本文来自Journal of Pragmatics第199卷的书评，作者赵秋盈。
In recent years, a synergy between critical discourse analysis (CDA) and cognitive linguistics (CL) has developed, and critical cognitive linguistics has emerged as a separate discipline. Being a dynamic interdisciplinary field, it has attracted attention from both critical linguistics and critical discourse analysis as an international research hotspot (Zhang and Zhang 2020: 628). Critical cognitive linguistics research is multifaceted, multi-perspectival, and processes different types of discourse corpora. Its theories and methods come from the humanities, social, and cognitive sciences. Critical Cognitive Linguistics provides a systematic overview of the field through a detailed description of the main perspectives, theoretical frameworks, purpose and application, and methodology. The book makes not only significant contributions to the ‘social turn’ of cognitive linguistics, but also has implications for the development of critical discourse analysis.
The book comprises fifteen chapters, divided into two parts. Theory is briefly discussed in the first section. Chapter One outlines the position and research methods of critical cognitive linguistics within critical discourse analysis. Chapters Two through Six summarize the main ideas and theoretical frameworks of the field. The second part (Chapters Seven through Fifteen) describes case studies and discusses the challenges and current research trends.
Chapter One outlines the main positions and theoretical framework of critical cognitive linguistics and introduces its field of research and methods. The authors show how researchers interested in critical cognitive linguistics can use this methodology in their own research. Although introspective methods play an important role in critical discourse analysis, the authors also introduce empirical research methods, such as corpus linguistics and experimental psychological approaches.
In Chapter Two, the authors discuss how the theories concerning conceptual metaphor can be applied in critical discourse analysis. Cognitive linguistics shows that metaphor is not only a language-level problem but also reflects people’s primary mode of thinking, operating in a framing manner. The authors examine metonymy, which reflects people’s ideology and points of view in discourse. They further analyze its construal operation. Finally, the authors argue that conceptual metonymy indicates a salient connection, a special mode in the profile and ground relationship of cognitive grammar, based on people’s attention (p. 27).
In Chapter Three, the authors introduce three critical cognitive linguistics research theories: the theory of mental space, the theory of discourse space, and the proximization theory. In relation to mental space theory, it is pointed out that mental space and conceptual blending are important research paradigms in cognitive linguistics and configure a comprehensive theory of discourse understanding and management. Furthermore, discourse space theory is equally based on mental space because discourse space is a mental space controlled by discourse and constructed by speakers and writers. Unlike other theories, discourse space theory analyzes political and public discourse. Proximization theory was proposed by Cap (2013) based on discourse space theory. Scrutinizing the basic positions of this theory, the authors analyze its shortcomings.
Chapter Four presents the comprehensive cognitive analysis framework for CDA as proposed by Hart (2014), which the authors call Cognitive Linguistic CDA (CL-CDA). Critical discourse analysis and construal operations can be combined to investigate the construction of discourse meaning and the positions and ideologies generated in the process. Section two stresses that there is a mutually reinforcing relationship between discourse strategies and cognitive mechanisms, as between theoretical foundations and practice (p. 59). The interpretation of cognitive mechanisms provides a better understanding of the discourse strategies based on these mechanisms. This is reflected in the interpretation of different cognitive operations of discourse strategy according to multiple cognitive perspectives. The third section analyzes Hart’s discourse strategies and cognitive operations, taking the European refugee crisis corpus as a case in point. These are: structural configuration, framing, identification, and positioning strategies. On this basis, the authors complement their discourse strategy.
Chapter Five examines the social cognition and context model as proposed by van Dijk (2008). Although this model is separate from critical cognitive linguistics, it laid the foundation for critical cognitive linguistics. The authors outline the background of van Dijk’s multidisciplinary context theory, evaluate its contributions, and predict future trends. Context research undoubtedly requires multidisciplinary collaboration. Interdisciplinary research, such as the combination of cognitive and social sciences, is an inevitable trend in context research.
