Culture, Body, and Language

Culture, Body, and Language PDF Author: Farzad Sharifian
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter
ISBN: 3110199106
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 445

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Book Description
One of the central themes in cognitive linguistics is the uniquely human development of some higher potential called the "mind" and, more particularly, the intertwining of body and mind, which has come to be known as embodiment. Several books and volumes have explored this theme in length. However, the interaction between culture, body and language has not received the due attention that it deserves. Naturally, any serious exploration of the interface between body, language and culture would require an analytical tool that would capture the ways in which different cultural groups conceptualize their feelings, thinking, and other experiences in relation to body and language. A well-established notion that appears to be promising in this direction is that of cultural models, constituting the building blocks of a group's cultural cognition. The volume results from an attempt to bring together a group of scholars from various language backgrounds to make a collective attempt to explore the relationship between body, language and culture by focusing on conceptualizations of the heart and other internal body organs across a number of languages. The general aim of this venture is to explore (a) the ways in which internal body organs have been employed in different languages to conceptualize human experiences such as emotions and/or workings of the mind, and (b) the cultural models that appear to account for the observed similarities as well as differences of the various conceptualizations of internal body organs. The volume as a whole engages not only with linguistic analyses of terms that refer to internal body organs across different languages but also with the origin of the cultural models that are associated with internal body organs in different cultural systems, such as ethnomedical and religious traditions. Some contributions also discuss their findings in relations to some philosophical doctrines that have addressed the relationship between mind, body, and language, such as that of Descartes.

Culture, Body, and Language

Culture, Body, and Language PDF Author: Farzad Sharifian
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter
ISBN: 3110199106
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 445

Get Book

Book Description
One of the central themes in cognitive linguistics is the uniquely human development of some higher potential called the "mind" and, more particularly, the intertwining of body and mind, which has come to be known as embodiment. Several books and volumes have explored this theme in length. However, the interaction between culture, body and language has not received the due attention that it deserves. Naturally, any serious exploration of the interface between body, language and culture would require an analytical tool that would capture the ways in which different cultural groups conceptualize their feelings, thinking, and other experiences in relation to body and language. A well-established notion that appears to be promising in this direction is that of cultural models, constituting the building blocks of a group's cultural cognition. The volume results from an attempt to bring together a group of scholars from various language backgrounds to make a collective attempt to explore the relationship between body, language and culture by focusing on conceptualizations of the heart and other internal body organs across a number of languages. The general aim of this venture is to explore (a) the ways in which internal body organs have been employed in different languages to conceptualize human experiences such as emotions and/or workings of the mind, and (b) the cultural models that appear to account for the observed similarities as well as differences of the various conceptualizations of internal body organs. The volume as a whole engages not only with linguistic analyses of terms that refer to internal body organs across different languages but also with the origin of the cultural models that are associated with internal body organs in different cultural systems, such as ethnomedical and religious traditions. Some contributions also discuss their findings in relations to some philosophical doctrines that have addressed the relationship between mind, body, and language, such as that of Descartes.

Culture, Body, and Language

Culture, Body, and Language PDF Author: Farzad Sharifian
Publisher: De Gruyter Mouton
ISBN:
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 452

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Book Description
"The volume makes a significant contribution to the understanding of the intricate relationship between culture, body and language by focusing on conceptualizations of internal body organs in several languages. The studies explore how across various cultures internal body organs such as the heart have been used as the locus of conceptualizing feelings, thinking, knowing, etc. Such conceptualizations appear to be rooted in cultural systems such as ethnomedical and religious traditions. The volume engages with these themes using the analytical tools developed in cognitive linguistics and cognitive anthropology."--BOOK JACKET.

Culture, Body, and Language

Culture, Body, and Language PDF Author: Farzad Sharifian
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter
ISBN: 9783111731186
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 431

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Book Description
The volume makes a significant contribution to the understanding of the intricate relationship between culture, body and language by focusing on conceptualizations of internal body organs in several languages. The studies explore how across various cultures internal body organs such as the heart have been used as the locus of conceptualizing feelings, thinking, knowing, etc. Such conceptualizations appear to be rooted in cultural systems such as ethnomedical and religious traditions. The volume engages with these themes using the analytical tools developed in cognitive linguistics and cognitive anthropology.

Body Language in Literature

Body Language in Literature PDF Author: Barbara Korte
Publisher: University of Toronto Press
ISBN: 9780802076564
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 348

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Book Description
An important interdisciplinary study, that establishes a general theory that accounts for the varieties of body language encountered in literary narrative, based on a general history of the phenomenon in the English language.

Metaphor and Emotion

Metaphor and Emotion PDF Author: Zoltán Kövecses
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521541466
Category : Family & Relationships
Languages : en
Pages : 236

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Book Description
Are human emotions best characterized as biological, psychological, or cultural entities? Many researchers claim that emotions arise either from human biology (i.e., biological reductionism) or as products of culture (i.e., social constructionism). This book challenges this simplistic division between the body and culture by showing how human emotions are to a large extent "constructed" from individuals' embodied experiences in different cultural settings. The view proposed here demonstrates how cultural aspects of emotions, metaphorical language about the emotions, and human physiology in emotion are all part of an intergrated system and shows how this system points to the reconciliation of the seemingly contradictory views of biological reductionism and social constructionism in contemporary debates about human emotion.

