Cognitive Poetics and Literary Theory
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Literature and the Cognitive Revolution: an Introduction
Literature and the Cognitive Revolution: An Introduction Alan Richardson English, Boston College Francis F. Steen Communication Studies, UCLA Literary studies and the cognitive sciences, pursuing common interests in language, mental acts, and linguistic artifacts, have developed markedly different approaches to similar phenomena of reading, imaginative involve- ment, and textual patterning. Until quite recently, the distance between them has drawn more attention than their possible convergence (Franchi and Güzeldere ). A number of literary theorists and critics, however, have steadily been producing work that finds its inspiration, its method- ology, and its guiding paradigms through a dialogue with one or more fields within cognitive science: artificial intelligence, cognitive psychology, post- Chomskian linguistics, philosophy of mind, neuroscience, and evolution- ary biology. Reuven Tsur () has been developing his ‘‘cognitive poet- ics’’ since the s; the prominent psychoanalytic critic Norman Holland (: ) demonstrated the advantages of attending to the ‘‘more powerful psychology’’ emerging from cognitive neuroscience in ; Mark Turner (: viii) advanced his far-reaching project of a ‘‘cognitive rhetoric’’ in ; and Ellen Spolsky (: ) trenchantly brought a theory of ‘‘cogni- tive instability’’ to bear on literary interpretation in . These and like- minded critics respond to the limitations (or, in Spolsky’s case, missed op- portunities) of poststructuralist conceptions of meaning and interpretation by questioning the reigning models in the field, whether in the interest of Poetics Today : (Spring ). Copyright © by the Porter Institute for Poetics and Semiotics. Downloaded from http://read.dukeupress.edu/poetics-today/article-pdf/23/1/1/458295/01.pdf by guest on 25 September 2021 2 Poetics Today 23:1 displacing, reworking, supplementing, or fundamentally regrounding them (Hart ). -
Discourse Strategies of Fake News in the Anti
LCM LINGUE CULTURE MEDIAZIONI LANGUAGES CULTURES MEDIATION 6 (2019) 1 Discursive Representations of Controversial Issues in Medicine and Health La rappresentazione discorsiva di questioni controverse in ambito medico e sanitario Edited by / A cura di Giuliana Elena Garzone, Maria Cristina Paganoni, Martin Reisigl Editorial Discursive Representations of Controversial Issues in Medicine 5 and Health Giuliana Elena Garzone, Maria Cristina Paganoni, and Martin Reisigl Discourse Strategies of Fake News in the Anti-vax Campaign 15 Stefania Maria Maci “Facts” and “Feelings” in the Discursive Construction 45 of the “Best Interests of a Child”: The Charlie Gard Case Judith Turnbull “Designer Babies” and “Playing God”: Metaphor, Genome Editing, 65 and Bioethics in Popular Science Texts Elisa Mattiello Exploring Health Literacy: Web-based Genres in Disseminating 89 Specialized Knowledge to Caregivers. The Case of Paediatric Neurological Disorders Silvia Cavalieri and Giuliana Diani Governing (Their) Bodies: A Linguistic Perspective 107 on the Deterrence vs. Education Debate within the Anti-doping Community Dermot Brendan Heaney Lingue Culture Mediazioni / Languages Cultures Mediation – 6 (2019) 1 https://www.ledonline.it/LCM-Journal/ - Online issn 2421-0293 - Print issn 2284-1881 3 Contents / Sommario An Inquiry into Discursive News Coverage, Popularization 131 and Presuppositions Concerning Military PTSD Treatment Options Roxanne Barbara Doerr Authors / Autori 153 Lingue Culture Mediazioni / Languages Cultures Mediation – 6 (2019) 1 https://www.ledonline.it/LCM-Journal/ - Online issn 2421-0293 - Print issn 2284-1881 4 Discourse Strategies of Fake News in the Anti-vax Campaign * Stefania Maci doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.7358/lcm-2019-001-maci Abstract Anti-vaccine controversial debates have been occurring for more than a century. -
1 Metaphor, Genre and Recontextualization Elena Semino