Chapter Six explores critical discourse research from the perspective of the new research area of evolutionary psychology (EP), examining modularity and coercion, the merger of evolutionary psychology and critical discourse research. The authors emphasize that this fusion aims to investigate the relationship between discourse strategies and modules. Finally, the authors describe immigration discourse from the perspective of EP, including referential, predicational, proximization and legitimation strategies.
Above, we outlined the theoretical framework of critical cognitive linguistics. Most of the theoretical critical cognitive linguistics frameworks or tools explained so far came from cognitive linguistics, such as metaphor, metonymy, mental space, and conceptual blending. Some come from discourse analysis based on cognitive linguistics, such as discourse space theory and proximization theory. Others come from other disciplines, such as van Dijk’s social cognitive and contextual models, and evolutionary psychology.
Another important part of the book explores case studies. Chapter Seven examines the metaphorical mapping of moral concepts in English and Chinese corpora in relation to cleanliness. The authors argue that defining ‘clean’ and ‘dirty’ has nothing to do with the object itself, but with its location. If the object is placed in the correct position, it is in a state of order or ‘clean’. Otherwise, it is in a state of disruption and disorder, or ‘dirty’ (p.115). The empirical basis for judging whether or not an object is ‘clean’ is rooted in people’s everyday bodily experiences (which has a lot to do with its pictorial schema). Research shows that the range of moral projection in English and Chinese is consistent, and the two forms have similarities, corresponding to ‘dirty + Noun’ or ‘wu + Noun’ and ‘clean + Noun’ or ‘qing + Noun’ respectively. In addition, there are many expressions of ‘hei + Noun’ (‘hei’ meaning ‘black’) in Chinese, which explore the interaction between metaphor, cognition, and emotion.
Chapter Eight examines the role of conceptual metonymy in news coverage of immigrant workers. It further extends the scope of this metonymy in critical cognitive linguistics. Hart (2011) divides metonymy into two categories: ‘inward’ and ‘outward’. The authors found that in Chinese news reports, besides the above two types of metonymy, there is also a ‘mixed type’. Some references to immigrant workers have introverted and extroverted metonymy features, i.e., paths with both an inward and outward transfer of reference points, such as in the expression ‘floating population’.
In Chapter Nine, in addition to focusing on the constructive role of metaphor and metonymy in unimodal discourse, the authors analyze multimodal metaphor and metonymy. These exist in linguistic and non-linguistic modes, such as images, sounds, gestures, etc. Taking as an example the documentary China’s National Image Promotion: Perspectives, the authors discuss how this typical multimodal discourse type uses a variety of modes based on two cognitive mechanisms to achieve textual coherence and cohesion. Based on this, they found that the documentary uses metaphor and metonymy as cognitive construction frameworks and employs language, image, sound, music, and other symbolic modes to shape China’s national image and new national spirit.
In Chapter Ten, the authors use the approximation theory of critical cognitive linguistics to examine the reform policy regarding foreign languages in China’s university entrance examination from the spatial, temporal, and axiological axes. They point out that the approximation analysis of the language policy is mainly reflected in the time and value axes. The temporal axis allows us to see the policy changes in the university entrance exam over time. The three-time nodes and reference centers in 2014, 2017, and 2020 show a trend, and a modern educational examination enrolment system with Chinese characteristics. From the axiological axis, ‘The State Council’s Implementation Opinions on Deepening the Reform of the Examination and Enrollment System’ constructs the values of a binary opposition, that is, the ‘score-only theory’ before the reform, the ‘one test for life’, while educational inequality corresponds to the reformed ‘classified examination, comprehensive evaluation, multiple admissions and promotion of educational equality’. By critically examining the university entrance examination policy, the authors show the cognitive motivation underlying the language policy design and illustrate the explanatory power of critical cognitive linguistics.
In Chapter Eleven, the analysis starts from the total discourse system and shows the construction of discourse space, illustrating the relationship between discourse space and other elements of the system. The discourse system includes discourse subject, purpose, space, and strategy. Discourse space and discourse strategy are complementary, and different discourse strategies can be used in the construction of a discourse space (p. 175). Using a speech by the former Australian Foreign Minister in the 70th United Nations General Assembly as a corpus, the authors show how political leaders construct discourse space from the spatial, temporal and axiological axes according to the proximization theory and examine the framing strategies as well as categorization, metaphorization and other construal operations.
