Subject: new books on human cognitive processing

john benjamins publishing would like to call your attention to the following new title in the field of human cognitive processing : the contemporary theory of metaphor a perspective from chinese < br > ning yu the primary objective of this book is to contribute to the contemporary theory of metaphor from the viewpoint of chinese so as to help place the theory into a wider cross-linguistic and cross-cultural perspective . aiming at this primary objective , it explores two major questions faced by the contemporary theory : ( 1 ) if abstract reasoning is at least partially metaphorical in nature ; and ( 2 ) what conceptual metaphors are universal , widespread , or culture-specific . it focuses on ( 1 ) metaphors of emotions , ( 2 ) the time as space metaphor , and ( 3 ) the event structure metaphor . it studies how chinese is similar to and different from english with regard to these metaphor systems and image schemas involved , and what reasons ( cognitive or cultural ) can account for the similarities and differences between these two languages . in general , the empirical studies presented in this book reinforce the view that metaphor is the main mechanism through which abstract concepts are comprehended and abstract reasoning is performed . they also support , from the perspective of chinese , the candidacy of some conceptual metaphors for metaphorical universals . these include , for instance , the anger is heat metaphor , the happy is up metaphor , the time as space metaphor and the event structure metaphor . it seems that these conceptual metaphors are grounded in some basic human experiences that may be universal to all human beings . 1998 ca 300pp . human cognitive processing , 1 us / canada : hb : 1 55619 201 0 price : usd 59 . 00 rest of the world : hb : 90 272 2353 x price : nlg 118 bernadette martinez - keck publicity / marketing tel : ( 215 ) 836-1200 fax : ( 215 ) 836-1204 e-mail : bernie @ benjamins . com john benjamins north america po box 27519 philadelphia pa 19118-0519 check out the john benjamins web site : http : / / www . benjamins . com /
