1. 35 years of Cognitive Linguistics Session 8: Cognitive Grammar
Martin Hilpert

2. your questions constituency relational expressions salience schema
semantic pole / phonological pole
open-ended knowledge systems

3. Langacker 1987
Langacker 1991

4. usage-based linguistics
language use shapes
language change
language use shapes
linguistic knowledge
usage-based linguistics
communicative functions
shape language form
language is grounded in
general cognitive processes

5. ideas from Cognitive Grammar, now widely held in Cognitive Linguistics

6. Knowledge of language is knowledge of a network of symbolic units that pair sounds with meanings.

7. Lexicon and grammar are not distinct modules: there is a continuum from very concrete symbols (chair, dog) to very schematic symbols (subject, relative clause).

8. Knowledge of language is usage-based: speakers know symbolic units because they make abstractions over usage events.

9. Langacker’s project: a cognitive grammar
All linguistic structures are meaningful.
subject, noun, preposition, relative clause, progressive aspect, infinitive, past tense, finiteness, modal auxiliary, ...
The meanings of these structures can be fully described in cognitive terms.
to walk
the preposition into
the present progressive
a walk

10. job of the cognitive grammarian
Describe all grammatical structures in terms of their meanings.
Analyze those meanings in terms of general cognitive processes.

11. the content requirement
The stuff grammars are made of:
sounds and structures you’ve heard before
tree, I don’t know, Could you pass the salt?
schemas on the basis of the sounds and structures that you’ve heard before
NOUN, SUB VP, AUX, SUB, VP
categorizing relationships between 1 and 2
‘tree’ is a NOUN

12. the content requirement
“The only units permitted in the grammar of a language are (i) semantic, phonological, and symbolic structures that occur overtly in linguistic expressions; (ii) structures that are schematic for the those in (i); and (iii) categorizing relationships involving the structures in (i) and (ii).”

13. technical terms

14. domains
“All linguistic units are context-dependent to some degree. A context for that characterization of a semantic unit is referred to as a domain. Domains are necessarily cognitive entities: mental experiences, representational spaces, concepts, or conceptual complexes.”
similar to Fillmore’s frames

15. profile and base
“All expressions are characterized semantically by the imposition of a profile on a base.”
Linguistic expressions evoke a frame (base) and highlight a part of that frame (profile).

16. trajectory and landmark
“A relational predication elevates one of its participants to the status of figure. I refer to this participant as its ‘trajector’; other salient participants are referred to as ‘landmarks’.”
the preposition into

18. thing “a region in some domain of conceptual space”
“a noun is a symbolic structure that designates a thing”
cube (a bounded region in 3D space)
moment (a bounded region in time)
paragraph (a portion of a written work)
B-flat (a point-like region on the musical scale)
electricity (a bounded region in the ‘space’ of physical characteristics)

19. relation
“relational expressions profile the interconnections among conceived entities”
prepositions (above)
adjectives (red)
adverbs (quickly)
verbs (run)

20. cube

21. above

22. into

23. grow

25. construal
“Construal is our ability to conceive and portray the same situation in alternate ways. Every lexical and grammatical element incorporates, as an inherent aspect of its meaning, a certain way of construing the conceptual content evoked.”

26. construal The table is under the lamp. The lamp is over the table.
reversal of trajectory and landmark lm tr tr lm
The table is under the lamp.
The lamp is above the table.

27. construal The neighbors are gone. The neighbors are away.
same profile, different base

28. construal Bill sent a walrus to Joyce. Bill sent Joyce a walrus.
same base, different profiles

29. construal different levels of schematicity The boy opened the door.
The boy did something.
Something happened.

30. construal I saw how the bridge collapsed.
I saw the collapse of the bridge.
process vs. thing

31. sequential scanning vs. summary scanning
“The same content can be construed as either a process or a non-processual relationship, depending on whether it is accessed via sequential scanning or summary scanning.”
summary scanning
sequential scanning

32. linguistic units
“The term ‘unit’ is employed in a technical sense to indicate a thoroughly mastered structure, i.e. a cognitive routine.”

33. linguistic units
“Only three basic types of units are posited: semantic, phonological, and symbolic. A symbolic unit is said to be ‘bipolar’, consisting of a semantic unit defining one pole and a phonological pole defining the other.”

34. linguistic units
“Symbolic units vary along the parameters of complexity and specificity.”
Complexity:
cat
blackboard
football coach

35. linguistic units
“Symbolic units vary along the parameters of complexity and specificity.”
Schematicity:
tree
noun
verb

37. linguistic units Units are conventionalized: conventionalized unit
novel expression

38. linguistic units Units can be combined: composite expression
conventionalized schema

39. constituency
“the order in which symbolic structures are progressively assembled into larger and larger composite expressions”
above the table
the lamp above the table

41. elaboration
“It is typical in a construction for one component structure to contain a schematic substructure which the other component serves to elaborate , i.e. characterize in finer- grained detail.”
“A schematic element elaborated by another component is called an elaboration site, or e-site for short.”

42. elaboration
Prepositions such as near occur with nominals that provide a more detailed description of the speaker’s idea:
the door elaborates near

43. elaboration Elaboration sites: ‘open slots’ in complex constructions
the nominal in a prepositional phrase
near the door
the noun in a noun phrase with a determiner
the door
the object nominal in a transitive verb phrase
open the door

44. grounding
“Grounding is proposed as a technical term in Cognitive Grammar to characterize grammatical predications that indicate the relationship of a designated entity to the ground or situation of speech, including the speech event itself, its participants, and their respective spheres of knowledge.”
“Grounding predications are obligatory grammatical elements needed to turn nouns into full nominals, and verbs into finite clauses.”

45. grounding elements nominal: a, the, this, my, his, some, many, ...
(in)definiteness, quantification, deixis

46. grounding elements verbal:
-s, -ed, would, will, be –ing, ...
“clausal grounding is mainly concerned with the status of events with respect to their actual or potential occurrence”
When did it take place? Are we sure that it took place? How did it take place?
Modality, Aspect, Tense

47. Summing up

48. usage-based linguistics
language use shapes
language change
language use shapes
linguistic knowledge
usage-based linguistics
communicative functions
shape language form
language is grounded in
general cognitive processes

49. general cognitive processes
figure-ground perception
seeing ‘things’ and ‘relations’ instead of a chaotic mixture of impressions
categorization
seeing a word like ‘cat’ as a ‘noun’
schematization
seeing the similarities between ‘He ate it’ and ‘Mary baked a cake’
automatization
remembering ‘pencil sharpener’ as a unit
perspective-taking
adopt different points of view upon hearing ‘The cat was chased away’ vs. ‘The dog chased the cat away’

50. Can we come up with a description of grammar that is based exclusively on sounds and meanings?
nouns, verbs, the present tense, the progressive aspect, relative clauses, demonstratives, accusative case, ...

51. See you next time!