Dirk Geeraerts
Encyclopedia
Dirk Geeraerts holds the chair of theoretical linguistics at the University of Leuven, Belgium
. He is the head of the research unit Quantitative Lexicology and Variational Linguistics (QLVL).
His main research interests involve the overlapping fields of lexical semantics, lexicology, and lexicography, with a theoretical focus on cognitive semantics
. His publications include the following monographs:
His involvement with cognitive linguistics
dates from the 1980s, when in his PhD thesis he was one of the first in Europe to explore the possibilities of a prototype-theoretical model of categorization. As the founder of the journal Cognitive Linguistics and as the editor (with Hubert Cuyckens) of the Handbook of Cognitive Linguistics, he played an instrumental role in the international expansion of cognitive linguistics.
Geeraerts is one of the outspoken advocates of the implementation of empirical methodologies, such as corpus linguistics
in cognitive linguistic research and also argues for the involvement of more pragmatic
elements such as contextual factors that influence the construal of word meanings and the choice of 'names' for concepts and the historical implications these have in relation to etymology
and lexicology
.
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
. He is the head of the research unit Quantitative Lexicology and Variational Linguistics (QLVL).
His main research interests involve the overlapping fields of lexical semantics, lexicology, and lexicography, with a theoretical focus on cognitive semantics
Cognitive semantics
Cognitive semantics is part of the cognitive linguistics movement. The main tenets of cognitive semantics are, first, that grammar is conceptualisation; second, that conceptual structure is embodied and motivated by usage; and third, that the ability to use language draws upon general cognitive...
. His publications include the following monographs:
- Paradigm and Paradox (1985)
- Woordbetekenis (1986) (in Dutch)
- Wat er in een Woord Zit (1989) (in Dutch)
- The Structure of Lexical Variation (1994)
- Diachronic Prototype Semantics (1997)
- Convergentie en Divergentie in de Nederlandse Woordenschat (2000) (in Dutch)
- Words and Other Wonders. Papers on Lexical and Semantic Topics (2006)
- Theories of Lexical Semantics (2010)
His involvement with cognitive linguistics
Cognitive linguistics
In linguistics, cognitive linguistics refers to the branch of linguistics that interprets language in terms of the concepts, sometimes universal, sometimes specific to a particular tongue, which underlie its forms...
dates from the 1980s, when in his PhD thesis he was one of the first in Europe to explore the possibilities of a prototype-theoretical model of categorization. As the founder of the journal Cognitive Linguistics and as the editor (with Hubert Cuyckens) of the Handbook of Cognitive Linguistics, he played an instrumental role in the international expansion of cognitive linguistics.
Geeraerts is one of the outspoken advocates of the implementation of empirical methodologies, such as corpus linguistics
Corpus linguistics
Corpus linguistics is the study of language as expressed in samples or "real world" text. This method represents a digestive approach to deriving a set of abstract rules by which a natural language is governed or else relates to another language. Originally done by hand, corpora are now largely...
in cognitive linguistic research and also argues for the involvement of more pragmatic
Pragmatics
Pragmatics is a subfield of linguistics which studies the ways in which context contributes to meaning. Pragmatics encompasses speech act theory, conversational implicature, talk in interaction and other approaches to language behavior in philosophy, sociology, and linguistics. It studies how the...
elements such as contextual factors that influence the construal of word meanings and the choice of 'names' for concepts and the historical implications these have in relation to etymology
Etymology
Etymology is the study of the history of words, their origins, and how their form and meaning have changed over time.For languages with a long written history, etymologists make use of texts in these languages and texts about the languages to gather knowledge about how words were used during...
and lexicology
Lexicology
Lexicology is the part of linguistics which studies words, their nature and meaning, words' elements, relations between words , word groups and the whole lexicon....
.