Cognitive linguistics

Cognitive linguistics (CL) refers to the school of thought within linguistics that interprets language in terms of the concepts, sometimes universal, sometimes specific to a particular tongue, which underlie its forms. Cognitive linguistics takes an opposing position to the historically prominent position of Noam Chomsky and others in the field of generative grammar. Cognitive linguistics is closely associated with semantics. In its approach to semantics, it is distinct from psycholinguistics, which draws upon empirical findings from cognitive psychology, rather than underlying concepts, to explain the mental processes that underlie the acquisition, storage, production and understanding of speech and writing. Cognitive linguistics broadly breaks down into three main areas of study: cognitive semantics, cognitive approaches to grammar and cognitive phonology.

All linguistics, of course, is cognitive. The school of thought within linguistics taking up the mantle of 'cognitive linguistics' is characterized by adherence to three central positions. First, it denies that there is an autonomous linguistic faculty in the mind; second, it understands grammar in terms of conceptualization; and third, it claims that knowledge of language arises out of language use.

In addition, cognitive linguistics argues that language is both embodied and situated in a specific environment. This can be considered a moderate offshoot of the Sapir–Whorf hypothesis inasmuch as language and cognition mutually influence one another and are both embedded in the experiences and environments of its users.

Cognitive linguists deny that the mind has any module for language-acquisition that is unique and autonomous. This stands in contrast to the stance adopted by Noam Chomsky and others in the field of generative grammar. Although cognitive linguists do not necessarily deny that part of the human linguistic ability is innate, they deny that it is separate from the rest of cognition. They thus reject a body of opinion in cognitive science suggesting that there is evidence for the modularity of language. Departing from the tradition of truth-conditional semantics, cognitive linguists view meaning in terms of conceptualization. Instead of viewing meaning in terms of models of the world, they view it in terms of mental spaces.

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