Barbara Dancygier
Professor of English & Cognitive Linguistics · University of British Columbia
I am a cognitive linguist, working primarily on multimodal communication, construction grammar, and conceptual approaches to figuration and viewpoint.
My current research focuses on the form and meaning of multimodal artifacts and on post-truth phenomena in contemporary media. I am also interested in figurative language, especially the contemporary use of simile, and in cognitive study of literary genres.
I am a Distinguished University Scholar at the University of British Columbia, Department of English Language and Literatures. I am also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. I live and work in Vancouver, British Columbia.
Books
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2025
The Language of Memes: Patterns of Meaning Across Image and Text
Cambridge University Press · with Lieven Vandelanotte
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2017
The Cambridge Handbook of Cognitive Linguistics
Cambridge University Press
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2016
Viewpoint and the Fabric of Meaning
Mouton de Gruyter · co-eds: Wei-lun Lu, Arie Verhagen
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2014
Language and the Creative Mind
CSLI Publications · co-eds: Mike Borkent, Jennifer Hinnell
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2014
Figurative Language
Cambridge University Press · with Eve Sweetser
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2012
The Language of Stories: A Cognitive Approach
Cambridge University Press
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2012
Viewpoint in Language: A Multimodal Perspective
Cambridge University Press · co-ed: Eve Sweetser
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2012
Textual Choices in Discourse
John Benjamins · co-eds: José Sanders, Lieven Vandelanotte
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2005
Mental Spaces in Grammar: Conditional Constructions
Cambridge University Press · with Eve Sweetser
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1998
Conditionals and Prediction
Cambridge University Press · Cambridge Studies in Linguistics 87
About
Current Position
Barbara Dancygier is Professor of English & Cognitive Linguistics and Distinguished University Scholar at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver.
Honours & Fellowships
Dancygier was awarded the Killam Research Prize in 2011, recognising outstanding research contributions at UBC. In 2012-2013 she held a Distinguished Scholar residency at the Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies. In Fall 2015 she was a Fellow at the Institute of Advanced Study, Durham University, UK, and in Fall 2016 a Senior Research Fellow at Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium. Since 2024, she has been a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.
Editorial & Professional Roles
She serves on the editorial boards of Language and Literature, English Text Construction, and Lingua, and on the board of John Benjamins' Human Cognitive Processing book series. She was a board member (2013-2021), and the President (2017-2019) of the International Cognitive Linguistics Association. She edited The Cambridge Handbook of Cognitive Linguistics (Cambridge University Press, 2017).
Academic Background
Dancygier earned her MA and PhD from the Institute of English Studies at the University of Warsaw, where she held faculty positions until 1992. She subsequently spent several years as a researcher at UC Berkeley as a Fulbright Scholar, before relocating to Canada in 1997. She taught at Simon Fraser University before joining UBC's English Department.
Research
Research Interests
Recent Articles (open access)
- Dancygier, B., & Vandelanotte, L. (2026). Schematization, frame evocation and affect in multimodal ads and campaigns. Internet Pragmatics, 9(1), 12–39. https://doi.org/10.1075/ip.00134.dan
- Dancygier, B., & Vandelanotte, L. (2025). Embodiment and simulated interaction in online stance expression. Frontiers in Psychology, 15, Article 1479825. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1479825
- Dancygier, B. (2023). Multimodal media: Framing climate change. Discourse Studies, 25(2), 220–236. https://doi.org/10.1177/14614456231154724
- Dancygier, B. (2021). Fictive deixis, direct discourse, and viewpoint networks. Frontiers in Communication, 6, Article 624334. https://doi.org/10.3389/fcomm.2021.624334
- Dancygier, B. (2021). Narrativized simile and emotional responses to Brexit. Russian Journal of Linguistics, 25(3), 663–684. https://doi.org/10.22363/2687-0088-2021-25-3-663-684
- Dancygier, B. (2019). Proximal and distal deictics and the construal of narrative time. Cognitive Linguistics, 30(2), 399–415. https://doi.org/10.1515/cog-2018-0044