Blurb:

Chapter 4 presents the general approach to language study, known as


Cognitive Linguistics, and the specific approach to linguistic meaning,


known as Cognitive Semantics. The chapter begins by outlining the guiding


assumptions that characterize the two approaches to language description.


The aim is to show how adept the assumptions are in analysing linguistic


data and capturing semantic phenomena. The chapter is organized as follows.


Section 4.1 introduces the assumptions of Cognitive Linguistics that characterize


language as being non-modular, symbolic, usage based, meaningful


and creative. Section 4.2 presents the assumptions of Cognitive Semantics


that characterize linguistic meaning as being embodied, motivated, dynamic,


encyclopaedic and conceptualized. In all the sections, I pursue three steps.


First, I present the assumption. Second, I elaborate on its essence. Third, I


devise an exercise to validate its application. Section 4.3 summarizes the


main points of the chapter.