Dirk Geeraerts

Gitte Kristiansen

Yves Peirsman

Cognitive Sociolinguistics is a novel and burgeoning field of research which seeks to foster investigation into the socio-cognitive dimensions of language at a usage-based level. Advances in Cognitive Sociolinguistics brings together ten studies into the social and conceptual aspects of language-internal variation. All ten contributions rely on a firm empirical basis in the form of advanced corpus-based techniques, experimental methods and survey-based research, or a combination of these. The search for methods that may adequately unravel the complex and multivariate dimensions intervening in the interplay between conceptual meaning and variationist factors is thus another characteristic of the volume. In terms of its descriptive scope, the volume covers three main areas: lexical and lexical-semantic variation, constructional variation, and research on lectal attitudes and acquisition. It thus illustrates how Cognitive Sociolinguistics studies both the variation of meaning, and the meaning of variation.

Advances in Cognitive Sociolinguistics

Weiwei Zhang

Karlien Franco

Stefano De Pascale

Laura Rosseel

Cognitive Sociolinguistics draws on the rich theoretical framework of Cognitive Linguistics and focuses on the social factors that underlie the variability of meaning and conceptualization. In the last decade, the field has expanded in various way. The current volume takes stock of current and emerging advances in the field in short academic contributions. The studies collected in this book have a usage-based approach to language variation and change, drawing on the theoretical framework of Cognitive Linguistics and are sensitive to social variation, be it cross-linguistic or language-internal. Three types of contributions are collected in this book. First, it contains theoretical overview papers on the domains that have witnessed expansion in recent years. Second, it presents novel research ideas in proof-of-concept contributions, aimed at blue-sky research and out-of-the-box linguistic analyses. Third, it showcases recent empirical studies within the field. By combining these three types of contributions, the book provides an encompassing overview of novel developments in the field of Cognitive Sociolinguistics.

Cognitive Sociolinguistics Revisited

The book brings together ten studies into the social and conceptual aspects of language-internal variation. All contributions rely on a firm empirical basis in the form of advanced corpus-based techniques, experimenntal methods and survey-based research, or a combination of these. In the book, methods are sought that may adequately unravel the complex and multivariate dimensions intervening in the interplay between conceptual meaning and variationist factors. In terms of its descriptive scope, the volume covers three main areas: lexical and lexical-semantic variation, constructional variation, and research on lectal attitudes and acquisition. It thus illustrates how Cognitive Sociolinguistics studies both the variation of meaning, and the meaning of variation.

René Dirven

A union of Cognitive Linguistics and Sociolinguistics was bound to happen. Both proclaim a usage-based approach to language and aim to analyse actual language use in objective ways. Whereas Sociolinguistics is by nature on the outlook for language in its variety, CL can no longer afford to ignore social variation in language as it manifests itself in the usage data. Nor can it fail to adopt an empirical methodology that reflects variation as it actually occurs, beyond the limited knowledge of the individual observer. Conversely, while CL can only benefit from a heightened sensitivity to social aspects, the rich, bottom-up theoretical framework it has developed is likely to contribute to a much better understanding of the meaning of variationist phenomena. The volume brings together fifteen chapters written by prominent scholars testifying of rich empirical and theoretizing research into the social aspects of language variation. Taking a broad view on Cognitive Sociolinguistics, the volume covers three main areas: corpus-based research on language variation, cognitive cultural models, and the ideologies of sociopolitical and socio-economic systems.

Gitte Kristiansen

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