Cognitive Theory

6 Key excerpts on "Cognitive Theory"

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  eBook - ePub

  Cognitive Linguistics and Second Language Learning

  Theoretical Basics and Experimental Evidence

  • Andrea Tyler(Author)
  • 2012(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  To summarize, psychology has provided us with a wealth of evidence that humans are highly sensitive to the frequency with which they encounter all linguistic forms, from phonological units, to morphological units, to grammatical constructions (or syntactic units). Moreover, human language processing appears to be probabilistic in nature. Goldberg argues that matching between the meaning of syntactic structures and the most frequently occurring verb in that structure plays a vital role in the acquisition of syntactic constructions. Syntactic constructions themselves are understood as generalizations made across multiple exposures to language input.

  3 The Cognitive in Cognitive Linguistics

  As we have already noted, CL is committed to the position that language is best understood as a reflection of multiple, interacting cognitive processes and a representation of cognition being crucially shaped by the particular nature of the human body, including our perceptual systems, and our interactions with the world. This is what cognitive linguists mean when they refer to the embodied nature of language and meaning. It follows that linguistic description should be consistent with what is known from other disciplines about the mind and brain. Lakoff (1990) called this the “cognitive commitment.” Thus a great deal of CL study has been focused on general human cognition and processes of perception, attention and categorization and how they are, in turn, reflected in language.

  Some of the key cognitive capacities include humans’ well-developed abilities at classifying, pattern finding and a large, highly structured memory capacity.4

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  Portraits of the L2 User

  • Vivian Cook(Author)
  • 2002(Publication Date)
  • Multilingual Matters

    (Publisher)

  Chapter 6

  Cognitive Processes of L2 Users

  ELLEN BIALYSTOK

  What is cognitive functioning like for people who know two languages? Are these processes altered in a mind that incorporates two linguistic systems? And if so, can traces of these altered processes be found in the ordinary cognitive behaviour of bilinguals? The questions themselves betray an assumption that ultimately determines the answer. For linguistic knowledge to impact on cognitive processes, the mind must present a configuration in which language and cognition freely interact. This assumption, however, is far from consensual, and represents a major divide between alternative conceptions of language and its place in the mind. For language and cognition to interact in this way, language must be governed, at least to some extent, by the same processes that guide other cognitive activities. Views of language that assume this mental architecture comprise the loosely connected set of functional linguistic theories. In contrast, formal linguistic theories set language apart in some measure from the rest of cognition. In these views, language is one of several specialised modules that functions autonomously, invoking dedicated processes and a specialised knowledge base. These different conceptions can be represented schematically. Figure 6.1(a) depicts the mind as it would be organised in functional linguistic theories, indicating its centrality with other cognitive activities but enjoying no special status. Figure 6.1(b) depicts the mind as it would be construed by formal linguistic theories, where language is one of several specialised systems that co-exist in a mental space.

  Figure 6.1 Structure of language and cognition in (a) functional theories and (b) formal theories

  The debate between formal and functional linguistic theories is at the heart of a range of issues in linguistic and cognitive theorising. Most notable is its role in deciding between alternate conceptions of language acquisition (cf. Pinker, 1994 versus Tomasello, 1998). Equally crucial, however, is its impact on deciding whether knowing two languages has a generalised impact on cognition. Not only is the answer to this question determined by a position on the formal–functional debate, but the question itself can provide a forum for testing some of the more extreme claims of each position. If the formalists are right, then learning two languages in early childhood should have minimal, if any, impact on non-linguistic cognitive processing. Language evolves through the systems designed by biology to serve this function. Conversely, if the functionalists are right, then learning two languages in early childhood is an intensely cognitive activity and could be expected to alter processing in significant ways.

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  The Handbook of Spanish Second Language Acquisition

  • Kimberly L. Geeslin(Author)
  • 2013(Publication Date)
  • Wiley-Blackwell

    (Publisher)

  One of the central tenets of CL is that language is intrinsically linked to human cognition and general cognitive processes such as perception, attention, and categorization. This view of language as the product of general cognitive abilities contrasts with the modular theory of mind advocated by generative linguistics, and follows instead what has been referred to as the “cognitive commitment” (Lakoff 1990), that is, a commitment to providing linguistic descriptions that reflect what is known about human cognition from other disciplines within cognitive science, such as philosophy, psychology, and neuroscience (for a detailed discussion about this commitment, see Gibbs 1995).

