Description
Book SynopsisMental Spaces is the classic introduction to the study of mental spaces and conceptual projection, as revealed through the structure and use of language. It examines in detail the dynamic construction of connected domains as discourse unfolds. The discovery of mental space organization has modified our conception of language and thought: powerful and uniform accounts of superficially disparate phenomena have become available in the areas of reference, presupposition projection, counterfactual and analogical reasoning, metaphor and metonymy, and time and aspect in discourse. The present work lays the foundation for this research. It uncovers simple and general principles that lie behind the awesome complexity of everyday logic.
Trade Review'In Fauconnier's, at long last, published book Mental Spaces, he describes a theory of human knowledge representation and linguistic processing that provides a simple and uniform account of a wide variety of problems that have long perplexed both linguists and philosophers of language … Fauconnier's theory is particularly important in its identification of the role of cognitive factors, especially principles for organizing knowledge and procedural strategies for semantic interpretation, in what is often loosely termed the 'logic' of natural language … The study of mental spaces as a cohesive and pervasive organizational device is a powerful new idea.' John Dinsmore, Cognitive Science
Table of Contents1. Pragmatic functions and images; 2. Roles and multiple connectors; 3. Presuppositions: floating, transfer, and projection strategies; 4. Counterfactuals and comparatives; 5. Transspatial operators, philosophical issues, and future perspectives; Notes; References; Index.
