Alumni: Eve Sweetser

Senior Researcher, Artificial Intelligence
sweetser @ icsi.berkeley.edu

Eve Sweetser received her doctorate in linguistics from UC Berkeley in 1984. Since that time she has worked as a professor in the university’s Linguistics Department; she also teaches in, and has directed, the undergraduate Cognitive Science and Celtic Studies programs. Her 1990 book, From Etymology to Pragmatics (Cambridge University Press), explores generalizations about synchronic and diachronic patterns of meaning in the areas of model verbs and conjunctions. Her 2005 book, Mental Spaces In Grammar: Conditional Constructions, was coauthored with Barbara Dancygier and examines the syntax and semantics of a wide range of English conditional constructions, using a Mental Spaces model of semantics. And her new textbook, Figurative Language, also co-authored with Barbara Dancygier, appeared from Cambridge University Press in 2014.  Her primary research interests include historical linguistics, semantics and meaning changes, the semantics of grammatical constructions, cognitive linguistics, metaphor and iconicity, performativity, subjectivity and viewpoint, the relationship between language and gesture, and the Celtic language family. At ICSI, she is a co-PI of the MetaNet project’s Analysis Group, and has been a long-time member of the FrameNet community.

Visit Eve Sweetser's Web site.