Common ground; mental spaces

[Gisela Redeker]

On 11 Jan 99 at 15:15, Susan Elaine Antlitz wrote:
> a few of the areas you mentioned sound like directions I
> might want to explore, especially common ground and mental spaces in
> discourse.  Are there any additional sources you could direct me to that
> would assist me in getting more acquainted with these areas?


The best recent work on common ground in conversation/discourse
(IMHO) is that of Herb Clark:

Clark, H.H. (1992). _Arenas of Language Use_. Chicago/Stanford:
     University of Chicago Press/CSLI.
     (reprints of theoretical and empirical papers)
Clark, H.H. (1996). _Using Language_. Cambridge University Press.
     (comprehensive monograph, focussing mainly on conversation)
Clark, H.H. (1997). Communities, commonalities, and communication.
     In: J.J. Gumperz & S.C. Levinson (eds.) _Rethinking linguistic
     relativity_ (pp. 324-355). Cambridge University Press.
     (excellent paper reviewing and illustrating the basic motives
     and tenets of a common-ground-based approach to language)


For mental spaces, the classic is:

Fauconnier, G. (1985) _Mental Spaces_. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press
     (rev. ed. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1994).

Apart from numerous papers in edited volumes and work by his students
(esp. the excellent thesis and articles by Seana Coulson), he has two
recent books out:

Fauconnier, G. (1997). _Mappings in thought and language_. New York:
     Cambridge University Press.
Fauconnier, G. & Sweetser, E. (eds.) _Spaces, worlds and grammar_.
     Chicago: Chicago University Press.


Hope some of this can be useful.

Cheers,
Gisela

| Gisela Redeker, Professor, Dept. of Language and Communication |
| University of Groningen,  P.O.Box 716,  NL-9700 AS Groningen   |
| tel:  +31-50-3635973/-5858     fax:  +31-50-3636855            |
| e-mail: G.Redeker at let.rug.nl   http://www.let.rug.nl/~redeker/ |