Distributed Language
Editor
The volume presents language as fully integrated with human existence. On this view, language is not essentially ‘symbolic’, not represented inside minds or brains, and most certainly not determined by micro-social rules and norms. Rather, language is part of our ecology. It emerges when bodies co-ordinate vocal and visible gesture to integrate events with different histories. Enacting feeling, expression and wordings, language permeates the collective, individual and affective life of living beings. It is a profoundly distributed, multi-centric activity that binds people together as they go about their lives. Distributed Language pursues this perspective both theoretically and in relation to empirical work. Empirically, it reports studies on the anticipatory dynamics of reading, its socio-cognitive consequences, Shakespearean theatre, what images evoke (in brain and word), and solving insight problems. Theoretically, the volume challenges linguistic autonomy from overlapping theoretical positions. First, it is argued that language exploits a species specific form of semiotic cognition. Second, it is suggested that the central function of language lies in realizing values that derive from our ecosystemic existence. Third, this is ascribed to how cultural and biological symbols co-regulate the dynamics that shape human activity. Fourth, it is argued that language, far from being organism-centred, gives us an extended ecology in which our co-ordination is saturated by values and norms that are derived from our sociocultural environment. The contributions to this volume expand on those originally published in Pragmatics & Cognition 17:3 (2009).
[Benjamins Current Topics, 34] 2011. ix, 220 pp.
Publishing status: Available
© John Benjamins Publishing Company
Table of Contents
-
About the authors | pp. vii–ix
-
Distributed languageStephen J. Cowley | pp. 1–14
-
The role of anticipation in readingTimo Järvilehto, Veli-Matti Nurkkala and Kyösti Koskela | pp. 15–31
-
The experiential basis of speech and writing as different cognitive domainsAlexander V. Kravchenko | pp. 33–55
-
Insightful thinking: Cognitive dynamics and material artifactsEvridiki Fioratou and Stephen J. Cowley | pp. 57–80
-
Actualizing semiotic affordances in a material worldKristian Tylén, Johanne Stege Bjørndahl and Ethan Weed | pp. 81–100
-
Languaging in Shakespeare's theatreEvelyn Tribble | pp. 101–115
-
Semiotic cognition and the logic of cultureBarend van Heusden | pp. 117–133
-
Ecological pragmatics: Values, dialogical arrays, complexity, and caringBert H. Hodges | pp. 135–159
-
Symbols as constraints: The structuring role of dynamics and self-organization in natural languageJoanna Raczaszek-Leonardi | pp. 161–184
-
Beyond mind: An extended ecology of languagingSune Vork Steffensen | pp. 185–210
Cited by (67)
Cited by 67 other publications
Fester-Seeger, Marie-Theres
2024. Human presencing: an alternative perspective on human embodiment and its implications for technology. AI & SOCIETY 
Franco, Chiara De
2024. Languaging in Social Practices: The Role of Narrative Games in Shaping Diplomatic Conventions. Linguistic Frontiers 7:1 ► pp. 1 ff.
Bottineau, Didier
2023. De la phonation interactive incarnée aux voix des langues naturelles. Langages N° 230:2 ► pp. 41 ff.
Cowley, Stephen J. & Marie-Theres Fester-Seeger
2023. Re-evoking absent people: what languaging implies for radical embodiment. Linguistic Frontiers 6:2 ► pp. 64 ff.
Hillesund, Terje
2023. Scholarly reading (and writing) and the power of impact factors: a study of distributed cognition and intellectual habits. Frontiers in Psychology 14
Iriskhanova, Olga, Maria Kiose, Anna Leonteva & Olga Agafonova
2023. Multimodal languaging: Reification profiles in language and gesture. Linguistic Frontiers 6:2 ► pp. 78 ff.
Lebahn-Hadidi, Malte, Lotte Abildgren, Lise Hounsgaard & Sune Vork Steffensen
2023. Integrating cognitive ethnography and phenomenology: rethinking the study of patient safety in healthcare organisations. Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences 22:1 ► pp. 193 ff.
Lee, Tong King
2023. Artificial intelligence and posthumanist translation: ChatGPT versus the translator. Applied Linguistics Review
Semenova, Marina, A. Muratov & S. Khasanov
2023. Ecolinguistic sustainability of Spanglish and Chinglish communities. E3S Web of Conferences 371 ► pp. 01051 ff.
Cowley, Stephen J. & Rasmus Gahrn-Andersen
2022. Simplexifying: harnessing the power of enlanguaged cognition. Chinese Semiotic Studies 18:1 ► pp. 97 ff.
Cowley, Stephen J. & Rasmus Gahrn-Andersen
2023. How systemic cognition enables epistemic engineering. Frontiers in Artificial Intelligence 5
Dale, Rick, Anne S. Warlaumont & Kerri L. Johnson
2022. The fundamental importance of method to theory. Nature Reviews Psychology 2:1 ► pp. 55 ff.
Hiver, Phil, Ali H. Al-Hoorie & Reid Evans
2022. COMPLEX DYNAMIC SYSTEMS THEORY IN LANGUAGE LEARNING. Studies in Second Language Acquisition 44:4 ► pp. 913 ff.
Cornips, Leonie & Louis van den Hengel
2021. Place-Making by Cows in an Intensive Dairy Farm: A Sociolinguistic Approach to Nonhuman Animal Agency. In Animals in Our Midst: The Challenges of Co-existing with Animals in the Anthropocene [The International Library of Environmental, Agricultural and Food Ethics, 33], ► pp. 177 ff.
