FAUCONNIER, Gilles Raymond 1944-

PERSONAL: Born August 19, 1944. Education: École Polytechnique, B.A., 1965; University of Paris, D.E.A. (mathematics), 1967; University of California at San Diego, Ph.D. (linguistics), 1971; University of Paris VIII, doctorate (linguistics), 1973; University of Paris VII, D.L.S., 1976.

ADDRESSES: Agent—co/Author's Mail, Basic Books, 387 Park Avenue S., 12th floor, New York, NY 10016-8810. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER: Cognitive scientist, author, lecturer, and editor. National Center for Scientific Research, Paris, professor, 1966-78; International Institute of Linguistics, Tunis, professor, summer 1976, 1977, 1979; Department of Language Sciences, University of Paris VIII, professor, 1978-87; École Polytechnique, professor, 1980-81; École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, Paris, director of studies, 1980-87; International Institute of Linguistics, École Normale Superieure, Rabat, professor, 1982-83; Department of Cognitive Science, University of California at San Diego, professor, 1988—. Member of Scientific Council of the University of Paris VIII and of the electoral college, National Center for Scientific Research, Paris.

MEMBER: International Cognitive Linguistics Association, Cognitive Science Society, American Association for the Advancement of Science, Association des Sciences du Language (member of board).

AWARDS, HONORS: Fellowship, American Council of Learned Societies, 1969; honored by Mathematical Social Science Board, Institute of Linguistics, and Linguistic Society of America, 1974; Guggenheim fellowship, 1998; American Philosophical Society fellowship, 1999; Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences fellowship, 1999-2000.

WRITINGS:

Theoritical Implications of Some Global Phenomena in Syntax, Indiana University Linguistics Club (Bloomington, IN), 1971.

La Coreference: syntaxe ou semantique? Seuil (Paris, France), 1974.

Étude de certains aspects logiques et grammaticaux, Lille III (Paris, France), 1980.

Espaces mentaux: aspects de la construction du sens, Minuit (Paris, France), 1984, translated as Mental Spaces: Aspects of Meaning Construction in Language, MIT Press (Cambridge, MA), 1985.

(Co-editor with Eve Sweetser) Spaces, Worlds, andGrammar, University of Chicago Press (Chicago, IL), 1996.

Mappings in Thought and Language, Cambridge Press (New York, NY), 1997.

The Way We Think: Conceptual Blending and the Hidden Complexities, Basic Books (New York, NY), 2002.

Member of editorial boards of Cognition, 1979-88, Cognitive Science, Cognitive Linguistics, and Journal of Semantics, all 1981-92, Linguistic Inquiry, 1974-81, Linguisticae Investigationes and Linguistics and Philosophy, both 1983-93, Papers in Pragmatics, 1988-92, and Recherches Linguistiques and Semantikos, 1975-90.

SIDELIGHTS: Cognitive scientist and author Gilles Raymond Fauconnier is the recipient of numerous awards, including a Guggenheim fellowship in 1998 and a fellowship from the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences. He holds an engineering degree from Paris's École Polytechnique, a D.E.A. in mathematics from the University of Paris, and a Ph.D. in linguistics from the University of California at San Diego. In his work, he attempts to understand and explain the mostly unconscious mental operations conducted as people think and speak. Conceptual building, analogical mapping, and the construction of mental spaces are subjects of Fauconnier's research and analysis.

Fauconnier's Theoretical Implications of Some Global Phenomena in Syntax was published in 1971. La Coreference: syntaxe ou semantique? followed in 1974. Étude de certains aspects logiques et grammaticaux was published in 1980, and Espaces mentaux: aspects de la construction du sens, in 1984, with its English translation, Mental Spaces: Aspects of Meaning Construction in Language, published in 1985.

Co-edited with Eve Sweetser, his 1996 book Spaces, Worlds, and Grammar details a series of actual workshops in cognitive linguistics. How does linguistic form impact a person's spatial perceptions? The editors outline varying aspects of the self as receiver, communicator, and back-and-forth participant in a complex language-sharing network. Reviewing the book for Choice, P. L. Derks called the work "Suitable for faculty and researchers." The work contains a series of articles by professionals in the field of cognitive linguistics that were presented originally in workshops at the University of California at Berkeley and at the University of California at San Diego in the early 1990s. Among them, are "Cognitive Links and Domains: Basic Assumptions of Mental Space Theory" by Sweetser and Fauconnier, "Sorry, I'm Not Myself Today: The Metaphor System for Conceptualizing Self" by George Lakoff, and "Perspective and the Representation of Speech and Thought in Narrative Discourse" by Jose Sanders and Gisela Redeker.

Journal of Linguistics contributor Farrell Ackerman noted of Spaces, Worlds, and Grammer that "The best essays . . . represent the tensions associated with the admirable theoretical goal of providing a well-defined set of assumptions that will, in their interaction, yield the structures of known languages (i.e., address language universals) and do this by a careful examination. . . . The less good err in ways encouraged by their local biases, but all of the papers contribute worthwhile insights . . . to the field of theoretical linguistics."

Published in 1997, Mappings in Thought and Language tracks the subtle, intricate, and sometimes unconscious processes by which a human being produces and constructs sentences. Fauconnier provides examples or case histories of certain sentences, and analyzes the cognitive workings that create speech. Reviewing this book for Choice, P. L. Derks called the advanced topic 'premature' but remarked, "With the use of analogy for comprehension, the order out of uncertainty that leads to understanding, creativity, and humor is revealed."

Written with colleague Mark Turner, 2002's The Way We Think: Conceptual Blending and the Hidden Complexities discusses the role of the imagination in everyday existence. Continuing the efforts of cognitive linguists and researchers in mapping basic elements of thought, image-schemas, conceptual metaphors, and mental spaces are introduced. The two scholars lay out their idea of conceptual blending, the mental activity integrating the above-mentioned theoretical terms. In Poetics Today Monika Fludernik, Donald C. Freeman, and Margaret H. Freeman commented on Turner and Fauconnier's work. They note that the authors "argue that in virtually all of what we think, read, and say, we make use of the human capacity of projecting elements from disparate input spaces into blended target spaces to create new or emergent meaning." The Poetics Today contributors cited as an example of blending the slang term "McJobs", which describes a lowpaying entry-level job. The term combines several stories or concepts: the workplace setting and its history, the idea of a large fast-food chain, and the popular trend toward short-term employment. All three stories contained in the metaphor are projected into Fauconnier's notion of blended space. "McJobs" takes ideas from three input stations while resembling no one completely, but becoming a new thing.

Fauconnier teaches and lectures internationally on semiotics and cognitive theory. He has served on several editorial boards of professional journals, including Cognition and the Journal of Semantics.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

periodicals

Choice, February 6, 1988, P. L. Derks, review of Mappings in Thought and Language, p. 1069; April 8, 1997, P. L. Derks, review of Spaces, Worlds, and Grammars, p. 1421.

Journal of Linguistics, Volume 36, 2000, Farrell Ackerman, "Some Observations on the Typology of Linguistic Theories," pp. 365-381.

Library Journal, March 15, 2002, Laurie Bartolini, review of The Way We Think: Conceptual Blending and the Mind's Hidden Complexities, p. 104.

Poetics Today, fall, 1999, Monika Fludernik, Daniel C. Freeman, and Margaret H. Freeman, "Metaphor and Beyond: An Introduction," pp. 383-397.*