1 Metaphor, genre and recontextualization Elena Semino (Lancaster University), Alice Deignan (The University of Leeds) and Jeannette Littlemore (The University of Birmingham) ABSTRACT Earlier studies have demonstrated the dynamic properties of metaphor by showing how the meanings and functions of metaphorical expressions can flexibly change and develop within individual texts or discourse events (Cameron 2011). In this paper, we draw from Linell’s (2009) typology of ‘recontextualization’ in order to analyze the development of particular metaphors in three pairs of linked texts, each produced over a number of years, on the topics of medicine, politics and the parenting of children with special needs. We show how key metaphorical expressions from earlier texts or conversations are re-used by later writers, in different genres and registers, to convey new meanings and serve new functions. We account for these new meanings and functions by considering the relevant domain of activity and the differences between the original context of use and the context(s) in which the metaphor is re-used. Our study contributes, from a diachronic perspective, to the growing body of literature that recognizes the dynamic and context-bound nature of metaphorical language. Earlier studies have identified and discussed the dynamic properties of metaphor within individual texts and conversations. In particular, Cameron and other scholars have argued that the meanings of metaphorical expressions are inherently flexible, and emerge in different ways in different contexts of use. As a result, the same metaphorical expressions are sometimes re-used within the same text or discourse event with different meanings and functions (Cameron and Low 2004, Cameron and Gibbs 2008, Cameron 2011). -
Cognitive Poetics: an Introduction
Cognitive Poetics ‘A masterly presentation of the ‘cognitive turn’ in literary reading and anal- ysis, providing a radical re-evaluation of literary activity. … an invaluable text and an important contribution to the emerging field of cognitive poetics as a literary science.’ Margaret H. Freeman, Los Angeles Valley College, USA ‘In this book, Peter Stockwell presents a delightful combination of theoretical enlightenment with a deep concern for practical analysis and understanding.’ Willie van Peer, Munich University, Germany Cognitive poetics is a new way of thinking about literature, involving the application of cognitive linguistics and psychology to literary texts. This book is the first introductory text to this growing field. In Cognitive Poetics:An Introduction , the reader is encouraged to re-evaluate the categories used to understand literary reading and analysis. Covering a wide range of literary genres and historical periods, the book encompasses both American and European approaches. Each chapter explores a different cognitive poetic framework and relates it to a literary text. Including a range of activities, discussion points, suggestions for further reading and a glossarial index, the book is both interactive and highly accessible. Cognitive Poetics:An Introduction is essential reading for students on stylistics and literary-linguistics courses, and will be of interest to all those involved in literary studies, critical theory and linguistics. Peter Stockwell is Senior Lecturer at the University of Nottingham. His publica- -
Cognitive Poetics
Cognitive Poetics Chloe Harrison and Peter Stockwell The origins and principles of cognitive poetics The explicit application of cognitive science to literary studies has a fairly recent history. The term ‘cognitive poetics’ was coined by Reuven Tsur in the 1970s to refer to his own research in the perceptual effects of literary works in readers (see Tsur 1992). Over the last two decades, the term has expanded its application to include the study of literary texts and readings which draws on cognitive psychology and cognitive linguistics. Even more broadly, a ‘cognitive literary studies’ has emerged in which more general matters of evolutionary criticism, embodiment and social cognition have been brought to bear as part of a critical theory of literature. In this chapter, we take the middle extent of the field of cognitive poetics: the study of literary texts and readings which draws centrally on cognitive psychology and cognitive linguistics. Central to this view of the field is a stylistic concern that any readerly or interpretative account must be underpinned by transparent textual evidence. Of course, the implicit understanding that matters of readerly perception and cognition are pertinent to the reading of literature is a practice as old as the most ancient observations on literary activity. To this extent, a consistent thread can be delineated stretching from ancient Greek, Roman, Indian and Chinese rhetorical arts to the present account (which has even occasionally been termed ‘cognitive rhetoric’). In our own time, however, the scholarly study of literature has been seized by successive crises of confidence throughout the 20th century, culminating in an anxiety about its own ‘Theory’ that has most recently been resolved by a retreat into historiography: obscurantism has been replaced by a rather simple ‘history of the book’ and literary scholarship has essentially become a narrow form of cultural studies. -