Korbak, Tomasz, Julian Zubek, Łukasz Kuciński, Piotr Miłoś & Joanna Rączaszek-Leonardi
2021. Interaction history as a source of compositionality in emergent communication. Interaction Studies. Social Behaviour and Communication in Biological and Artificial Systems 22:2 ► pp. 212 ff.
Simonsen, Line Maria & Sune Vork Steffensen
2021. Hybrid cognition in medical discharges. International Journal of Organization Theory & Behavior 24:3 ► pp. 251 ff.
van den Herik, Jasper C.
2021. Rules as Resources: An Ecological-Enactive Perspective on Linguistic Normativity. Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences 20:1 ► pp. 93 ff.
Zlatev, Jordan, Göran Jacobsson & Liina Paju
2021. Desiderata for metaphor theory, the Motivation & Sedimentation Model and motion-emotion metaphoremes. In Figurative Language – Intersubjectivity and Usage [Figurative Thought and Language, 11], ► pp. 41 ff.
Bondì, Antonino
2020. Enactivism. In Glossary of Morphology [Lecture Notes in Morphogenesis, ], ► pp. 149 ff.
Loaiza, Juan M., Sarah B. Trasmundi & Sune V. Steffensen
2020. Multiscalar Temporality in Human Behaviour: A Case Study of Constraint Interdependence in Psychotherapy. Frontiers in Psychology 11
Makarova, Elena A.
2020. Views on environment in biocognitive studies of language (Linguo-philosophical analysis). Current Issues in Philology and Pedagogical Linguistics :4(2020) ► pp. 116 ff.
Maran, Timo
2020. Ecosemiotics,
McKinney, Jonathan
2020. Ecological∼Enactivism Through the Lens of Japanese Philosophy. Frontiers in Psychology 11
Trasmundi, Sarah Bro & Stephen J. Cowley
2020. Reading: How Readers Beget Imagining. Frontiers in Psychology 11
Trasmundi, Sarah Bro & Johanne S. Philipsen
2020. Embodiments and co-actions: The function of trust and re-enactment in the practice of psychotherapy. Cognitive Semiotics 13:2
ATKINSON, DWIGHT
2019. Beyond the Brain: Intercorporeality and Co‐Operative Action for SLA Studies. The Modern Language Journal 103:4 ► pp. 724 ff.
Gahrn-Andersen, Rasmus
2019. But language too is material!. Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences 18:1 ► pp. 169 ff.
Trasmundi, Sarah Bro
2019. Skilled Embodiment in Emergency Medicine. Chinese Semiotic Studies 15:4 ► pp. 627 ff.
Contreras Kallens, Pablo & Rick Dale
2018. Exploratory mapping of theoretical landscapes through word use in abstracts. Scientometrics 116:3 ► pp. 1641 ff.
Duncker, Dorthe
Fester, Marie-Theres & Stephen J. Cowley
Fröhlich, Marlen & Carel P. van Schaik
2018. The function of primate multimodal communication. Animal Cognition 21:5 ► pp. 619 ff.
Sealey, Alison
2018. Alastair Pennycook: Posthumanist Applied Linguistics. Applied Linguistics 39:6 ► pp. 960 ff.
Trasmundi, Sarah Bro & Matthew Isaac Harvey
2018. A blended quantitative-ethnographic method for describing vocal sonification in dance coaching. Psychology of Language and Communication 22:1 ► pp. 198 ff.
Larsen-Freeman, Diane
2017. Chapter 1. Complexity Theory. In Complexity Theory and Language Development [Language Learning & Language Teaching, 48], ► pp. 11 ff.
Larsen-Freeman, Diane
2017. Chapter 1. Complexity theory. In Complexity Theory and Language Development [Language Learning & Language Teaching, 48],
Larsen-Freeman, Diane
2020. Chapter 8. Complexity Theory. In Cross-theoretical Explorations of Interlocutors and their Individual Differences [Language Learning & Language Teaching, 53], ► pp. 190 ff.
Moore, Roger K.
2017. Is Spoken Language All-or-Nothing? Implications for Future Speech-Based Human-Machine Interaction. In Dialogues with Social Robots [Lecture Notes in Electrical Engineering, 427], ► pp. 281 ff.
