Mental Spaces Aspects of Meaning Construction in Natural Language [Paperback]

The classic introduction to the study of mental spaces and conceptual projection.First published in 1985 (MIT Press), this text proved instrumental in the field of cognitive linguistics. The concept of mental spaces provides a powerful approach to problems in philosophy and cognitive science concerning thought and language. A new preface and foreword are included in this edition.First published in 1985 (MIT Press), this text proved instrumental in the field of cognitive linguistics. The concept of mental spaces provides a powerful approach to problems in philosophy and cognitive science concerning thought and language. A new preface and foreword are included in this edition.First published in 1985 (MIT Press), Fauconnier's influential book, Mental Spaces, was instrumental in shaping the new field of cognitive linguistics. The concept of mental spaces--that we develop constructs during discourse that are distinct from linguistic constructs but are established by linguistic expressions--provides a powerful new approach to problems in philosophy and cognitive science concerning thought and language. It includes a new preface that provides context for the theory, and a new foreword by George Lakoff and Eve Sweetser (both of U.C. Berkeley).1. Pragmatic functions and images; 2. Roles and multiple connectors; 3. Presuppositions: floating, transfer, and projection strategies; 4. Counterfactuals and comparatives; 5. Transspatial operators, philosophical issues, and future perspectives; Notes; References; Index. This book is both interesting and provocative. Fauconnier introduces the appealing idea that much of our talk serves to construct what he calls mental spaces--cognitive structures that include elements corresponding to individuals, their properties, and their relations. Language ...Mental Spaces describes a theory of human knowledge representation and linguistic processing that provides a simple and uniform account of a wide variety of problems that have lonl£'