Cognitive Linguistics for Linguists, by Margaret Winters and Geoffrey Nathan, is a new synthesis of the field published in Helen Aristar-Dry’s Expert Briefs in Linguistics Series. The book is deliberately short (around 80 pages) and aims to reach a rather precise, “knowledgeable” readership, typically “fellow linguists and, perhaps, their more advanced graduate students” (p. vii). Two approaches seem to cross-cut each other throughout this monograph: one is chronological, and the other is theoretical, which leads to an account very much reminiscent of studies in the history of philosophy or science. At the same time, the authors aim to provide a state-of-the art overview, including ongoing research topics and relationships between different frameworks of Cognitive Linguistics and competing theories today. The style adopted in this book is casual, although with high standards of informativeness, and regular lists of references at the end of each of its six chapters. Both authors are confirmed specialists of Cognitive Linguistics: one of the implicit aims of their work is to make a case for the theory’s value, adequacy, and relevance, yet they take great care to stay away from any kind of proselytism, as they state both in the opening and closing remarks of the book that “[it] does not have as a goal to change minds about linguistic theory” (p. 76). Finally, although the main focus is on the relationship between linguistic structure and general human cognition, the interdisciplinary aspect of the field is brought to the fore, with notable introductions to cognitive sociolinguistics and cognitive poetics.
Following a short preface stating some of the objectives above, the authors open their first chapter, “Introduction” (pp. 1–11), with a working definition of Cognitive Linguistics, its immediate relation to generative approaches to language, and an outline of the book’s programme. The discussion then shifts to the history of several labels used diachronically and synchronically by prominent linguists working in the framework: Cognitive Grammar (Lakoff & Thompson, Reference Lakoff and Thompson1975; Langacker, Reference Langacker1987), Space Grammar (Langacker, Reference Langacker1978), Cognitive Semantics, and of course the widely used Cognitive Linguistics (henceforth CL) (Geeraerts & Cuyckens, Reference Geeraerts and Cuyckens2010). These different terms indicate variations in emphasis which nonetheless share foundational theoretical commitments. Three main intellectual sources are identified for CL: Generative Semantics (which both Lakoff and Langacker formerly practised), Cognitive Science (especially Rosch, Reference Rosch1975), and prestructuralist European theories, although the former are precursors more than they are sources.
Chapter 2 zooms in on the “Conceptual and Historical Background” of CL (pp. 13–26), with accounts of seminal papers which helped forge the first versions of the framework. The authors focus in particular on Langacker’s decidedly non-generative analysis of the English passive (Langacker, Reference Langacker1982) and Lakoff’s proposal of linguistic units as holistic and analyzable “gestalts” (1977). These initiatives, which postulated that all linguistic units had meaning, sparked off several important semantic examinations of previously unexplored phenomena such as the prepositions in and out by Lindner (Reference Lindner1982), over by Brugman (Reference Brugman1981), ordinary language metaphors by Lakoff and Johnson (Reference Lakoff and Johnson1980), and re-evaluated grammatical constructions such as so-called ‘raising’ and ‘tough-movement’ by Langacker (Reference Langacker1984). Early diachronic investigations in CL are also mentioned, from lexical change (Geeraerts, Reference Geeraerts and Rudzka-Ostyn1988) to grammatical change (Winters, Reference Winters1989).
Chapter 3 temporarily departs from chronology and introduces the reader to the most important “Conceptual Underpinnings and Methodology” of CL (pp. 27–41). Two essential, unifying principles for all frameworks are the semantic basis of linguistic structures and the psychological reality to which the theoretical model refers: the authors discuss this in detail along with a presentation of the notions of figure/ground, radial prototypes, images, polysemy, and networks. A brief overview of Construction Grammar (CxG; Goldberg, Reference Goldberg1995) and conceptual blending (Fauconnier & Turner, Reference Fauconnier and Turner2002) follow. Finally, methods in CL include psycholinguistic experiments, as well as corpus studies, in both synchronic and diachronic perspectives.
Chapter 4 expands on the basic principles of CL previously exposed in a series of “Case Studies” (pp. 43–63) that are structured according to a number of broad areas the theory can be applied to. In the realm of syntax, van Hoek (1997) and Deane (Reference Deane1992) offer an alternative analysis to C-command and syntactic islands in generative approaches, while Achard (Reference Achard, Geeraerts and Cuyckens2007) provides a meaning-based analysis of various clausal complementation patterns cross-linguistically; moreover, the main diachronic line of study in cognitive syntax has been grammaticalization. A similar synchronic and diachronic approach is applied to several case studies in cognitive morphology and lexicology. Finally, the authors (especially Nathan) show that CL can also deal with the formal pole of (synchronic and diachronic) phonology, using the insights of prototype theory and radial sets to explain allophony and sound change.
