'Louder than words': New book on embodied simulation and meaning

[Benjamin Bergen]

Dear Funknetters,

I'm pleased (and relieved) to announce the publication of a new book I've 
written, which might be of interest to members of this list. It's called 
"Louder than Words: The New Science of How the Mind Makes Meaning," from Basic 
Books, and is available at fine booksellers everywhere, both in the real world 
and online.

The book articulates an embodied theory of meaning based on the premise that 
language users simulate what it would be like to experience things and events 
that are described, using their perceptual, motor, and affective systems. I 
combine evidence from brain imaging and behavioral experiments with linguistic 
analysis to show what work simulation can do for a theory of language. Chapters 
address individual differences in meaning, meaning differences across languages 
and cultures, how grammar drives meaning and simulation, and how and what 
people simulate when dealing with metaphorical language.

I tried to write the book in such a way that it's at once accessible to the 
interested lay reader and at the same time packed densely enough with 
compelling current research to be useful to the specialist researcher and 
appropriate for classes on meaning, language, and cognition. I hope you'll find 
that I've succeeded!

You can find an excerpt, chapter list, and other materials here: 
http://www.louderthanwordsbook.com

And Salon.com published an excerpt from the first chapter today: 
http://www.salon.com/2012/10/20/where_does_language_come_from/.

Best regards,

Ben

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  Benjamin K. Bergen

  Associate Professor, Department of Cognitive Science
  Director, Language and Cognition Lab
  University of California, San Diego

  My new book, coming out October 30, 2012:
  Louder than words: The new science of how the mind makes meaning
  http://www.louderthanwordsbook.com

  Contact:
  bkbergen at ucsd.edu
  http://www.cogsci.ucsd.edu/~bkbergen/
  Office: (858)534-2523
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