Cognitive Linguistics: An Approach to the Study of Language and Thought

Abstract

The present paper is an attempt to simplify and comprehend what Cognitive Linguistics deals. It helps the learners, students of linguistics and teachers of ELT understand the characteristics and phenomena of Cognitive Linguistics, providing a succinct overview of Cognitive Linguistics. It is an interdisciplinary branch of linguistics and a cluster of overlapping approaches to the study of language as a mental phenomenon. Linguistics basically focuses on the sounds, words, grammar rules and rules of a language consisting of phonology (the sound system), morphology (the structure of words), syntax (the arrangement of words into sentences) and semantics (meanings). Cognitive linguistics is an integrated model - a collection of comprehensive investigations of a wide range of cognitive and linguistic phenomena.

Keywords: Cognitive Linguistics, Cognitive Approaches to Grammar, Cognitive Semantics, Symbolic Thesis, Usage-Based Thesis

JEL Classification: 12