Body Part Terms in Conceptualization and Language Usage

Body Part Terms in Conceptualization and Language Usage PDF Author: Iwona Kraska-Szlenk
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing Company
ISBN: 9027261660
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 321

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Book Description
The volume focuses on body part terms as the vehicle of embodied cognition and conceptualization. It explores the relationship between universal embodiment, language-specific cultural models and linguistic usage practices. The chapters of the volume add to the previous research in a novel way. The presentation of original data from previously undescribed languages spoken by small communities in Africa and South America allows to discover unknown aspects of embodiment and to propose new interpretations. Well-known languages are analyzed from a new perspective relying on the benefits of linguistic corpora. Contrastive and theoretically oriented studies help to pinpoint similarities and differences among languages, as well as tendencies in conceptualization patterns and semantic development of the lexis of body part terms. The volume contributes to the field of linguistics, but also to cognitive science, anthropology and cultural studies.

Body in Medical Culture, The

Body in Medical Culture, The PDF Author: Elizabeth Klaver
Publisher: SUNY Press
ISBN: 1438425961
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 269

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Book Description
2010 CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title How do concepts and constructions of the body shape people's experiences of agency and objectification within medical culture? As an object of scrutiny, the medicalized body occupies center stage in the work of doctors, nurses, medical examiners, and other medical professionals who mediate broader cultural understandings of pathology, illness, and the various physical transformations associated with life and death. The Body in Medical Culture explores how the body functions within medical culture and examines the metaphors and models of the body used to understand medical phenomena, including disease, diagnostic practices, wellness, anatomy, surgery, and medical research. Scholars from a wide range of disciplines engage representations of bodies, including polio and masculinity, sex reassignment surgery, drug marketing, endography, "designer vaginas," and hospital humor in order to challenge the normalcy of the passively objectified medicalized body.

The Body

The Body PDF Author: Mike Featherstone
Publisher: SAGE
ISBN: 9780803984134
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 420

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Book Description
This challenging volume reasserts the centrality of the body within social theory as a means to understanding the complex interrelations between nature, culture and society. The importance of a theoretical understanding of the body to social and cultural analysis of contemporary societies is demonstrated through specific case studies.

Cultural Linguistics

Cultural Linguistics PDF Author: Farzad Sharifian
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing Company
ISBN: 9027264996
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 191

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Book Description
This ground-breaking book marks a milestone in the history of the newly developed field of Cultural Linguistics, a multidisciplinary area of research that explores the relationship between language and cultural conceptualisations. The most authoritative book in the field to date, it outlines the theoretical and analytical framework of Cultural Linguistics, elaborating on its key theoretical/analytical notions of cultural cognition, cultural schema, cultural category, and cultural metaphor. In addition, it brings to light a wide array of cultural conceptualisations drawn from many different languages and language varieties. The book reveals how the analytical tools of Cultural Linguistics can produce in-depth and insightful investigations into the cultural grounding of language in several domains and subdisciplines, including embodiment, emotion, religion, World Englishes, pragmatics, intercultural communication, Teaching English as an International Language (TEIL), and political discourse analysis. By presenting a comprehensive survey of recent research in Cultural Linguistics, this book demonstrates the relevance of the cultural conceptualisations encoded in language to all aspects of human life, from the very conceptualisations of life and death, to conceptualisations of emotion, body, humour, religion, gender, kinship, ageing, marriage, and politics. This book, in short, is a must-have reference work for scholars and students interested in Cultural Linguistics.

Culture is the Body

Culture is the Body PDF Author: Tadashi Suzuki
Publisher: Theatre Communications Group
ISBN: 1559368071
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 192

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Book Description
"Mr. Suzuki's art seeks to reach audiences not through the intellect but through the senses and instincts."—New York Times "In my opinion, a 'cultured' society is one where the perceptive and expressive abilities of the human body are used to the full; where they provide the basic means of communication."—Tadashi Suzuki Renowned for his actor training methods, Tadashi Suzuki provides a thorough and accessible formulation of his ideas and beliefs in this new edition of his theater writings. One of the world's most revered theater directors, Suzuki is also a seminal thinker and practitioner whose work has had a profound influence on theater worldwide. This landmark collection provides a useful, provocative look at his philosophical and practical approaches to the stage. Culture is the Body is a complete revision of Suzuki's influential book The Way of Acting, featuring new essays and in a revised translation by Kameron Steele, a longtime collaborator of Suzuki's. Legendary theater director Tadashi Suzuki explains his revered approach in this new edition of his writings. Tadashi Suzuki is the founder and director of the Suzuki Company of Toga (SCOT), the organizer of Japan's first international theater festival (Toga Festival), and the creator of the Suzuki Method of Actor Training. Suzuki has articulated his theories in a number of books. He has taught his system of actor training in schools and theaters throughout the world. Besides productions with his own company, he has directed several international collaborations.