In Chapter Twelve, the authors conduct an analysis of discourse on political conflict, using the Syrian war discourse as a case study. On the basis of corpus linguistics and a quantitative-qualitative approach, the construction of discursive space is discussed. Thus, the displacement of the ‘deictic center’ of the Syrian war discourse in terms of spatial, temporal, and axiological axes in the discourse of American, Syrian, and Chinese media is analyzed by combining discourse space theory and proximity theory. Based on a synchronous contrastive analysis of discourse of US, Syrian and Chinese media, combined with data statistics, the authors present the three proximization strategies in the form of discourse space graphs. They find that in political conflict discourse, speakers anchored in different ‘deictic centers’ tend to use linguistic manipulation strategies that correspond to their political leaning, implying different viewpoints.
Chapter Thirteen improves the quantitative analysis method of the proximization theory to see if it can reveal the legitimation strategies in public health emergency discourse. On the one hand, the authors elaborate the design of the analysis. On the other, they probe differentiated proximization strategies and a mechanism of legitimation of the attitudes and ideologies of the Chinese and foreign mainstream media that produced the reports on the 2018 Changchun Changsheng Vaccine scandal. The quantitative-qualitative analysis of the data shows that the spatial proximization strategies adopted by Chinese and foreign media are different, mainly in the way they position the inside-deictic and outside-deictic center groups. The temporal proximization strategies appear to be consistent in terms of conceptual shifts from past to present and from future to present. Moreover, the axiological proximization, construed as a contrastive value, is different, with Chinese media emphasizing production standards and quality, while foreign media highlighted security and trust. The results illustrate the explanatory power of proximization theory regarding the discourse on public health emergencies. This research underlines the reproducibility of the proximization theory.
Chapter Fourteen explores intelligence discourse. In order to analyze discourse of this genre, the authors build an analytical framework that integrates critical metaphor analysis, conceptual blending theory, and space theory. They argue that these three theories can be integrated on the premise that they share cognitive principles, characteristics, and complementary relationships. On this basis, the authors conduct a critical cognitive analysis of seven reports released by the US Intelligence Community and explore what discourse strategies and cognitive biases are present and how they construct the ‘realities’ that end up influencing policymakers. They conclude that the analytical framework integrated by these three theories provides a comprehensive analysis and a deconstruction of the intelligence discourse.
In Chapter Fifteen, the last chapter of the book, the authors point out the shortcomings of current critical discourse analysis, especially critical cognitive linguistics. They summarize the challenges and suggest that constructing a theoretical system and improving research methods will mark the development of critical cognitive linguistics. The authors also provide suggestions for future research.
This book introduces critical cognitive linguistics’ main concepts and theories with commentaries and an in-depth analysis of case studies. It is recommended for its pioneering role and practical applications. It is also an essential reference guide for critical discourse analysis and can be used as a textbook or reference work for Chinese graduate students, scholars, and teachers.
In terms of research methods, this book advocates a corpus-based quantitative or qualitative approach. The advantage of corpus methods in critical discourse analysis is that it allows the analyst to freely choose individual discourses and use analytical tools to choose from a large number. Such a method of analysis has obvious advantages at the level of language ontology, i.e., vocabulary, sentences, structure, and grammar. However, it has limitations at the macro-level and at sociocultural levels. Critical discourse analysis relies for bottom-up analysis on a corpus method, which often lacks depth. In order to make up for the inadequacy of corpus-based critical discourse analysis and to expand the field of quantitative discourse research, some scholars (Tornberg and Tornberg, 2016; Lee, 2019) have applied text mining techniques. A chapter on critical cognitive linguistics based on text mining, integrating the theories of this form of analysis with quantitative text mining techniques to process different genres of discourse, would certainly enrich the case studies analyzed here.
本文发表于Journal of Pragmatics 2022年第199卷第72-74页。感谢作者授权转载。由于篇幅所限，参考文献已省略。
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