[WS105] Embodied cognition and experiential approaches to communication, written and spoken discourse analysis. From hypothesis and empirical data to theoretical issues

 

Authors : Antoine Auchlin, Nathalie Ilić and Tea Pršir

Title : Embodied cognition and experiential approaches to communication, written and spoken discourse analysis. From hypothesis and empirical data to theoretical issues

 

This workshop aims at offering an extended dialogue between researchers in embodied cognitive studies and experiential approaches to discourse and dialogue analysis. Quoting Geeraerts & Cuyckens Handbook of Cognitive Linguistics (2007), “In the past decade, Cognitive Linguistics has developed into one of the most dynamic and attractive frameworks within theoretical and descriptive linguistics”.

Observation and theoretical work in cognitive semantics and pragmatics grown up, from Lakoff & Johnson’s conceptual metaphor theory, Fauconnier & Turner’s mental spaces and conceptual integration theories, to embodied cognitive sciences and their actual large audience and widespread acknowledgment. This is the case in linguistics (Lakoff; Langacker, i.a.), discourse and interaction analysis (Oakley & Hougaard), semiotics (Brandt; Violi, i.a.), cognitive (neuro)science (Thompson; Rohrer; Núñez), psychology (Gibbs; Turner) – among other scientific disciplines.

In this active and multifaceted domain, there is a need to synthesize observations and facts around a set of common hypotheses and principles. Moreover, it is important to assess how general hypotheses, such as the Embodiment Premise (Gibbs 2005), at varying levels of commitment (Núñez 2000) and Observational Scales (Rohrer 2007), may give directions for observation, and how observations may lead researchers to refine or reappraise a – however falsifiable – hypothesis. Another relevant issue is to what extent and in what way the chosen methodology is consistent with embodiment commitment.

The workshop session will address those general issues in connection with specific, spoken or written language data descriptions, either sample analysis or large data mining. Presentations are expected to provide a step-by-step, thoroughly explicit, methodological statement regarding how empirical data can be used in describing and assessing general hypotheses or common interest claims.

We expect as an outcome a general and concise overview of methods, claims and results in empirical language use analysis from a cognitive, embodied and experiential framework.

The workshop consists of three mini-panels:

  • Specifying the self (selves) through verbal or semiotic action or activity: general issues
  • Embodied cognition in written discourse and communication description
  • Embodied cognition in oral discourse and communication description

 

References

Brandt, Line; Brandt, Per Aage (2005): Making sense of a blend: A cognitive-semiotic approach to metaphor. In Annual Review of Cognitive Linguistics 3 (1), pp. 216–249.

Christoff, Kalina; Cosmelli, Diego; Legrand, Dorothée; Thompson, Evan (2011): “Specifying the self for cognitive neuroscience”. In Trends in Cognitive Sciences 15 (3), pp. 104–112.

Coulson, Seana; Oakley, Todd (2005): “Blending and coded meaning: Literal and figurative meaning in cognitive semantics”. In Journal of Pragmatics 37 (10), pp. 1510–1536.

Geeraerts, Dirk; Cuyckens, Hubert (eds.) (2007): Handbook of Cognitive Linguistics. New York: Oxford University Press.

Gibbs, Raymond W. Jr. (2005): Embodiment and Cognitive Science. New York: Cambridge University Press.

Núñez, Rafael (1999): “Could the Future taste purple? Reclaiming Mind, Body and Cognition”. In Rafael Núñez and Walter J. Freeman (eds), Reclaiming Cognition: The primacy of action, intention and emotion. Bowling Green, OH: Imprint Academic.

Oakley, Todd; Hougaard, Anders (eds.) (2008): Mental Spaces in Discourse and Interaction. Amsterdam: John Benjamin.

Rohrer, Tim (2007): “The Body in Space: Embodiment, Experientialism and Linguistic Conceptualization.” In Body, Language and Mind, vol 1. Ziemke, Tom; Zlatev, Jordan; Frank, Roz; Dirven, René (eds). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, pp. 339-378.

22.07.2013   10:30-12:30

Title: Intersubjectivity and joint attention
Chair: A. Auchlin

10:30 - 11:00 Antoine AUCHLIN
Introduction to the workshop
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11:00 - 11:30 Todd OAKLEY
Autism and Intersubjectivity
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11:30 - 12:00 Mark TURNER
Embodied Cognition and the Ground of Communication
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12:00 - 12:30 Antoine AUCHLIN et al.
Discussion (1)

22.07.2013   14:00-16:00

Title: Embodied cognition from grammar to discourse and dialogue
Chair: C. Cánovas

14:00 - 14:30 Per Aage BRANDT
Cognition and Dialogue
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14:30 - 15:00 Nathalie ILIC
Written discourse in clinical research: Mind the body!
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15:00 - 15:30 Tim ROHRER et al.
Persuasive communication, speaker standpoint and embodied cognition
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15:30 - 16:00 Antoine AUCHLIN et al.
Discussion (2)

22.07.2013   16:30-18:30

Title: Metaphor and embodiment
Chair: T. PRŠIR

16:30 - 17:00 Raymond W. GIBBS
Embodiment of Metaphoric Experience
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17:00 - 17:30 Lilian ACHIENG et al.
Unveiling the AIDS cognitive model
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17:30 - 18:00 Maíra Avelar MIRANDA
Multimodal metaphors in speech and gestures: an analysis of political debates
> read abstract...
18:00 - 18:30 Antoine AUCHLIN et al.
Discussion (3)

23.07.2013   14:00-16:00

Title: Schematic integration and a-modal perception
Chair: P.-A. Brandt

14:00 - 14:30 Tea PRŠIR
Amodal perception in experiential blending: case of prosody
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14:30 - 15:00 Cristóbal Pagán CÁNOVAS
Schematic integrations: Embodiment from the baby to the poet
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15:00 - 15:30 Antoine AUCHLIN et al.
Discussion (4)
15:30 - 16:00 Antoine AUCHLIN
temporary conclusion
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