Landmark publications by G. Lakoff and M. Johnson in 1987 establishedimage schemasamong the cornerstone concepts of the emerging paradigm of Cognitive Linguistics. The pre-linguistic, dynamic and highly schematic gestalt patterns arising from motor movement, object manipulation, and perceptual interaction were posited as the cognitive anchors linking abstract reasoning and imagination to bodily experience. Ever since its introduction, the notion has inspired much research and debate on diverse issues from the meaning, structure and acquisition of natural languages to the embodied mind itself.From Perception to Meaningunites original papers by leading scholars outlining the current state-of-the-art in image-schema theory.

Beate Hampe is Assistant Professor at the English Department of the Friedrich Schiller-Universität, Jena, Germany.

Joseph E. Gradyhas left university and works for a company calledCultural Logicwhich specializes in applied cognitive linguistics/anthropology in Washington, DC, USA.