Viewpoint in Language: A Multimodal Perspective

Description

What makes us talk about viewpoint and perspective in linguistic analyses and in literary texts, as well as in landscape art? Is this shared vocabulary marking real connections between the disparate phenomena? This volume argues that human cognition is not only rooted in the human body, but also inherently 'viewpointed' as a result; consequently, so are language and communication. Dancygier and Sweetser bring together researchers who do not typically meet on common ground: analysts of narrative and literary style, linguists examining the uses of grammatical forms in signed and spoken languages, and analysts of gesture accompanying speech. Using models developed within cognitive linguistics, the book uncovers surprising functional similarities across various communicative forms, arguing for specific cognitive underpinnings of such correlations. What emerges is a new understanding of the role and structure of viewpoint and a groundbreaking methodology for investigating communicative choices across various modalities and discourse contexts.

Barbara Dancygier is a Professor in the Department of English at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver. Eve Sweetser is a Professor in the Department of Linguistics at the University of California, Berkeley.

'The ability with which the editors have been able to give shape to a coherent approach is to be applauded. It is likely that a number of researchers now working separately in different areas on viewpoint will be encouraged to carry on with their work enlightened and inspired by this volume. Indeed, the bringing together of linguistics, cognitive science, and literary studies by a unifying concept of subjectivity as an embodied phenomenon is a major and needed achievement.' Simone Bacchini, The Linguist List (linguistlist.org)