Perspective and Perspectivation in Language and Cognition: A Cognitive-Linguistic and Cognitive-Developmental Approach

The notion of ‘perspective’ captures an important dimension of how knowledge and meaning are communicated, transmitted and shared in discourse (Graumann & Kallmeyer 2002; Köller 2004). In particular, the phenomenon of perspective-taking and -setting in language, interaction and cognition has come to be one of the central topics in a number of fields, including Cognitive Linguistics (Verhagen 2007), developmental psychology (Moll & Tomasello 2007) and language acquisition (Tomasello 2003).
In my dissertation project I argue that the concept of perspective can be used as an integrative, interdisciplinary concept at the interface of these disciplines. Specifically, I hold that the analytical apparatus of Cognitive Linguistics developed to capture the complex phenomena of perspectivation in language and cognition can be applied fruitfully to the analysis of young children’s cognitive and linguistic development. In Cognitive Linguistics, the concept of perspectival construal describes the fact that when conceptualizing a scene for purposes of expression, speakers structure scenes in a specific manner and from a certain perspective. They thus employ the perspectival nature of linguistic utterances to assign salience to specific aspects of a conceptualisation and to organize conceptual content with respect to a particular vantage point (Verhagen 2007). Over historical time languages have evolved structured and highly elaborated construal operations that enable speakers to alternate between and express different perspectives on the same topic. From a developmental point of view, the question arises how children learn about the ways perspectives are expressed in linguistic interaction, and how they acquire the capacity to express different conceptual perspectives on the same referent. The importance of this question is further underlined by the fact that Cognitive Linguistics sees language as tightly integrated with and drawing on general cognitive capacities (e.g. Evans & Green 2006). In the field of developmental psychology, infants’ and young children’s socio-cognitive capacities have been shown to be highly relevant for the development of perspective-taking as well as for the emergence of linguistic perspectivation (e.g. Moll & Tomasello 2007; Tomasello et al. 2005). Similarly, current research on language acquisition also suggests that perspective-taking and -setting are an integral part of acquiring a language (e.g. Clark 1997; Tomasello 2003). To investigate these questions, I am currently preparing a Cognitive-Linguistic corpus study of the acquisition of construal operations, whose results will then be integrated with theories and data from developmental psychology and psycholinguistics. The overall aim of my dissertation project is an extension of the mutual dialogue between these disciplines in order to foster a fruitful and synergetic explication of the structure and cognitive foundations of perspective and perspectivation in discourse. More specifically, I will argue that integrating analyses and theorizing from Cognitive Linguistics, language acquisition research, developmental psychology and psycholinguistics will yield a richly cognitively and linguistically plausible model of the acquisition, structure and cognitive foundations of perspectival construal operations in language. It will also enable a fruitful synergetic dialogue between the disciplines involved and highlight points of convergence and common foci of interest.

References:

• Evans, Vyvyan and Melanie Green (2006): Cognitive Linguistics: An introduction. Edinburgh: Edinburgh Univ. Press.
• Graumann, Carl F. and Werner Kallmeyer, Eds. (2002): Perspective and Perspectivation in Discourse. Human Cognitive Processing. Amsterdam: Benjamins.
• Köller, Wilhelm (2004): Perspektivität und Sprache : zur Struktur von Objektivierungsformen in Bildern, im Denken und in der Sprache. Berlin [et al.]: de Gruyter.
• Moll, Henrike and Michael Tomasello (2007a): “Co-operation and human cognition: The Vygotskian intelligence hypothesis.” In: Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society 362: 639-648.
• Tomasello, Michael (2003): Constructing a language: a usage-based theory of language acquisition. Cambridge, Massachusetts; London, England: Harvard University Press.
• Tomasello, Michael, Malinda Carpenter, Josep Call, Tanya Behne and Henrike Moll (2005): “Understanding and Sharing Intentions: The Origins of Cultural Cognition.” In: Behavioral and Brain Sciences 28(5): 675–69
• Verhagen, Arie (2007): “Construal and Perspectivization.” In: Dirk Geeraerts and Herbert Cuyckens (Eds.): The Oxford Handbook of Cognitive Linguistics. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 48-81.