Abstract:

Innovation should not go to extreme; criticism should not make radical remarks. Linguistic theory has inherited and developed until today via rethought and initiative. The present-day mainstream Cognitive Linguistics (CL) has also undergone the stages of “start, improvement, dominance, reconsideration”. Dᶏbrowska(2016)severely pointed out the seven deadly sins in the paper entitled “Cognitive Linguistics’ Seven Deadly Sins”, which, we think, is extremely inappropriate. She could not see the academic values of CL from the viewpoint of historical materialism: CL has criticized the two modernist great masters Saussurean “linguistic transcendentalism” and Chomskyan “linguistic nativism”, thus bringing linguistic theory into postmodernist era. In academic research, one should not harbor the mentality of “angry young cynic”, but pursue the path of “inheritance and development”. CL’s shortcomings are not at all seven deadly sins listed in her paper, but can be remedied by Embodied-Cognitive Linguistics, with the two terms “embodiment (ti)” and “cognition (ren)” emphasizing materialism and humanism in linguistic research. The present paper also thinks that we should hold postmodernist “View of Elephant and Leopard” and “Pluralism”, neither restricted to a single idea, nor influenced by extreme remarks, but with a standpoint of “long and wide view” and “inclusive and convergent attitude” so as to continuously promote a healthy progress of disciplinary construction.

Key words: Cognitive Linguistics, seven deadly sins, historical materialism, Embodied-Cognitive Linguistics