This cutting-edge volume describes the implications of Cognitive Linguistics for the study of second language acquisition (SLA). The first two sections identify theoretical and empirical strands of Cognitive Linguistics, presenting them as a coherent whole

Cognitive Linguistics (CL) is an approach to the study of language informed byboth linguistics and psychology. It describes how language interfaces with cogni-tion, and how it adapts in the course of language usage, phylogenetically in lan-guage evolution, ontogenetically in language acquisition, and moment-to-momentin situated, on-line language processing and performance. Second LanguageAcquisition (SLA) involves the study of the cognitive representations and mech-anisms of second language processing, their time-course of acquisition, and,where possible and feasible, their relevance to instruction.The Handbook of Cognitive Linguistics and Second Language Acquisition bringsthese two areas of theory and research together