste in Kilivila 71
- Yucatec demonstratives in interaction 99
- Many languages, one knowledge base 129
-
Part II. Practical theories
- Nen assentives and the phenomenon of dialogic parallelisms 159
- Evidentiality, modality, focus and other puzzles 185
- Does Searle’s challenge affect chances for approximating assertion and quotative modal wollen ? 245
- The pragmatics of argumentation 257
- Implicature of complex sentences in error models 273
- The semantics of functional spaces 307
- Language index 325
- Name index 327
- Subject index 333
