World Englishes : a cognitive sociolinguistic approach / by Hans-Georg Wolf, Frank Polzenhagen.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Wolf, Hans-Georg, 1963-

Contributor:

Polzenhagen, Frank.

Series:

Applications of cognitive linguistics ; 8.

Applications of cognitive linguistics, 1861-4075 ; 8

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

English language--Variation--Africa.

English language.

Intercultural communication.

Cognitive grammar.

English language--Variation.

Africa--Languages--Influence on English.

Africa.

Language and languages.

Cognitive grammar--Africa.

Intercultural communication--Africa.

Sociolinguistics--Africa.

Sociolinguistics.

English language--Africa.

Physical Description:

xiv, 278 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Berlin ; New York : Mouton de Gruyter, [2009]

Summary:

The book presents Cognitive Linguistics as a framework for the study of cultural variation in world Englishes and within languages in general by offering a corpus-based analysis of the linguistic realization of the cultural model of community in African English. It also reflects on the role of English in intercultural communication and positions Cognitive Linguistics within a wider hermeneutic tradition.

Applications of Cognitive Linguistics (ACL) welcomes book proposals from any domain where the theoretical insights developed in Cognitive Linguistics (CL) have been fruitfully applied. Researchers in different academic fields apply the CL theoretical framework to the investigation of linguistic issues in their particular disciplines. The primary focus of ACL is to serve as a high level forum for the result of these investigations.

Contents:

1 Approaches to world Englishes: Paradigms, positions, and perspectives 1

1.1 Cognitive Linguistics and the Study of world Englishes 1

1.2 The world Englishes paradigm 2

1.2.1 Dominant perspectives in world Englishes research 2

1.2.1.1 The English studies approach 4

1.2.1.2 The English corpus linguistics approach 4

1.2.1.3 The sociolinguistic approach 5

1.2.1.4 Pidgins and creole studies 8

1.2.1.5 The lexicographical approach 9

1.2.1.6 Applied linguistics approaches 10

1.2.1.7 "Common errors" studies 11

1.2.1.8 The "ecology of language" approach 12

1.2.1.9 Critical linguistic approaches 13

1.2.1.10 The generativist approach 14

1.2.1.11 "Popularizers" and "futurologists" 14

1.2.2 A critical appraisal of the world Englishes paradigm 15

1.2.2.1 A critical assessment of the descriptivist approach to world Englishes 16

1.2.2.2 A critical assessment of the critical approach to world Englishes 20

1.2.2.3 A critical assessment of hybridizationism 26

1.3 The Cognitive Linguistic paradigm and the study of language variation 28

1.3.1 Cultural conceptualization research 29

1.3.2 Cultural script research 35

1.3.3 Cultural keyword research 36

1.3.4 Social cognition research 39

1.3.5 Sociolinguistic metatheory research 43

1.4 Scope, methodology, and the empirical basis of our study 47

2 The cultural model of community in African English: A comparative account 57

2.1 Analytical tools: Conceptual metaphor, cultural models, conceptual networks 57

2.2 Aspects of the African community model 72

2.2.1 The reference point of the kinship-based community model 72

2.2.2 Relations of group membership: The identity dimension 77

2.2.3 Relations of mutual obligations: The nurture dimension 91

2.2.4 Spiritual relations: The cosmological dimension 101

2.2.5 Relations of tensions: The occult dimension 120

2.3 Interim summary 158

2.4 The African community model and politics 159

2.5 Summary and implications of the analysis 178

3 Reflections on the study of intercultural communication 183

3.1 Arguments for a hermeneutic approach to the study of intercultural communication 183

3.1.1 Some general problems with current functionalist pragmatics 183

3.1.2 Gadamer's hermeneutics and Cognitive Linguistics 184

3.2 Foci of a hermeneutic approach to intercultural communication and a critique of functionalist positions 188

3.2.1 The Emphasis on meaning 188

3.2.2 The recognition of conceptualizations at group level 195

3.2.3 Emphasis on succeeding communication 201

3.3 Intercultural understanding and the problem of relativism 202

3.4 Concluding remarks 207

4 Conclusion 209.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [227]-273) and index.

ISBN:

9783110196337

3110196336

OCLC:

268957337