Thursday 27 March 2014

Modelling Cognition As Meaning Not Thinking

Halliday & Matthiessen (1999: x):
… cognition “is” (that is, can most profitably be modelled as) not thinking but meaning: the “mental” map is in fact a semiotic map, and “cognition” is just a way of talking about language. … Instead of explaining language by reference to cognitive processes, we will explain cognition by reference to linguistic processes.