Gitte Kristiansen

Advances in Cognitive Sociolinguistics

Cognitive Sociolinguistics is a novel and burgeoning field of research which seeks to foster investigation into the socio-cognitive dimensions of language at a usage-based level. Advances in Cognitive Sociolinguistics brings together ten studies into the social and conceptual aspects of language-internal variation. All ten contributions rely on a firm empirical basis in the form of advanced corpus-based techniques, experimental methods and survey-based research, or a combination of these. The search for methods that may adequately unravel the complex and multivariate dimensions intervening in the interplay between conceptual meaning and variationist factors is thus another characteristic of the volume. In terms of its descriptive scope, the volume covers three main areas: lexical and lexical-semantic variation, constructional variation, and research on lectal attitudes and acquisition. It thus illustrates how Cognitive Sociolinguistics studies both the variation of meaning, and the meaning of variation.

Cognitive sociolinguistics : language variation, cultural models, social systems

A union of Cognitive Linguistics and Sociolinguistics was bound to happen. Both proclaim a usage-based approach to language and aim to analyse actual language use in objective ways. Whereas Sociolinguistics is by nature on the outlook forlanguage in its variety, CL can no longer afford to ignoresocial variation in language as it manifests itself in the usagedata. Nor can it fail to adopt an empirical methodology thatreflects variation as it actually occurs, beyond the limitedknowledge of the individual observer. Conversely, while CL canonly benefit from a heightened sensitivity to social aspects,the rich, bottom-up theoretical framework it has developed islikely to contribute to a much better understanding of themeaning of variationist phenomena. This volume brings together fifteen chapters written by prominent scholars testifying of rich empirical and theoretizing research into the social aspects of language variation. Taking a broad view on Cognitive Sociolinguistics, the volume covers three main areas: corpus-based research on language variation, cognitive cultural models, and the ideologies of sociopolitical and socio-economic systems.

Cognitive linguistics : current applications and future perspectives

Cognitive Linguistics: Current Applications and Future Perspectives is an up-to-date survey of recent research in Cognitive Linguistics and its applications by prominent researchers. The volume brings together generally accessible syntheses and special studies of Cognitive Linguistics strands in a sizable format and is thus an asset not only to the Cognitive Linguistics community, but also to neighbouring disciplines and linguists in general. The volume covers a wide range of fields and combines wide accessibility with a highly specific information value. Key features: An excellent source for the study of Applied Cognitive Linguistics, one of the most popular and fastest growing areas in Linguistics. Authoritative and detailed survey articles by leading scholars in the field. Accessible to a general audience, yet also characterized by a highly specific information value.

The English genitive alternation in a cognitive sociolinguistics perspective

As a corpus-based inquiry into the probabilistic nature of lectal variation, the present study seeks to explore how language-external determinants of linguistic variation – real time, geography, text type – interact with language-internal determinants of linguistic variation, and in so doing shape cognitive and probabilistic grammars. The concrete empirical attention of this study will be directed toward the English genitive alternation as an instructive case study. The evidence suggests that the probabilistic grammar underlying the system of genitive choice is fundamentally the same across sampling times, geographic varieties of English, and text types. This overall qualitative stability notwithstanding, the importance of individual conditioning factors varies across different data sources, and this variability is shown to be mediated by language-external factors.

New perspectives on lexical borrowing : onomasiological, methodological and phraseological innovations

Introduction: Onomasiological, methodological and phraseological perspectives on lexical borrowing / Eline Zenner and Gitte Kristiansen -- A usage-based approach to borrowability / Ad Backus -- What makes a catchphrase catchy? : possible determinants in the borrowability of English catchphrases in Dutch / Eline Zenner, Dirk Speelman and Dirk Geeraerts -- Formal variance and semantic changes in borrowing : integrating semasiology and onomasiology / Esme Winter-Froemel -- Measuring and comparing the use and success of loanwords in Portugal and Brazil : a corpus-based and concept-based sociolectometrical approach / Augusto Soares da Silva -- Comparing the usage of Maori loans in spoken and written New Zealand English : a case study of Maori, Pakeha, and Kiwi / Alexander Onysko and Andreea Calude -- English loanwords and their counterparts in Dutch job advertisements : an experimental study in association overlap / Frank van Meurs, Jos Hornikx and Gerben Bossenbroek -- On the variation of gender in nominal language mixings / Astrid Rothe -- Linguistic globalisation : experiences from the Nordic laboratory / Helge Sandoy.