An introduction to Cognitive Linguistics

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An introduction to Cognitive Linguistics

Liu Jing
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Introduction

• What is cognitive linguistics?
• -- Cognitive linguistics the study of the
  relationship between language and cognitive
  processing in the human brain.
• -- It argues that language is governed by general
  cognitive principles, rather than by a
  special-purpose language module.

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Introduction

• Cognitive linguistics is taken here to refer to
  the approach to
• the study of language that began to emerge in the
  1970s and
• has been increasingly active since the 1980s.
• Three major hypotheses as guiding the cognitive
  linguistic
• approach to language
• language is not an autonomous cognitive faculty
• grammar is conceptualization
• knowledge of language emerges from language use

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Introduction

• Chomskyan linguistics about the mind
• -- the mind is modular and has its initial
  structure.
• -- linguistic knowledge is distinct from
  conceptual knowledge, social cognition,
  interpersonal skills, math abilities, music
  abilities, abilities to reason and so on.

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Introduction Schools in CL

• West coast of America
• Two major Schools
• Berkerly Fillmore, P. Kay (Frame Semantics,
  Cognitive Semantics)
• San Diego Langacker, Fauconnier, Coulson, etc.
  (Cognitive Grammar, Conceptual Integration)

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Introduction CL in China

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