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The present book provides a detailed criticism of experientialist semantics, focusing both on philosophical issues connected with experientialism and on cognitive approaches to metaphor and metonymy. Particular emphasis is placed on the works of George Lakoff and Mark Johnson, but other cognitivists are also taken into consideration. Verena Haser proposes a new approach to the distinction between metaphor and metonymy, which contrasts with familiar cognitivist models, but also builds on some insights gained in cognitivist research. She also offers an account of metaphorical transfer which dispenses with the notion of conceptual metaphors in the sense of Lakoff and Johnson. She argues that conceptual metaphors are not a useful construct for explaining metaphorical transfer, and that the clustering of metaphorical expressions is better accounted for in terms of family resemblances between metaphorical expressions. Another major goal of this work is a reassessment of the relationship between experientialism and traditional Western philosophy (often subsumed under the vague term \"objectivism\"). This book contrasts with most other critical approaches to experientialism by providing close readings of key passages from the works of Lakoff and Johnson, which enables the author to pinpoint theory-internal inconsistencies and other shortcomings not noted in previous publications. This book will be relevant to students and scholars interested in semantics and cognitive linguistics, and also in psychology and philosophy of language.

Our use of spatial prepositions carries an implicit understanding of the functional relationships both between objects themselves and human interaction with those objects.This is the thesis rigorously explicated in Saying, Seeing and Acting. It aims to account not only for our theoretical comprehension of spatial relations but our ability to intercede with efficacy in the world of spatially related objects. Only the phenomenon of functionality can adequately account for what even the simplest of everyday experiences show to be the technically problematic, but still meaningful status of expressions of spatial location in contentious cases.The terms of the debate are established and contextualised in Part One. In the Second Section, systematic experimental evidence is drawn upon to demonstrate specific covariances between spatial world and spatial language. The authors go on to give an original account of the functional and geometric constraints on which comprehension and human action among spatially related objects is based. Part Three looks at the interaction of these constraints to create a truly dynamic functional geometric framework for the meaningful use of spatial prepositions.Fascinating to anyone whose work touches on psycholinguistics, this book represents a thorough and incisive contribution to debates in the cognitive psychology of language.

Semantic priming has been a focus of research in the cognitive sciences for more than thirty years and is commonly used as a tool for investigating other aspects of perception and cognition, such as word recognition, language comprehension, and knowledge representations. Semantic Priming: Perspectives from Memory and Word Recognition examines empirical and theoretical advancements in the understanding of semantic priming, providing a succinct, in-depth review of this important phenomenon, framed in terms of models of memory and models of word recognition. The first section examines models of semantic priming, including spreading activation models, the verification model, compound-cue models, distributed network models, and multistage activation models (e.g. interactive-activation model). The second section examines issues and findings that have played an especially important role in testing models of priming and includes chapters on the following topics: methodological issues (e.g. counterbalancing of materials, choice of priming baselines); automatic vs. strategic priming; associative vs. “pure” semantic priming; mediated priming; long-term semantic priming; backward priming; unconscious priming; the prime-task effect; list context effects; effects of word frequency, stimulus quality, and stimulus repetition; and the cognitive neuroscience of semantic priming. The book closes with a summary and a discussion of promising new research directions. The volume will be of interest to a wide range of researchers and students in the cognitive sciences and neurosciences. 'Semantic priming is an important phenomenon of cognition and has engendered a huge research literature, a literature that is confusing, conflicting, and defiant of easy classification even to the expert. McNamara’s new book is a welcome addition to the field that clarifies and enlightens.' - Richard M. Schiffrin, Indiana University 'This is an outstanding book that provides a much-needed roadmap for both researchers and students into the specific details and broader implications of semantic priming research. The treatment of alternative theories is unparalleled in its sophistication, and the coverage of methodological issues offers invaluable guidance to those entering the field. McNamara has done a masterful job of distilling a rich, multifaceted domain into its core issues, findings and perspectives. The result is like a fine espresso – strong, balanced, and no serious work should be attempted without it.' - David Plaut, Carnegie Mellon University 'An Easily Accessible volume on semantic priming research that can potentially benefit researchers, graduate students, and upper division undergraduates' - Christopher Koch, in PsycCRITIQUES , August 2006 Part 1: Introduction. What Is Semantic Priming and Why Should Anyone Care? Part 2: Models. Spreading Activation Models. Becker's Verification Model. Compound-cue Models. Distributed Network Models. The Interactive-activation Model. Other Models. Part 3: Major Issues and Findings. Baselines. Automatic Versus Strategic Priming. Associative Versus 'Pure' Semantic Priming. Mediated Versus Direct Priming. Effects of Lag. Forward Versus Backward Priming. Subliminal Priming. Prime-task Effect. List Context Effects. Word Frequency, Stimulus Quality, and Relatedness Proportion. Semantic Priming and N400. Part 4: Summary and Conclusions. What We Have Learned about Semantic Priming

Words are not just labels for conceptual categories. Words construct conceptual categories, frame situations and influence behavior. Where do they get their meaning? This book describes how words acquire their meaning.

In his ten Beijing lectures, Leonard Talmy represents the range of his work in cognitive semantics. This approach concerns the linguistic representation of conceptual structure: the patterns in which and processes by which conceptual content is organized in language.