Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-r7xzm Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-29T01:33:01.124Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

1 - On representing events – an introduction

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 March 2011

Eric Pederson
Affiliation:
University of Oregon
Jürgen Bohnemeyer
Affiliation:
University at Buffalo, The State University of New York
Jürgen Bohnemeyer
Affiliation:
University at Buffalo, State University of New York
Eric Pederson
Affiliation:
University of Oregon
Get access

Summary

This volume presents a collection of essays reporting on new research into the relationship between event representations in language and mind. In recent decades, linguists have increasingly invoked the notion of ‘events’ – under this and other labels – in modeling the meanings of natural language expressions. Indeed, numerous aspects of the structure of human languages are now commonly seen across theories and frameworks as geared towards the task of expressing event descriptions.

Like many of the constructs of semantic analysis and theory, the concept of ‘event’ has been influenced by the work of philosophers and natural scientists, usually with no more than a passing acknowledgment of the puzzles and controversies besetting its philosophical treatment (see Pianesi and Varzi 2000 for an overview). Philosophers have referenced the concept since antiquity, especially in treatments of causality (the subordinate notion of ‘actions’ has been used even longer in moral philosophy). However, events and their properties do not appear to have become topics of ontological research before the twentieth century, and their status must at present be considered far from settled. Even more glaring is the contrast between the rich and imposing architecture of event representations in language envisioned by many semanticists and the limited and scattered research on the status, nature, and role of event representations in the cognitive processing of perception and action by psychologists.

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2010

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×