Cognitive English Grammar (Cognitive Linguistics in Practice)

Cognitive English Grammar is designed to be used as a textbook in courses of English and general linguistics. It introduces the reader to cognitive linguistic theory and shows that Cognitive Grammar helps us to gain a better understanding of the grammar of English. The notions of motivation and meaningfulness are central to the approach adopted in the book. In four major parts comprising 12 chapters, Cognitive English Grammar integrates recent cognitive approaches into one coherent model, allowing the analysis of the most central constructions of English. Part I presents the cognitive framework: conceptual and linguistic categories, their combination in situations, the cognitive operations applied to them, and the organisation of conceptual structures into linguistic constructions. Part II deals with the category of ‘things’ and their linguistic structuring as nouns and noun phrases. It shows how things are grounded in reality by means of reference, quantified by set and scalar quantifiers, and qualified by modifiers. Part III describes situations as temporal units of various layers: internally, as types of situations; and externally, as located relative to the time of speech and grounded in reality or potentiality. Part IV looks at situations as relational units and their structuring as sentences. Its two chapters are devoted to event schemas and space and metaphorical extensions of space.Cognitive English Grammar offers a wealth of linguistic data and explanations. The didactic quality is guaranteed by the frequent use of definitions and examples, a glossary of the terms used, overviews and chapter summaries, suggestions for further reading, and study questions.

Table of contents

 

Preface	vii–ix
Introduction	xi–xiii
Part I. The cognitive framework	1–2
1. Categories in thought and language	3–19
2. Cognitive operations in thought and language	21–39
3. From thought to language: Cognitive Grammar	41–59
Part II. Things: Nouns and noun phrases	61–62
4. Types of things: Nouns	63–86
5. Grounding things: Reference	87–114
6. Quantifying things: Quantifiers	115–139
7. Qualifying things: Modifiers	141–169
Part III. Situations as temporal units: Aspect, tense and modality	171–174
8. Situation types: Aspect	175–199
9. Grounding situations in time: Tense	201–232
10. Grounding situations in potentiality: Modality	233–265
Part IV. Situations as relational units: Sentence structure	267–268
11. Event schemas: Sentence patterns	269–301
12. Space and extensions of space: Complements and adjuncts	303–334
Glossary	335–348
References	349–360
Index	361–374

Approved by Englishcology