Description

is a valuable resource for all linguists interested in the role of meaning in language and the integration of disparate theoretical perspectives. This volume explores the possible points of contact between Cognitive Linguistics and the Columbia School. Joined by a commitment to the form-meaning (aka "signal-meaning" within the Columbia School) relationship, Cognitive Linguistics and the Columbia School are opposed according to the articulation of that relationship. Whereas the Columbia School rigorously distills an abstract unitary meaning for a given signal, Cognitive Linguistics pursues the complex structures of polysemy in an unrestrained fashion, and each provides a distinct angle on the truths of language that no single framework can fully account for on its own. The authors give evidence that linguists can communicate substantively and effectively across the theoretical rifts that too often divide us.