What is cognitive linguistics?

Cognitive linguistics is an interdisciplinary field that examines the relationship between language and the mind. It investigates how language reflects and influences human cognition, including perception, conceptualization, and reasoning. Cognitive linguists analyze how language expresses thoughts and how these expressions are tied to mental processes. This approach highlights the role of conceptual structures and cognitive abilities in understanding language, drawing on second-generation cognitive science and experiential philosophy. Emerging in opposition to transformational-generative grammar, cognitive linguistics developed from the late 1980s to the 1990s and integrates insights from artificial intelligence, psychology, and system theory. It asserts that language creation, learning, and use must be explained through human cognition, as cognitive abilities underpin human knowledge.

Cognitive linguistics is an interdisciplinary branch of linguistics that focuses on the relationship between language and the mind. It explores how language reflects and shapes human cognition, including perception, conceptualization, and reasoning. Cognitive linguists study how people use language to convey their thoughts and how these linguistic expressions are rooted in mental processes. This approach emphasizes the importance of conceptual structures and cognitive abilities in understanding language.