Literary Theory, Stylistics and Cognitive Poetics Edebiyat Kuramı, Biçimbilim Ve Bilişsel Şiirbilim
Research Notes Literary Theory, Stylistics and Cognitive Poetics Edebiyat Kuramı, Biçimbilim ve Bilişsel Şiirbilim Aydın Görmez Roger Alan Tunç Van Yüzüncü Yıl University, Turkey Abstract The desire to understand and interpret the underlying mechanisms involved in the creation and reception of literary texts, and the influence of these mechanisms on human cognition goes back at least to Aristotle’s Poetics. However, the last century has witnessed a vast variety of approaches to the understanding of literature: a plethora of theories such as feminist, post colonialist, queer and reader response theories as well as some practical ways of analysis and interpretation such as formalism, new criticism, stylistics, cognitive poetics have shown themselves at the opposite end of the continuum. Stylistics and its evolved form, cognitive poetics have been significantly influential in the understanding of the processes involved in the creation and reception of literature. Although stylistics and cognitive poetics have usually been covered under the broad heading of literary theory, it has been observed that the divergence in the ways they operate makes such claims invalid because, unlike theory, empirical evidence is at the heart of stylistics and cognitive poetics. This paper aims to provide an overview of stylistics, and cognitive poetics and illustrate how they differ from literary theory. Keywords: Stylistics, cognitive poetics, theory, criticism, linguistics Öz Edebi metinlerin yaratılması ve algılanması ile ilişkili temel mekanizmaları anlama ve yorumlama arzusu ve bu mekanizmaların insan bilişi üzerindeki etkisi Aristoteles’in Poetika’sına kadar uzanır. Bununla birlikte, edebiyatı anlamaya yönelik çok çeşitli yaklaşımların ortaya çıktığı geçen yüzyılda; feminizm, sömürgecilik sonrası, queer teorisi ve okur tepkisi kuramı gibi çok sayıda teorinin yanı sıra biçimcilik, yeni eleştiri, biçimbilim, bilişsel şiirbilim, gibi bazı pratik analiz ve yorumlama yolları, bu sürecin karşıt temsilcileri olarak belirmişlerdir. -
Discourse Studies
Discourse Studies http://dis.sagepub.com/ Mediation between discourse and society: assessing cognitive approaches in CDA Ruth Wodak Discourse Studies 2006 8: 179 DOI: 10.1177/1461445606059566 The online version of this article can be found at: http://dis.sagepub.com/content/8/1/179 Published by: http://www.sagepublications.com Additional services and information for Discourse Studies can be found at: Email Alerts: http://dis.sagepub.com/cgi/alerts Subscriptions: http://dis.sagepub.com/subscriptions Reprints: http://www.sagepub.com/journalsReprints.nav Permissions: http://www.sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav Citations: http://dis.sagepub.com/content/8/1/179.refs.html Downloaded from dis.sagepub.com at SAGE Publications on March 23, 2011 ARTICLE 179 Mediation between discourse and society: assessing cognitive approaches in CDA Discourse Studies Copyright © 2006 SAGE Publications. (London, Thousand Oaks, CA and New Delhi) www.sagepublications.com Vol 8(1): 179–190. RUTH WODAK 10.1177/1461445606059566 LANCASTER UNIVERSITY ABSTRACT While reviewing relevant recent research, it becomes apparent that cognitive approaches have been rejected and excluded from Critical Discourse Analysis by many scholars out of often unjustified reasons. This article argues, in contrast, that studies in CDA would gain significantly through integrating insights from socio-cognitive theories into their framework. Examples from my own research into the comprehension and comprehensibility of news broadcasts, Internet discussion boards as well as into discourse and discrimination illustrate this position. However, I also argue that there are salient limits to cognitive theories which have to be taken into account, specifically when proposing social change via rational/cognitive insights. Examples from recent political debates on immigration and from the election campaign in the US in 2004 serve to emphasize these arguments. -
From Poetic to Cognitive: Bridging Literature and Science in Cognitive Poetics*
