COGNITIVE-SEMANTIC LINGUISTICS: THE MAPPING OF MEANING BY THE MIND AND EXPERIENCE

Аннотация

This article explores Cognitive-Semantic Linguistics, a subfield of cognitive linguistics that emphasizes the intrinsic connection between language, thought, and human experience. Rejecting the classical view of semantics as a direct mapping of language onto objective reality, this paradigm argues that meaning is shaped by cognition, embodiment, and cultural interaction. Key theoretical foundations include Conceptual Metaphor Theory, Image Schemas, Frame Semantics, and Mental Spaces, all of which illustrate how language reflects and structures human conceptualization. The article further discusses Cognitive Grammar, highlighting how grammar itself carries semantic weight, and explores the cross-cultural dimensions of metaphor and meaning. Practical applications span language education, political discourse analysis, artificial intelligence, and literary interpretation. While the approach faces critiques for its reliance on introspection and lack of formalization, it remains a powerful interdisciplinary framework for understanding how language functions as a mirror of the mind and a product of embodied, culturally situated experience. Key Words: Cognitive-Semantic Linguistics, conceptual metaphor theory, image schemas, frame semantics, mental spaces, conceptual blending, cognitive grammar, embodiment, linguistic meaning, cultural variation, linguistic relativity, political discourse, language acquisition, artificial intelligence, metaphor analysis. Cognitive-Semantic Linguistics is the sub branch of cognitive linguistics whose makes use of the connection between language, thought and meaning. Opposed to the classical understanding of semantics as the issue of merely mapping words on the objective reality outside the realm of human existence, this paradigm promotes the importance of human cognition and embodied experience in forming linguistic meaning. In its most basic terms cognitive-semantic linguistics infers that language is not a receptive means of identifying reality but an energetic procedure of conceptualizing what is deeply situated in consciousness, recollection, emotion, and interpersonal communication. In the late 20th century Cognitive-Semantic Linguistics arose as a reaction against formalist and generative accounts of language (pioneered by Noam Chomsky among others). It is based upon the wider cognitive sciences and draws its inspiration to that of George Lakoff, Ronald Langacker and Leonard Talmy. The discipline is founded on a number of fundamental assumptions: -Language is Meaning-Centric: In contrast to the formalist view which locates the emphasis of linguistic analysis to syntax, the cognitive-semantic school, in accordance with the latter, focuses on meaning. - Meaning is Conceptual: Words and grammatical structures are considered as projections of underlying concept structures and mind picture. 178 YOSH OLIMLAR ILMIY-AMALIY KONFERENSIYASI in-academy.uz/index.php/yo - Embodiment Matters: The nature of linguistic meaning is actually embodied in the way we perceive the world, in our movements and how we deal with the surrounding environment. - Usage-Based Modeling: According to the Usage-Based Modeling, linguistic competence is something that is formed as it is used; the meaning is dynamic and changes under constant repetition. Major Ideas of Cognitive-Semantic Analysis a) Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT) Probably the most well known contribution of cognitive semantics, CMT (Lakoff and Johnson, 1980) insists that abstract concepts are comprehended using metaphorical correspondences with concrete areas. For example: The temporal experience is codified through the use of economic metaphors as illustrated by the saying: time is money (e.g. spend time, waste time, invest time). Such metaphorical systems go beyond being rhetorical devices in that they are cognitive carried mechanisms of how we reason about the world. b) Image Schemas The image schema is a recurring sensorimotor dynamic pattern which furnishes a structure base to meaning (Johnson, 1987). Examples include: He or she is in love, out of danger (e.g., CONTAINER schema); PATH schema (E.g. suffer, come to an end) These schemas create links between the body experience and abstract thinking, which are the elements of the semantic structure. c) The Frame Semantics Frame semantics introduced by Charles Fillmore assumes the meanings of words are also interpreted relative to organized background knowledge or frames. To give an example, the word buy provides an instance of a commercial transaction frame of a buyer, seller, goods, and payment. The meanings of words arouse encyclopedic concepts and not discrete dictionary definitions. d) Mental Spaces and conceptual Blending To explain how individuals create meaning during spoken face-to-face encounters, on telling a story, or a hypothetical situation, Gilles Fauconnier established the mental space theory. In a later conception of conceptual blending theory (with Turner) he demonstrated that