  To exemplify, CL emphasizes that the perceptually based figure/ground segregation that is characteristic of the human visual system is generally reflected in language. For instance, if we see a scene with a tree and a bike, we will tend to describe it as La bicicleta está junto al árbol “The bike is by the tree” rather than El árbol está junto a la bicicleta “The tree is by the bike” as the smaller, more movable object (the bike) constitutes the figure against the larger and less movable object (the tree), which constitutes the ground. Similarly, the human cognitive ability of shifting our visual attention to various aspects of a scene or event is also reflected in language. In fact, language provides us with conventionalized ways of directing attention to or profiling (Langacker 1987) certain aspects of a scene or event, as in the case of the active-passive alternation where more prominent attention is given to either the agent or the patient of an action (e.g., El niño rompió el vaso “the boy broke the glass” vs. El vaso fue roto por el niño “the glass was broken by the boy”) or the related Spanish middle voice construction (e.g., El vaso se rompió “the glass broke”) which profiles the endpoint of the action, that is, the change of state that the patient-subject undergoes (Maldonado 1999). Finally, language reflects our general cognitive process of categorization, which can be defined as the process of identifying and classifying entities as members of groups. Following the findings of cognitive psychology in the 1970s (e.g., Rosch 1975), CL views categories as flexible (i.e., they often have fuzzy boundaries) and as not homogenous (i.e., they are radial in nature with some members being more central or prototypical than others). For example, gorriones “robins” have been shown to be more central members of the category BIRD than avestruces “ostriches” or pingüinos

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  Cognitive Linguistics and Sociocultural Theory

  • Kyoko Masuda, Carlee Arnett, Angela Labarca(Authors)
  • 2015(Publication Date)
  • De Gruyter Mouton

    (Publisher)

  Kyoko Masuda and Carlee Arnett

  1 Cognitive linguistics, Sociocultural Theory and language teaching: Introduction

  Abstract: This introductory chapter presents a concise overview of two theories (Cognitive Grammar and Construction Grammar), and an explanation of some central concepts relevant to the other chapters including categorization, usage-based model, figure and ground, schema, prototypes, metaphor and

  metonymy1

  as well as insights into the role of Cognitive Linguistics (CL) in foreign and second language (L2) instruction. We then give a brief historical account of Sociocultural Theory (SCT) development and its fundamental principles within Second Language Acquisition (SLA). Core Vygotskian notions such as language envisioned as a mediational tool, internalization, zone of proximal development, verbal consciousness and L2 conceptual development are reviewed as well. We also discuss other related notions derived from Vygotskian theory such as languaging (Swain 2006). Furthermore, Chapter 1 explains why new assimilative development in both CL and SCT is advantageous for informing foreign or L2 language classroom practices.

  Keywords: cognitive linguistics; cognitive grammar; construction grammar; categorization; usage-based model; figure and ground; schema; prototypes; metaphor and metonmy; Sociocultural Theory; Vygotsky; mediational tool; internalization; zone of proximal development; verbal consciousness; L2 conceptual development; languaging

  1 General introduction to Cognitive Grammar and Construction Grammar

  Cognitive Linguistics (CL) assumes that language mirrors human conceptualization (cf., Lakoff 1987 ; Langacker 1987 ; Talmy 2000) and seeks to explain the mental processes governing the perception, production and acquisition of language. In CL, how the speaker as conceptualizer perceives or construes a situation, the object of conceptualization, is critical because it is reflected in language use. Two CL theories of particular interest are Cognitive Grammar (Lakoff 1987 ; Langacker 1987 , 1991 , 2008 ) and Construction Grammar (Goldberg 1995, 2003 ). Both theories evolved in the last 20–25 years and oppose formalist theories, especially Chomsky’s (1965 , 1981 , 1995 ), which regards language as an autonomous component and pursues universal grammar rigorously.2 Both advocate a unified account of grammar (syntax) and lexicon and consider that language is essentially symbolic in nature and that it is made available to the speaker for communicative use. Both CG’s share the tenet that grammatical structures "consist of assemblies of symbolic structures fully reducible to form-meanings pairing" (Langacker 2008

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  Intercultural Language Teaching and Learning

  • Anthony J. Liddicoat, Angela Scarino(Authors)
  • 2013(Publication Date)
  • Wiley-Blackwell

