Cognitive Grammar is a cognitive approach to language developed by Ronald Langacker, which hypothesizes that grammar, semantics, and lexicon exist on a continuum instead of as separate processes altogether. This approach to language was one of the first projects of cognitive linguistics.
The central goal of Cognitive Grammar (CG) is to describe the structure of particular languages and develop a general framework allowing the optical description of any language.
CG is a particular cognitive linguistic theory. Even within cognitive linguistics, it stands out as radical due to certain basic claims.
It states that grammar is wholly symbolic and that basic grammatical notions (such as noun, verb, and subject) have unified conceptual characterizations.
It is largely compatible with a wide spectrum of cognitive and functional approaches, being general and flexible enough to incorporate their findings and insights.
“Portraying grammar as a purely formal system is not just wrong but wrong-headed. I will argue, instead, that grammar is meaningful. This is so in two respects. For one thing, the elements of grammar—like vocabulary items—have meanings in their own right. Additionally, grammar allows us to construct and symbolize the more elaborate meanings of complex expressions (like phrases, clauses, and sentences). It is thus an essential aspect of the conceptual apparatus through which we apprehend and engage the world.”
(Ronald W. Langacker, Cognitive Grammar: A Basic Introduction. Oxford University Press, 2008)
“Cognitive grammar . . . chiefly departs from ‘traditional’ theories of language in its contention that the way in which we produce and process language is determined not by the ‘rules’ of syntax but by the symbols evoked by linguistic units. These linguistic units include morphemes, words, phrases, clauses, sentences and whole texts, all of which are deemed inherently symbolic in nature. The way in which we join linguistic units together is also symbolic rather than rule-driven because grammar is itself ‘meaningful’ (Langacker 2008a: 4). In claiming a direct symbolic association between linguistic form (what it terms ‘ phonological structure’) and semantic structure, Cognitive Grammar denies the need for an organizational system to mediate between the phonological and semantic structures (i.e. syntax).”
(Clara Neary, “Profiling the Flight of ‘The Windhover.'” (Cognitive Grammar in Literature, ed. by Chloe Harrison et al. John Benjamins, 2014)
This book fills a long standing need for a basic introduction to Cognitive Grammar that is current, authoritative, comprehensive, and approachable. It presents a synthesis that draws together and refines the descriptive and theoretical notions developed in this framework over the course of three decades. In a unified manner, it accommodates both the conceptual and the social-interactive basis of linguistic structure, as well as the need for both functional explanation and explicit structural description. Starting with the fundamentals, essential aspects of the theory are systematically laid out with concrete illustrations and careful discussion of their rationale. Among the topics surveyed are conceptual semantics, grammatical classes, grammatical constructions, the lexicon-grammar continuum characterized as assemblies of symbolic structures (form-meaning pairings), and the usage-based account of productivity, restrictions, and well-formedness. The theory’s central claim – that grammar is inherently meaningful – is thereby shown to be viable. The framework is further elucidated through application to nominal structure, clause structure, and complex sentences. These are examined in broad perspective, with exemplification from English and numerous other languages. In line with the theory’s general principles, they are discussed not only in terms of their structural characterization, but also their conceptual value and functional motivation. Other matters explored include discourse, the temporal dimension of language structure, and what grammar reveals about cognitive processes and the construction of our mental world.
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