Cognitive semantics in cognitive linguistics

Abstract

This article examines the historical development, theoretical foundations, and role of cognitive semantics in modern linguistics based on scholarly sources. It discusses the fundamental principles of cognitive semantics, including the embodied nature of conceptual structure, the relationship between semantic and conceptual structures, the encyclopedic nature of meaning, and the connection between meaning construction and conceptualization. The study also reviews major theoretical approaches, including Conceptual Metaphor Theory by George Lakoff and Mark Johnson, Charles Fillmore’s Frame Semantics, Ronald Langacker’s Cognitive Grammar and Domain Theory, and Gilles Fauconnier and Mark Turner’s Conceptual Integration (Blending) Theory. Furthermore, it explains the mechanisms of knowledge organization and reality conceptualization through categorization, prototype theory, and idealized cognitive models. The research employs descriptive, comparative, and cognitive analysis methods. The findings demonstrate the theoretical and practical significance of cognitive semantics for explaining the relationship between language and thought, conceptual meaning construction, discourse analysis, translation studies, and artificial intelligence-based natural language processing.