Abstract
In recent years, a new cognitive research paradigm emphasising situated and bodily cognition has gained impetus. A growing number of neuroscience studies suggest that sensory-motor experiences shape the individual's development of concepts and language use.
A commonly shared explanation of these findings proposes that when we as infants are acquiring language, linguistic activity is simultaneous with our perceptual access to the concrete phenomena and situations to which it refers. These situations become meaningful co-active 'sounding boards' that corroborate our competent language use.
According to this theory, linguistic meaning invoked for example while reading occurs as a partial re-enaction of these situations. In this article, we highlight the implications of the close links between language and bodily situations in relation to reading in different places.