Eger Journal of English Studies XII (2012) 41 50 From Poetic to Cognitive: Bridging Literature and Science in Cognitive Poetics* Mateusz Marecki Although the relationship between literature and philosophy is sanctioned by a long tradition, such a link reveals many limitations: philosophically anchored text analyses are subjective, - (Holland 1995). Cognitive poetics (Tsur 1992; Stockwell 2002), a burgeoning school of literary criticism, avoids those traps by re- (Louwerse & van Peer 424). In doing so, it attempts to build a bridge between the sciences and the humanities. Despite its refreshing approach, CP is still banished to the margins of criticism; the reason being that it is seen by the humanities as: (1) foregrounding the cognitive at the expense of the poetic (Danaher 2) and (2) relying too heavily on cognitive neuroscience. This paper explores to what extent cognitive science has influenced the field of literary studies. Through examination of three seminal books on CP Zbikowski, it aims both (1) to demarcate the boundaries between the cognitive and the poetic in selected cognitive analyses of literary texts and (2) to explore to what extent the application of scientific theories has had an impact on the language cognitive scholars use in their papers. Finally, this paper argues that if CP is to be recognized as a reliable methodology, it should borrow insights from reception theory and go truly empirical. The past few decades have witnessed intensified efforts to challenge the predominance of post-structuralism in literary studies. Apart from engendering * I would like to thank Theuns Louw for his invaluable comments on an earlier version of this paper. -
A Cognitive Poetics of Kinaesthesia in Wordsworth. Phd Thesis, University of Nottingham
Yuan, Wenjuan (2013) A cognitive poetics of kinaesthesia in Wordsworth. PhD thesis, University of Nottingham. Access from the University of Nottingham repository: http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/28585/1/606291.pdf Copyright and reuse: The Nottingham ePrints service makes this work by researchers of the University of Nottingham available open access under the following conditions. · Copyright and all moral rights to the version of the paper presented here belong to the individual author(s) and/or other copyright owners. · To the extent reasonable and practicable the material made available in Nottingham ePrints has been checked for eligibility before being made available. · Copies of full items can be used for personal research or study, educational, or not- for-profit purposes without prior permission or charge provided that the authors, title and full bibliographic details are credited, a hyperlink and/or URL is given for the original metadata page and the content is not changed in any way. · Quotations or similar reproductions must be sufficiently acknowledged. Please see our full end user licence at: http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/end_user_agreement.pdf A note on versions: The version presented here may differ from the published version or from the version of record. If you wish to cite this item you are advised to consult the publisher’s version. Please see the repository url above for details on accessing the published version and note that access may require a subscription. For more information, please contact [email protected] A Cognitive Poetics of Kinaesthesia in Wordsworth Wenjuan Yuan School of English Thesis submitted to the University of Nottingham for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy January 2013 ABSTRACT This project is an effort to explore the kinetic aspects of Wordsworth's works on the one hand and scale up cognitive grammar (Langacker, 2008; Talmy, 2000a, 2000b) to literary discourse on the other hand, both of which stand as relatively underdeveloped areas in a cognitive approach to literature. -
The Discourse of Politics in Action Also by Ruth Wodak
The Discourse of Politics in Action Also by Ruth Wodak DISORDERS OF DISCOURSE (1996) GENDER AND DISCOURSE (1997) THE DISCURSIVE CONSTRUCTION OF NATIONAL IDENTITY (1999, with R. de Cillia, M. Reisigl, K. Liebhart, revised 2nd edition 2009) METHODS OF CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS (2001, with M. Meyer, revised 2nd edition 2009) EUROPEAN DISCOURSES ON UN/EMPLOYMENT (2000, with P. Muntigl, G. Weiss) DAS KANN EINEM NUR IN WIEN PASSIEREN. ALLTAGSGESCHICHTEN (2001) DISCOURSE AND DISCRIMINATION (2001, with M. Reisigl) THE HAIDER PHENOMENON IN AUSTRIA (2002, with A. Pelinka) CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS: THEORY AND INTERDISCIPLINARITY (2003, with G. Weiss, 2nd edition 2007) NATO, NEUTRALITY AND NATIONAL IDENTITY (2003, with A. Kovàcs) RE/READING THE PAST (2003, with J. Martin) A NEW AGENDA IN (CRITICAL) DISCOURSE ANALYSIS (2005, with P. Chilton, 2nd edition 2007) THE DISCURSIVE CONSTRUCTION OF HISTORY: REMEMBERING THE WEHRMACHT’S