Full Description
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 Grammaroffers 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. For the Key to Study Questions click here.
Contents
1. Preface; 2. Introduction; 3. Part I. The cognitive framework; 4. 1. Categories in thought and language; 5. 2. Cognitive operations in thought and language; 6. 3. From thought to language: Cognitive Grammar; 7. Part II. Things: Nouns and noun phrases; 8. 4. Types of things: Nouns; 9. 5. Grounding things: Reference; 10. 6. Quantifying things: Quantifiers; 11. 7. Qualifying things: Modifiers; 12. Part III. Situations as temporal units: Aspect, tense and modality; 13. 8. Situation types: Aspect; 14. 9. Grounding situations in time: Tense; 15. 10. Grounding situations in potentiality: Modality; 16. Part IV. Situations as relational units: Sentence structure; 17. 11. Event schemas: Sentence patterns; 18. 12. Space and extensions of space: Complements and adjuncts; 19. Glossary; 20. References; 21. Index