Sullivan, Gavin Brent
2017. Wittgenstein’s Influence and Impact in Areas of Psychology. In Wittgenstein’s Philosophy in Psychology, ► pp. 217 ff.
Zheng, Dongping, Yuanfang Dai & Yang Liu
2017. Place, identity and becomings with mobile technologies: feminist and Chinese philosophies in dialogue. International Communication of Chinese Culture 4:3 ► pp. 319 ff.
Anward, Jan & Per Linell
2016. On the grammar of utterances: putting the form vs. substance distinction back on its feet. Acta Linguistica Hafniensia 48:1 ► pp. 35 ff.
Choi, Seongsook
2016. The Case for Open Source Software: The Interactional Discourse Lab. Applied Linguistics 37:1 ► pp. 100 ff.
Steffensen, Sune Vork, Frédéric Vallée-Tourangeau & Gaëlle Vallée-Tourangeau
2016. Cognitive events in a problem-solving task: a qualitative method for investigating interactivity in the 17 Animals problem. Journal of Cognitive Psychology 28:1 ► pp. 79 ff.
Trasmundi, Sarah Bro & Sune Vork Steffensen
2016. Meaning Emergence in the Ecology of Dialogical Systems. Psychology of Language and Communication 20:2 ► pp. 154 ff.
Barbieri, Marcello
2015. Origins of Language. In Code Biology, ► pp. 129 ff.
Barbieri, Marcello
2024. The Origin of Language. In Codes and Evolution [Biosemiotics, 29], ► pp. 207 ff.
Cowley, Stephen J. & Sune Vork Steffensen
2015. Coordination in language. Interaction Studies. Social Behaviour and Communication in Biological and Artificial Systems 16:3 ► pp. 474 ff.
Jensen, Thomas W.
2014. Emotion in languaging: languaging as affective, adaptive, and flexible behavior in social interaction. Frontiers in Psychology 5
Jensen, Thomas Wiben & Elena Cuffari
2014. Doubleness in Experience: Toward a Distributed Enactive Approach to Metaphoricity. Metaphor and Symbol 29:4 ► pp. 278 ff.
Linell, Per
Linell, Per
Cowley, Stephen J.
2013. Naturalizing language: human appraisal and (quasi) technology. AI & SOCIETY 28:4 ► pp. 443 ff.
Cowley, Stephen J.
2014. Linguistic embodiment and verbal constraints: human cognition and the scales of time. Frontiers in Psychology 5
Cowley, Stephen J.
2014. Human Language and Sensorimotor Contingency. In Contemporary Sensorimotor Theory [Studies in Applied Philosophy, Epistemology and Rational Ethics, 15], ► pp. 235 ff.
Cowley, Stephen J.
2015. How peer-review constrains cognition: on the frontline in the knowledge sector. Frontiers in Psychology 6
Cowley, Stephen J.
2015. Verbal Patterns: Taming Cognitive Biology. In Biosemiotic Perspectives on Language and Linguistics [Biosemiotics, 13], ► pp. 123 ff.
Cowley, Stephen J.
2016. Cognition Beyond the Body: Using ABM to Explore Cultural Ecosystems. In Agent-Based Simulation of Organizational Behavior, ► pp. 43 ff.
Cowley, Stephen J.
2016. Biological Simplexity and Linguistic Cognition. Chinese Semiotic Studies 12:1 ► pp. 67 ff.
Cowley, Stephen J.
2019. The Return ofLanguaging. Chinese Semiotic Studies 15:4 ► pp. 483 ff.
Cowley, Stephen J.
2019. Languaging evolved. Chinese Semiotic Studies 15:4 ► pp. 461 ff.
Cowley, Stephen J. & Frédéric Vallée-Tourangeau
2013. Systemic Cognition: Human Artifice in Life and Language. In Cognition Beyond the Brain, ► pp. 255 ff.
Cowley, Stephen J. & Frédéric Vallée-Tourangeau
2017. Thinking, Values and Meaning in Changing Cognitive Ecologies. In Cognition Beyond the Brain, ► pp. 1 ff.
Neumann, Martin & Stephen J. Cowley
2013. Human Agency and the Resources of Reason. In Cognition Beyond the Brain, ► pp. 13 ff.
Neumann, Martin & Stephen J. Cowley
2017. Human Agency and the Resources of Reason. In Cognition Beyond the Brain, ► pp. 175 ff.
Steffensen, Sune Vork
2013. Human Interactivity: Problem-Solving, Solution-Probing and Verbal Patterns in the Wild. In Cognition Beyond the Brain, ► pp. 195 ff.
Steffensen, Sune Vork
2024. Surveying ecolinguistics. Journal of World Languages
[no author supplied]
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 26 october 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.
Subjects
Main BIC Subject
CFG: Semantics, Pragmatics, Discourse Analysis
Main BISAC Subject
LAN009000: LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES / Linguistics / General