    (Publisher)

  zone of proximal development . This zone refers to domains of performance that the learner cannot yet achieve independently but can achieve with scaffolding, that is, with assistance that is provided in a variety of ways. Further, as van Lier (2004, p. 156) clarifies, the “co-constructed, dialogical language is no longer limited to approved bits of the standard language as promoted by textbooks and tests, but it includes a variety of ways in which learners find their own voice, their right to speak, including their right to draw on their first language.” The prior understanding of learners, already prestructured in and by their experiences of their first language and culture, comes into play as they engage with learning a new language and culture; in so doing they need opportunities to experiment with who they are and can be in the new interlinguistic and intercultural reality. It is in this sense that identity theories come into play; learners are constantly “organizing and reorganizing a sense of who they are and how they relate to the social world” (Norton, 2000, p. 11). The value of the social and sociocultural family of theories resides in their recognition of the significance of the social and cultural context, that is, situatedness, in an understanding of learning that traditionally has been predominantly psychologically driven. A fundamental difference between the two families of theories relates to whether knowledge is seen to reside in the mind or in the social and cultural context and whether learning is an individual or social accomplishment.

  Within sociocultural theory interaction involves complex activity on the part of the individual, drawing upon mediational tools (the most important of which is language) and the social context as constitutive of learning. As Swain and Deters state:

  [Sociocultural Theory] views language as a tool of the mind, a tool that contributes to cognitive development and is constitutive of thought. Through languaging , defined as the use of speaking and writing to mediate cognitively complex activities, an individual develops cognitively, and … affectively. The act of producing spoken or written language is thinking in ­progress and is key to learners’ understanding of complex concepts. These understandings are reached through interacting with others, ourselves, and social and cultural artifacts. (2007, p. 822)

  In this way, complex language learning emerges through the learner’s engagement in human interaction in activity with artifacts and tools and in social, cultural, and historical practices. In the interaction, language combines with gesture, images, and objects in ­context, all of which support language use. Through the zone of proximal development learners participate socially in interaction with more knowledgeable interlocutors, thereby learning firstly on a social, interpersonal plane and then making the learning their own through internalization on an individual, intrapersonal plane (Vygotsky, 1978).

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  Cognitive Linguistics

  An Introduction

  • Vyvyan Evans, Melanie Green(Authors)
  • 2018(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  give rise to conceptualisation. It appears that the ways in which different languages 'cut up' and 'label' the world can differentially influence non-linguistic thought and action. It follows that the basic commitments of cognitive linguistics are consonant with a weak version of the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, a position that some linguists argue is gathering increasing empirical support.

  3.5 Summary

  Linguists of any theoretical persuasion are intrigued by the possible existence of linguistic universals , by the form of such universals and by the nature of the relationship between thought and language. In this chapter, we began by comparing the cognitive and formal positions on linguistic universals. While formal linguists have tended to treat universals as resulting from primitive concepts or mechanisms, innately given, cognitive linguists argue instead that there are universal tendencies. We explored the cognitive view in more detail, and outlined a number of constraints on human conceptualisation that go some way to explaining the existence of linguistic universals. These constraints include the nature of human embodiment, Gestalt principles and the nature of human categorisation , all of which collectively constitute a conceptualising capacity common to all humans. We then presented some examples of common cross-linguistic patterns in the conceptualisation of the fundamental domains of space and time . In the domain of SPACE we suggested that there are three common cross-linguistic patterns in terms of how languages structure space. These include (1) figure-ground segregation ; (2) a means of encoding the relative proximity of the figure with respect to the ground; and (3) a means of encoding the location of the figure with respect to the ground. This is achieved by the employment of a particular reference frame . In the domain of TIME, cross-linguistic patterns relate to a small set of primary lexical concepts for time, and three large-scale cognitive models for time, which integrate these (and other) temporal lexical concepts together with their patterns of elaboration (conventional patterns of imagery). We then presented some examples of cross-linguistic variation in the conceptualisation of space and time, which demonstrate that despite some fundamental cross-linguistic similarities in the linguistic representation of space and time, there is nevertheless considerable cross-linguistic variation. Finally, having explored the issue of linguistic universal, we introduced the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis : the idea that language might play some role in determining non-linguistic thought, and that speakers of different languages might therefore have different conceptual systems. We concluded that, while the strong version of this hypothesis is rejected by most linguists, there is some evidence in favour of the weak version

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