Cognitive Grammar in Stylistics: A Practical Guide - Hardcover

This is a hugely empowering and enabling book. Cognitive Grammar is the latest exciting tool for stylistic exploration; Giovanelli and Harrison make it usable for a rich range of texts from literary works to politics, news and advertising. This book shows how a new way of thinking about language can seem the most natural way of analysing texts.
Peter Stockwell, Professor of Literary Linguistics, University of Nottingham, UK

In Cognitive Grammar in Stylistics, Marcello Giovanelli and Chloe Harrison achieve an impressive feat: they introduce the notoriously difficult, unwieldy framework of cognitive grammar in a way that is engaging, and, above all, renew it as an accessible, usable stylistic tool. With activities, sample answers and suggestions for further reading and research, this book should be the first call for all students, teachers and scholars wanting to explore the various construals and force dynamics of poetry, drama, and fiction.
Alison Gibbons, Reader in Contemporary Stylistics, Sheffield Hallam University, UK

This is a very engaging and highly accessible introduction both to cognitive grammar and to stylistics. It discusses a wide range of ideas from cognitive grammar and a wide range of texts. It clearly shows how the ideas from cognitive grammar help us to understand the texts and how analysing the texts helps us to understand cognitive grammar. It also makes clear how to analyse other texts independently. It is sure to be an influential publication, making it easier to introduce and explore ideas from cognitive grammar and stylistics in classroom work and in other activities. Students should find that it helps them to develop their understanding quickly and to move on to carry out their own research and other projects. I learned a lot from reading it.
Billy Clark, Professor of English Language and Linguistics, Northumbria University, UK

Cognitive Grammar in Stylistics: A Practical Guide provides an engaging, accessible and practically-focused introduction to cognitive grammar outlining how central principles of the field can be used in stylistic analyses. Assuming no prior knowledge, the book leads students through the basics of cognitive grammar, outlining its place within the field of cognitive linguistics as a whole, providing clear explanations of key principles and concepts. It then explains how these can be used to study a range of literary and non-literary texts.

The book argues that cognitive grammar offers a powerful alternative to more traditional grammatical models when analysing texts. Its primary focus is on the practical application of cognitive grammar to examples of language in context and on its potential for both literary and non-literary material. It offers a clear and facilitating approach to allow students to describe language features carefully and to explore how these descriptions can be developed into full and rich analyses.

Suitable for undergraduate students taking modules in stylistics, English language, and cognitive linguistics, as well as postgraduates encountering the field for the first time, the book provides a much-needed and essential guide to this exciting subject.