D. U. Ashurova m. R. Galieva cognitive linguistics

2.3. Methodological basis of Cognitive Linguistics

As it has already been mentioned, the most influential linguists working on the problems of Cognitive Linguistics are Charles Fillmore, George Lakoff, Ronald Langacker, Ray Jackendoff, Eleanor Rosch and Leonard Talmy. Each of these linguists developed their own approach to language description and linguistic theory, centered on a particular set of phenomena and concerns.

The methodological foundation of Cognitive Linguistics consists in:

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  Frame semantics developed by Ch. Fillmore (1982) who introduced the notion of “frame” to the analysis of linguistic semantics. Frame is a hierarchical structure of linguistic data representing a stereotype situation. It is a unit of knowledge structures organized around some notion or situation and verbalized by means of interrelated linguistic units. Frame semantics according to N.N. Boldirev (2004) can explain the relations between words and their corresponding concepts, and reveal new implicit senses
  
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  Conceptual semantics based on the hypothesis that the information obtained in the process of visual, auditory, tactile, etc., perception forms a certain conceptual system in the individual’s mind, his conceptual world picture (Jackendoff, 1983). The conceptual system is considered in terms of mental representations, which reflect non-linguistic human cognition, on the one hand, and its linguistic, verbal presentation – on the other
  
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  Prototype semantics developed by E. Rosch (1975), concentrates attention on the process of categorization. Categorization is understood as a mental process of taxonomic activity, regulated presentation of various phenomena classified according to their essential, categorizing characteristics. Categorization is based on the theory of prototypes regarded as the best samples of a certain category reflecting its entity and properties in full measure
  
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  Theory of relevance vs. salience as one of the principles of presenting information consists in the assumption that in any concrete case of communication the most essential, relevant information is somehow marked out and outlined (Sperber, Wilson, 1989). The principle of relevance is bound up with the principle of foregrounding regarded as a cognitive procedure of selecting linguistic expressions and attracting attention to the most significant information. It also bears reference to the theory of “gestalt” as a cognitive structure presupposing a perceptual differentiation of “figure and ground”. In other words in the process of perception some parts of information are more conspicuous, they are put forward and stand out against the background information
  
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  The theory of cognitive modeling and cognitive (conceptual) metaphor regarded as models of understanding, conceptualization and categorization of the coming in information. G. Lacoff suggests four types of cognitive models: propositional, schematic, metaphorical and metonymical. Such an approach accounts for a great interest to metaphor as a mechanism of thinking and understanding based on the principle of analogy which is considered one of the main principles of cognition
  
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  The theory of mental space (Fauconnier, 1994), conceptual domains (Langacker, 1987, 1991) postulating that the meaning of a linguistic unit can be specified in complex cognitive construals of interrelated concepts. In other words, linguistic meanings can be characterized only within a cognitive context which in its turn evokes appropriate to the situation knowledge about the world.
  

The survey of the linguistic literature enables us to outline the following basic problems of Cognitive Linguistics:

1. 
   Knowledge structures and their verbalization. This problem deals with such issues as: types of knowledge structures, mechanism of their linguistic representations, correlations between language and knowledge structures and many others;
   
2. 
   The notion of concept and its verbalization. This issue concerns with the structure of the concept and the methods of its analysis; types of concepts and their associativity; the notion of “conceptosphere”.
   
3. 
   The problems of conceptualization as one of the main processes of the human cognitive activity dealing with composing knowledge structures on the basis of text data and background information. The problem of categorization aimed to segmentate and systemize the objects grouping them into larger general classes. There are various ways of categorization according to: a) a set of generic features; b) a proximity to a prototype; c) due to “family resemblance” (Wittgenstein, 2);
   
4. 
   The cognitive-discourse approach to the analysis of the linguistic data. This approach presupposes the study of the cognitive groundings of linguistic expressions. In other words, linguistic units are studied in the cluster of their lexical, grammatical, pragmatic and cognitive characteristics;
   
5. 
   The study of the text within the cognitive paradigm. The main principle of this approach is to ascertain conceptual structuring of the text. According to E.S. Kubryakova, language has two functions. Consequently, an adequate explanation of language phenomena including texts can be achieved only at the cross-road of cognition and communication (2004, с.11). The major themes of this problem are: various types of textual information, the principles of presenting the old and new information, the principle of iconicity, the principle of relevance vs. salience including foregrounding, figure-ground theory;
   
6. 
   Methods of cognitive modeling. The main method of Cognitive Linguistics is conceptual analysis aimed to specify cognitive grounds for each linguistic unit, its conceptual structure consisting of a cluster of conceptual features and their hierarchy. In contrast to semantic analysis done within the limits of syntagmatic and paradigmatic relations of linguistic units, conceptual analysis requires a much wider cognitive context, including not only linguistic but also non-linguistic knowledge about the world. In other words, cognitive context extends beyond language and addresses non-linguistic human cognition. It means that linguistic units presented in their semantic and syntactical correlations, are looked upon as mental representations and cognitive processing. Conceptual analysis covers multiple ways of conceptualizing information including both traditional (definitional analysis, componential analysis, etymological analysis, contextual analysis) and new methods (frame analysis, prototype analysis, cognitive mapping, method of parameterization, cognitive metaphorical analysis).
   

Cognitive Linguistics has been developing in different ways and directions, the main of which are cognitive semantics, cognitive grammar, cognitive word-formation and cognitive stylistics. These trends will be discussed in somewhat more detail further in the subsequent sections.
In conclusion, it should be stressed that Cognitive Linguistics despite a variety of approaches, views and trends presents a united system of scientific theories, theoretical and methodological principles, and makes a great contribution to the theory of language.