Enrique Bernárdez – författare

The contributions contained in the second volume of the two-volume set Body, Language and Mind introduce and elaborate upon the concept of sociocultural situatedness, understood broadly as the way in which minds and cognitive processes are shaped, both individually and collectively, by their interaction with socioculturally contextualized structures and practices; and, furthermore, how these structures interact, contextually, with language and can become embodied in it.Drawing on theoretical concepts and analytical tools within the purview of cognitive linguistics and related fields, the volume explores the relationship between body, language and mind, focusing on the complex mutually reinforcing relationships holding between the sociocultural contextualisation of language and, inversely, the linguistic contextualisation of culure. Stated differently, the notion of sociocultural situatedness allows for language to be seen as a cultural activity and at the same time as a subtle mechanism for organizing culture and thought. The volume offers a representative, multi- and interdisciplinary collection of new papers on sociocultural situatedness, bringing together for the first time a wide variety of perspectives and case studies directed explicitly to elucidating the analytical potential of this concept for cognitive linguists and other researchers working in allied fields such as AI, discourse studies and cognitive anthropology. The book brings together several core issues related to the notion of sociocultural situatedness, some of which have been addressed previously, although to a large degree sporadically and from a variety of disciplinary perspectives without fully exploring the possible analytical advantages of this concept as a tool for investigating the role of culturally entrenched schemata in cognition and language. In short, this is the first comprehensive survey of sociocultural situatedness theory.

The contributions contained in the second volume of the two-volume set Body, Language and Mind introduce and elaborate upon the concept of sociocultural situatedness, understood broadly as the way in which minds and cognitive processes are shaped, both individually and collectively, by their interaction with socioculturally contextualized structures and practices; and, furthermore, how these structures interact, contextually, with language and can become embodied in it.

Drawing on theoretical concepts and analytical tools within the purview of cognitive linguistics and related fields, the volume explores the relationship between body, language and mind, focusing on the complex mutually reinforcing relationships holding between the sociocultural contextualisation of language and, inversely, the linguistic contextualisation of culure. Stated differently, the notion of sociocultural situatedness allows for language to be seen as a cultural activity and at the same time as a subtle mechanism for organizing culture and thought.

The volume offers a representative, multi- and interdisciplinary collection of new papers on sociocultural situatedness, bringing together for the first time a wide variety of perspectives and case studies directed explicitly to elucidating the analytical potential of this concept for cognitive linguists and other researchers working in allied fields such as AI, discourse studies and cognitive anthropology. The book brings together several core issues related to the notion of sociocultural situatedness, some of which have been addressed previously, although to a large degree sporadically and from a variety of disciplinary perspectives without fully exploring the possible analytical advantages of this concept as a tool for investigating the role of culturally entrenched schemata in cognition and language.

In short, this is the first comprehensive survey of sociocultural situatedness theory.

As cognitive scientists continue to probe into the nature of the human mind, it is increasingly clear that research into cognition cannot be dissociated from the context in which our mental activity occurs. The papers collected in this book testify to the growing interest in adopting a broad characterisation of what counts as relevant context. The vices of seeking essences behind complex phenomena should not go unnoticed, the primary, and possibly the most crucial, downside of this approach being a reductionist treatment of the human mind. With this book, the authors want to show that humans are not merely brains, minds, speakers, learners, readers, etc., but, first and foremost, complex beings who communicate within and beyond the contexts of their own cultures.

Este "Viaje lingüístico por el mundo" propone una aproximación original a la tipología de las lenguas: en vez de un sobrevuelo a gran altura, con descensos parciales sin llegar a tocar nunca el suelo, se centra en unas pocas lenguas que se observan con cierto detalle. Se identifican en ellas rasgos lingüísticos, de familia o tipológicos, que a continuación se expanden para comprobar su funcionamiento en otras lenguas. Este procedimiento nos acerca a lenguas concretas lo suficiente como para hacernos una idea de sus características más destacadas, al tiempo que nos aproxima también a la situación lingüística mundial. Las lenguas escogidas son muy distintas en su antigüedad, grado de utilización, número de hablantes o zonas geográficas, pero todas ellas le serán poco familiares al lector, lo que ofrece una rara oportunidad de conocer lenguas sobre las que no siempre es fácil encontrar información fiable. Completa el libro una introducción, que explica las cuestiones teóricas fundamentales, y un índice-esquema de rasgos lingüísticos, que indica en qué lugares del libro se trata cada uno de esos aspectos y categorías y con qué lenguas se ejemplifican.

La mitología nórdica o "vikinga" es menos famosa y popular que la clásica, pero no por ello posee menor interés y atractivo, como numerosas creaciones (de Wagner a J.R.R.Tolkien, de las películas del superhéroe Thor a la serie Vikingos) ponen de manifiesto. Enrique Bernárdez presenta lo esencial de esta mitología en este libro en el que el rigor no está reñido con la amenidad y la divulgación. Después de una introducción que nos proporciona las ideas generales para transitar cómodamente por sus páginas, el autor da cuenta de la organización y el origen del mundo mítico nórdico, presenta a los dioses de época vikinga en dos partes -los Vanes (Niörd, Frey, Freya...) y los dioses ases (Odín, Thor...)-, para pasar al "Crepúsculo" o Destino Final de los dioses, antes de recoger las principales leyendas heroicas. Provista de un utilísimo índice onomástico, la obra concluye con unas notas sobre los usos y abusos de esta mitología, especialmente en el mundo moderno.