The present text, entitled Ten Lectures on Event Structure in a Network Theory of Language by Nikolas Gisborne, is a version of the lectures given by Nikolas Gisborne in May 2016 as the forum speaker for the 15th China International Forum on Cognitive Linguistics. Nikolas Gisborne received his PhD from University College London and is currently Professor of Linguistics at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, the United Kingdom, where he has worked since 2002. Before moving to Edinburgh, he taught at the University of Hong Kong and the University of Cambridge. Dr. Gisborne works on syntax and semantics, particularly event structure and predication, and on language change. He works with a network-based theory of language and cognitive structure, and is interested in the theoretical question of how to model a formal theory of language so that it is cognitively and psychologically plausible.
One of Dr. Gisborne’s representative works is Event Structure of Perception Verbs (Oxford University, 2010), which analyses the event structure of perception verbs from the perspective of Word Grammar. Dr. Gisborne has also co-edited a book with Willem Hollmann entitled Theory and Data in Cognitive Linguistics (John Benjamin Publishing Company, 2014), which includes studies on the current theory and research methodology in Cognitive Linguistics.
The China International Forum on Cognitive Linguistics (http://cifcl.buaa.edu.cn/) provides a forum for eminent international scholars to give lectures on their original contributions to the field. It is a continuing program organized by several prestigious universities in Beijing. The following is a list of organizers for CIFCL 15.
Organizer:
Fuyin (Thomas) Li: PhD/Professor, Beihang University
Co-organizers:
Wei Wu: PhD/Professor, Tsinghua University
Yihong Gao: PhD/Professor, Peking University
Baohui Shi: PhD/Professor, Beijing Forestry University
Yuan Gao: PhD/Professor, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences
Xu Zhang: PhD/Professor, Beijing Language and Culture University
The text is published, accompanied by its audio counterpart, as one of the Eminent Linguists Lecture Series. The transcriptions of the video, proofreading of the text and publication of the work in its present book form, have involved many people’s strenuous inputs. The initial transcripts were completed by the following: Longbo Ren, Yu Deng, Zhiyong Hu, Lin Yu, Jinmei Li, Hongxia Jia, Jing Du, Mengmin Xu, Chenxi Niu. Jing Du produced revisions of the initial transcripts. The speaker, Professor Nikolas Gisborne made the final revisions. The published version is the final version approved by the speaker.
The publication of this book is sponsored by the National Social Science Foundation Award No.13BYY012, and by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (YMF-16-WYXY-010).
Beihang University (BUAA)
Thomas Fuyin Li
Hongxia Jia
Jinmei Li