WAR OF ANNIHILATION (2008, with H. Heer, W. Manoschek, A. Pollak) QUALITATIVE DISCOURSE ANALYSIS IN THE SOCIAL SCIENCES (2008, with M. Krzyzanowski)˙ LANGUAGE AND COMMUNICATION IN THE PUBLIC SPHERE (2008, with V. Koller, Handbook of Applied Linguistics vol. IV) THE POLITICS OF EXCLUSION: DEBATING MIGRATION IN AUSTRIA (2008, with M. Krzyzanowski)˙ THE EUROPEAN PUBLIC SPHERE AND THE MEDIA: EUROPE IN CRISIS (forth- coming, with A. Triandafyllidou and M. Krzyzanowski)˙ The Discourse of Politics in Action Politics as Usual Ruth Wodak Lancaster University © Ruth Wodak 2009 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2011 978-0-230-01881-5 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No portion of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, Saffron House, 6-10 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS. -
Gender, Ideology and Conceptual Metaphors: Women and the Source Domain of the Hunt
ARTICLES Complutense Journal of English Studies ISSN: 2386-3935 https://dx.doi.org/10.5209/cjes.68355 Gender, Ideology and Conceptual Metaphors: Women and the Source Domain of the Hunt María D. López Maestre1 Abstract. As a cognitive process, metaphorical reasoning is inevitable, but not necessarily innocent or neutral. It is well known that the conceptual domains of love and sex have received substantial attention within cognitive linguistics. However, a source domain that merits further exploration from a gender ideology perspective is that of the hunt. For this reason, following an approach that links cognitive linguistics with critical discourse analysis this article examines the conceptualisation of love, seduction and the search for a partner/husband through hunting metaphors, focusing on the discursive representation of women and the hunt. In the texts studied the conceptual metaphors LOVE/SEDUCTION/THE SEARCH FOR A PARTNER OR HUSBAND IS A HUNT are activated through metaphorical linguistic expressions with terms such as hunt, chase, pursue, catch, capture, trap etc. Regarding ideology, metaphors are powerful transmitters of folk beliefs and dominant conceptions of femininity and masculinity. Gender values that show man as the privileged sex as well as sexist ideologies supportive of male dominance and female submissiveness have been found to underlie the texts under consideration. Keywords: conceptual metaphors, critical metaphor analysis, CDA, gender, ideology, hunt-based metaphors, love, seduction, the search for a partner/husband. [es] Género, ideología y metáforas conceptuales: las mujeres y el dominio fuente de la caza Resumen. Como proceso cognitivo, el razonamiento metafórico es inevitable, pero eso no quiere decir que este sea necesariamente inocente o neutral. -
Tive Psychology Techniques to Poetic Text
59 Vol. 3, Issue 1, 2016 Theories – Research – Applications Cognitive Poetry: Theoretical Framework for the Application of Cogni- tive Psychology Techniques to Poetic Text Anatoliy V. Kharkhurin American University of Sharjah, UAE E-mail address: [email protected] ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT Keywords: This article presents a theoretical framework for the author’s experimental work in contemporary poetry, which has re- Poetry ceived the term cognitive poetry. In contrast to cognitive po- Cognitive etics, which applies the principles of cognitive psychology Psychology to interpret poetic texts, cognitive poetry applies these princi- Metaphor ples to produce poetic texts. The theoretical considerations Vygotsky of cognitive poetry are based on the assumption that one of the major purposes of creative work is to elicit an aesthet- ical reaction in the beholder. The aesthetical reaction to po- etic texts could be achieved via their satiation with multiple meanings presented through multiple sensory modalities. Article history: Cognitive poetry employs techniques developed in cognitive Received 12 January 2016 psychology to explicitly address cognitive processes underly- Received in revised form 14 April 2016 ing the construction of multiple conceptual planes. The fol- Accepted 15 April 2016 lowing techniques are discussed: priming, the Stroop effect, multimodal and multilingual presentations. The applications ISSN: 2354-0036 of these techniques are illustrated with examples of poetic DOI: 10.1515/ctra-2016-0005 texts produced by the author. Over the last hundred years, poetry has undergone major changes, which reflect varia- tions in cultural, social, ideological, political and economical landscapes. These modifica- tions manifest themselves primarily in conceptual and stylistic aspects of poetic text.