@misc{cogprints7626, month = {March}, title = {Reenactment: An embodied cognition approach to meaning and linguistic content}, author = {Dr. Sergeiy Sandler}, year = {2011}, note = {Pre-proofs. Last-minute changes to list of references are possible.}, journal = {Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences}, keywords = {action; cognitive linguistics; dialogue; embodied cognition; meaning; simulation}, url = {http://cogprints.org/7626/}, abstract = {A central finding in experimental research identified with Embodied Cognition (EC) is that understanding actions involves their embodied simulation, i.e. executing some processes involved in performing these actions. Extending these findings, I argue that reenactment ? the overt embodied simulation of actions and practices, including especially communicative actions and practices, within utterances ? makes it possible to forge an integrated EC-based account of linguistic meaning. In particular, I argue: (a) that remote entities can be referred to by reenacting actions performed with them; (b) that the use of grammatical constructions can be conceived of as the reenactment of linguistic action routines; (c) that complex enunciational structures (reported speech, irony, etc.) involve a separate level of reenactment, on which characters are presented as interacting with one another within the utterance; (d) that the segmentation of long utterances into shorter units involves the reenactment of brief audience interventions between units; and (e) that the overall meaning of an utterance can be stated in reenactment terms. The notion of reenactment provides a conceptual framework for accounting for aspects of language that are usually thought to be outside the reach of EC in an EC framework, thus supporting a view of meaning and linguistic content as thoroughly grounded in action and interaction.} }