Abstracts

Flexible conceptualization in mathematics: Evidence in gesture of multiple and complementary construals of abstract arithmetic

Tyler Marghetis, Ben Bergen, and Rafael Núñez (UC, San Diego) Saturday, May 19th Buchanan B213 Mathematics is notoriously certain and stable, an archetype of abstract thought. But this is an accomplishment, not a given, and actual mathematical practice is flexible, contested, even agonistic (Lakatos, 1976). Indeed, mathematical practice may be a site of pervasive conceptual […]

Grammar as gestural action

Jean-Rémi, Paul Lapaire (Université Michel de Montaigne-Bordeaux 3, France) Saturday, May 19th Buchanan B215 Building on Arnheim’s claim that « there are perceptual equivalents of all theoretical notions» (1969), McNeill’s theory of « abstract pointing » (1992, 2005), Talmy’s concept of « ception » (2000), I would like to show that the conceptual organization and […]

Separation Verbs and Multi-frame Semantics

Seiko Yamaguchi Fujii (Tokyo University), Paula Radetzky (National Tsing-Hua University, Taipei) and Eve Sweetser (UC, Berkeley) Sunday, May 20th Buchanan A201 Recent crosslinguistic work on separation verbs has used video scenarios which systematically vary physical parameters (e.g., shape or texture of the theme, blade-like instrument or blunt instrument or none, presence/absence of an agent) and […]

Conventional But Not Dead: The Role of Metaphorically-based Connections in the On-line Processing of Prepositional Meaning

Michele I. Feist (Louisiana) and Brooke O. Breaux (Lafayette) Sunday, May 20th Buchanan B213 Prepositions are highly polysemous, naming both spatial (e.g., apples in bowls) and metaphorical (e.g., Jim’s in pain) relationships. According to Conceptual Metaphor Theory, these meanings are organized within people’s mental lexicons via metaphorically-based connections, with nonphysical meanings conceptualized in terms of […]

The evolution of gestural blends around learning a new technical system

David J. DeLiema & Francis F. Steen (UCLA) Saturday, May 19th Buchanan B215  In partial response to empirical and theoretical progress in articulating an embodied framework of cognition (Barsalou, 1999; Gallese & Lakoff, 2005; Glenberg and Kaschak, 2002), educational research on the role of gestures in science and math learning environments has remained steady over […]

Religious Fervor and the Cognitive Linguistics of the Small-Clause

Ineke Bockting (Catholic University of Paris) Friday, May 18th Buchanan B213 My field of interest is the linguistic structure of the attributive clause from a cognitive point of view, with a special interest in the so-called small-clause. With this term linguists refer to the complement of a mental activity verb that, if it is verbal, […]

A usage-based investigation of verbs derived from body part terms in Arabic

Dana Abdulrahim (University of Alberta) Saturday, May 19th Buchanan A hallway on the 2nd floor  Within the different varieties of Arabic, terms denoting body parts are deployed in multiple ways besides their basic referential uses. Similar to English, for instance, the terms raʔs ‘head’ can mark spatial relations as in raʔs altawela ‘head of the […]

Abhorrence and attraction: A stylistic analysis of distancing and identification techniques in literature

Suzanne Fagel (Leiden) Thursday, May 17th The Coach House, Green College – 6201 Cecil Green Park Road   Download PDF

How creativity strains conventionality in the use of idiomatic expressions

Patrick Duffley (Laval) Saturday, May 19th Buchanan A201  The most recent book-length study of idiomatic creativity (Langlotz 2006) views this phenomenon as a form of intelligent human behaviour based on general cognitive principles which allows speakers to “manipulate an idiom as a cognitive micro-model – a mental network that can be evoked to organise and […]

The Role of Gesture in L2 Learning: Communication, Acquisition, and Retention

Laura M. Morett, Raymond W. Gibbs, & Brian MacWhinney (UCSC) What is the role of gesture in second language (L2) acquisition? There is evidence that L2 learners use iconic (i.e., representative) gestures to convey their intended meaning when they are unable to express it effectively in the target language (McCafferty, 2002; Mori & Hayashi, 2006). […]