Cognitive Grammar in Contemporary Fiction

Description

his book proposes an extension of Cognitive Grammar (Langacker 1987, 1991, 2008) towards a cognitive discourse grammar, through the unique environment that literary stylistic application offers. Drawing upon contemporary research in cognitive stylistics (Text World Theory, deixis and mind-modelling, amongst others), the volume scales up central Cognitive Grammar concepts (such as construal, grounding, the reference point model and action chains) in order to explore the attenuation of experience – and how it is simulated – in literary reading. In particular, it considers a range of contemporary texts by Neil Gaiman, Jennifer Egan, Jonathan Safran Foer, Ian McEwan and Paul Auster. This application builds upon previous work that adopts Cognitive Grammar for literary analysis and provides the first extended account of Cognitive Grammar in contemporary fiction. Cognitive Grammar in Contemporary Fiction......Page 2 Editorial page......Page 3 Title page......Page 4 LCC data......Page 5 Table of contents......Page 6 Acknowledgements......Page 10 1.1 Cognitive Grammar in fiction......Page 12 1.2.1 Text choice: Contemporary and postmodern fiction......Page 13 1.2.2 Postmodern texts: A stylistic profile......Page 14 1.2.3 Online reader reviews......Page 16 1.3 Cognitive linguistics in stylistics......Page 18 1.4 Structure of book......Page 19 2.1 Grammar as meaning......Page 22 2.1.1 Grammar as construction......Page 23 2.2.1 Trajector and landmark......Page 24 2.2.3 Construal......Page 25 2.2.4 Grounding construal relationships......Page 27 2.2.5 The compositional path......Page 28 2.2.6 Action chains......Page 29 2.2.7 Reference points and scanning......Page 31 2.2.8 The current discourse space......Page 33 2.2.9 Fictive simulation......Page 34 2.3.1 Defining discourse......Page 35 2.3.2 Scalability......Page 36 2.4.1 Text World Theory......Page 38 2.4.3 Deictic shift theory......Page 40 2.5 Review......Page 41 3.1.1 Action, energy, process......Page 42 3.2 Enduring Love......Page 43 3.3 Grounding perspective......Page 44 3.4 Narrative urgency and ‘the generation of multiplicity’......Page 46 3.5 Action chains and clausal grounding......Page 49 3.5.1 Modality and metaphor......Page 52 3.6 Nominal grounding: Schematicity vs. specificity......Page 54 3.7 Conclusion: ‘What were we running toward?’......Page 57 3.8 Review......Page 58 4.1.1 Reference points in fiction......Page 60 4.2 The New York Trilogy and the postmodern quest......Page 62 4.2.1 Layers and targets......Page 63 4.3 Reader response: Tracking character roles......Page 65 4.4 (R)evoking targets......Page 71 4.5 Conclusion: ‘The story is not in the words; it’s in the struggle’......Page 77 4.6 Review......Page 79 5.1 Introduction......Page 82 5.2 Construal: Production and reception......Page 83 5.2.1 Construction schemas......Page 84 5.3 Elaboration and world comparison: The ‘other world’ of Coraline......Page 85 5.3.1 Elaborative relationships......Page 86 5.4 Reading Coraline......Page 90 5.5.1 Reader response: Character......Page 91 5.5.2 Reader response: Fictional world......Page 95 5.6 Conclusion: ‘It was so familiar – that was what made it feel so truly strange’......Page 99 5.7 Review......Page 100 6.1 Introduction: Visual attention in cognitive linguistics and CG......Page 102 6.2 ‘Great Rock and Roll Pauses’......Page 103 6.2.1 Mind-modelling perspective......Page 104 6.3 CG and multimodality......Page 106 6.4 Event frames......Page 111 6.5.1 Attentional windowing......Page 113 6.5.2 Speech presentation......Page 115 6.5.3 Viewing arrangements and conceptual distancing......Page 117 6.6 Conclusion: ‘Music first, and then the pause’......Page 120 6.7 Review......Page 122 7.1.1 Scanning paths......Page 124 7.2 ‘Here we aren’t, so quickly’......Page 125 7.3 Analysability (‘I counted the seconds backward’)......Page 129 7.4 Components (‘Not wilfully unclear, just trying to say it as it wasn’t’)......Page 132 7.5 Composition (‘Everything else happened – why not the things that could have?’)......Page 136 7.6 Conclusion: ‘We reached the middle so quickly’......Page 139 7.7 Review......Page 140 8.1 A cognitive discourse grammar......Page 142 8.2 Suitability for stylistics: Scalability and rigour......Page 144 8.3 Limitations......Page 146 References......Page 148 The New York Trilogy reviews......Page 162 Coraline reviews......Page 168 Index......Page 174