ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses how cognitive linguistics can constitute a fruitful paradigm for the study of second language acquisition (SLA) and, more specifically, for the investigation of how learners establish form-meaning connections in SLA. It illustrates the possible contribution of cognitive linguistics to SLA by focusing on one particular line of inquiry-that of cognitive typology. Specifically, it examines how Talmy’s typological framework of motion events (1985, 1991, 1996) can be useful for investigating how L2 learners come to interpret and express motion in the L2. It shows how this line of inquiry can constitute the basis for theoretically grounded and testable hypotheses on the types of form meaning mappings that learners from typologically different L1s make when interpreting and expressing motion events in the L2. The formulation of these hypotheses is based on (a) Talmy’s typological framework; (b) an empirical investigation of L1 acquisition conducted by Slobin and his collaborators (Berman & Slobin, 1994) and (c) on Slobin’s thinking for speaking hypothesis (Slobin, 1996a), which constitutes a modified version of the Whorfian relativity hypothesis on the relationship between language and thought.