Chapter 5 focuses on “Expansions and Newer Directions” in CL (pp. 65–74), offering the reader an updated account of contemporary research. Usage-based models have gained much popularity thanks to the possibilities offered by advanced empirical and quantitative methods, which has resulted in the increased importance of frequency and emergence as theoretical notions: these set frameworks of CL very much apart from standard generative approaches such as Chomsky (Reference Chomsky, Jakobovits and Miron1967 [1959]). CL has also expanded to the extent of becoming an interdisciplinary theoretical model, which the authors show by focusing on the examples of first and second language acquisition, sociolinguistics, and poetics and literary theory.
Chapter 6 brings the monograph to a close with the final “Conclusions” (pp. 75–81). Following a summary of the most important aspects of CL unpacked throughout the previous chapters, the authors mention a few lines of research which they consider in need of further exploration. First, the inherently symbolic nature of CL has not yet been universally proven, thus further work on the mapping between syntax and semantics is warranted. Second, although frequency has been presented as one of the sole factors determining prototype formation, diachronic change, and language acquisition, such a monocausal relation appears to be undesirable, and a better estimation of the notions of salience and naturalness are called for by the authors. Finally, in a somewhat independent section, CL is compared to competing or related theories: namely Minimalism, Head-Driven Phrase Structure Grammar, Lexical-Functional Grammar, and Optimality Theory in phonology.
Cognitive Linguistics for Linguists is an ambitious book, to the extent that it is aiming to summarize a number of vast subjects in a limited number of paragraphs, as required by the “Expert Briefs” series. The short length of the monograph is compensated by a degree of implicitness and a restricted readership, namely OWLs, “Other Working Linguists” (Fillmore). It is true that trained linguists or at least graduate students in language science will most easily benefit from reading this, although the first two chapters may interest anyone with a background in epistemology or the history of ideas.
The advantage of a brief format such as this one is the quick but dense overview that it provides (the book can be read entirely in two or three sittings). The authors succeed in contextualizing CL, underlining its most crucial underpinnings, and explaining how it emerged in linguistics to become one of the most widely adopted approaches internationally. It is an enjoyable breather for the researcher who is usually focused on highly specialized topics within a subfield of the discipline. Moreover, the choice of subjects analyzed throughout the chapters proves to be very original at times: for instance, the section on cognitive phonology is more than welcome, since phonology is often backgrounded in favour of more obviously semantic areas of linguistic production and comprehension. The blend of synchronic and diachronic perspectives both on CL as a theory and on the phenomena it purports to capture is also well done and innovative as a reading experience. The relatively casual tone adopted by the authors is a pleasant touch, as it lends the book the aspect of an exchange between specialists from different fields in the same community of research.
Brevity, however, can be a double-edged sword, and it is unfortunate that this book suffers from it in some places. Several sections across the six chapters of the monograph feel a little like lists of bullet points, which seem slightly disconnected at times, as if the lack of space makes it necessary for the reader to fill in the gap of how a given paragraph is logically related to the rest. One example is the last section of Chapter 6, which situates CL within the theoretical landscape among other approaches: this passage felt a little out of place, as if it had been forgotten from Chapters 1 or 2 and had been added in the conclusions at the end of the writing process. Similarly, the selection of case studies in Chapter 3 provides many interesting analyses, but comes across as slightly arbitrary and patched up. Finally, although the shifts from chronology to theory and vice-versa are a commendable feature, they do make the earlier parts of the book confusing to navigate through, especially the two first chapters, which are hard to distinguish clearly.
Thus it is the short length of the book which makes these minor issues stand out. Otherwise, the authors offer very insightful syntheses, thanks to their far-reaching expertise. Particularly noteworthy was the detailed summary of Lakoff’s and Langacker’s foundational papers, and how these did not constitute a clean break from generative grammar: the departure was much more progressive, if we take into account the transitional stage of generative semantics. The monograph would have benefitted further from similar coverage of the growth of Construction Grammar within CL, thanks to seminal papers by Charles Fillmore and Paul Kay (e.g., Fillmore, Kay, & O’Connor, Reference Fillmore, Axmaker, Jaisser and Singmaster1988; Fillmore, Reference Fillmore, Axmaker, Jaisser and Singmaster1988).
In sum, this book is a useful addition to the literature with several bright passages, in spite of a couple of flaws that may be due to difficulties in adapting the content to the format of the series.
