Projects per year
Personal profile
Current Teaching
I currently convene the following modules at UG and PG levels:
- LING330 Language, Cognition and Culture (UG)
- LING324 Cognitive Linguistics (UG)
- LING439 Cognitive Linguistics (PG)
- LING440 Critical Discourse Analysis (PG)
I also contribute to teaching on LING103 Linguistics (UG)
SUMMARY of research interests (100 words)
My research combines insights and methods from cognitive science and critical discourse analysis (CDA) to investigate the links between language, cognition and action in contexts of political communication. It falls into three principal programmes as part of a more general cognitive approach to CDA:
In the first, I use frameworks developed in cognitive linguistics (including cognitive grammar, frame semantics and conceptual metaphor theory) to analyse the conceptualisations evoked by linguistic structures in specific social and political contexts of communication includng their ideological and (de)legitimating functions.
In the second, I use experimental methods to empirically test the effects that semiotic choices have on audience attitudes toward social groups and social/political issues.
In the third, I investigate the multimodal properties of political communication including co-text images and co-speech gestures.
I have worked on discourses in different areas of politics but I am primarily interested in discourses of migration, discourses of political protest, and the discrusive performance of right-wing populism.
Related documents
Keywords
- Discourse analysis
- Cognitive Linguistics
- Critical Discourse Analysis
- Language Evolution
- Pragmatics
Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years
Projects
- 1 Active
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Gesture in the Communicative Style of Right Wing Populism
Hart, C. (Principal Investigator)
1/06/24 → 31/03/26
Project: Research
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Gesture size affects numerical estimates in quantifier comprehension
Lorson, A., Macuch-Silva, V., Hart, C. & Winter, B., 31/03/2025, In: Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition. 51, 3, p. 391-424 34 p.Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Open Access -
Language, Image, Gesture: The Cognitive Semiotics of Politics
Hart, C., 13/02/2025, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 298 p.Research output: Book/Report/Proceedings › Book
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Taking a Stance through Stance: The Forms and Functions of Shrugs in the Spoken Discourse of Donald Trump
Hart, C. & Strudwick, S., 21/10/2025, (E-pub ahead of print) In: Visual Communication.Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Open AccessFile38 Downloads (Pure) -
Using Generative AI to Investigate the Multimodal Representation of Refugees and Mirgrants
Hart, C., 31/10/2025, (E-pub ahead of print) In: Discourse & Society.Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Open AccessFile58 Downloads (Pure) -
Fire, war and revolution: Metaphor in media discourses of political protest
Hart, C., 6/05/2024, Metaphor in Socio-Political Contexts: Current Crises. Romano, M. (ed.). De Gruyter Mouton, p. 307-333 27 p. (Applications of Cognitive Linguistics [ACL]; vol. 54).Research output: Contribution in Book/Report/Proceedings - With ISBN/ISSN › Chapter (peer-reviewed) › peer-review
Activities
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Co-speech gestures in the discursive performance of right-wing populism
Hart, C. (Keynote speaker)
2025Activity: Talk or presentation types › Invited talk
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The Embodied Performance of Right-Wing Populism
Hart, C. (Keynote speaker)
2025Activity: Talk or presentation types › Invited talk
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Using the NewsScape corpus to explore multimodal meaning-making in TV news communication about immigration
Hart, C. (Invited speaker)
2025Activity: Talk or presentation types › Invited talk
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Embodied performance and right-wing populism: Co-speech gestures in the spoken discourse of Donald Trump
Hart, C. (Keynote speaker)
2025Activity: Talk or presentation types › Invited talk
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Multimodal Meaning-Making in News Communication about Migration: Using the NewsScape Corpus to Explore Co-Text Images in TV News
Hart, C. (Speaker)
2025Activity: Talk or presentation types › Oral presentation