Contents I. Introduction chapter I. Cognitive aspects of grammar

The novelty of the course paper is the study of cognitive aspects of grammar is a relatively new field, which has emerged from the intersection of linguistics, psychology, and cognitive science. It is a departure from traditional approaches to grammar, which focused on prescriptive rules and formal structures. Instead, the cognitive approach emphasizes the role of language processing in shaping grammar and the importance of understanding the cognitive processes that underlie language use. This novel approach has led to new insights into how language is acquired, processed, and used, and has opened up new avenues for research in language learning and teaching.
The structure of the course paper consists of content of the work, introduction, three chapters and conclusion which are followed by the glossary and bibliographic list of the literature used in the course of research.

CHAPTER I. Cognitive aspects of grammar.
1.1. Cognitive grammar.


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. In this system, grammar is not a formal system operating independently of meaning. Rather, grammar is itself meaningful and inextricable from semantics.
Construction grammar is a similar focus of cognitive approaches to grammar. While cognitive grammar emphasizes the study of the cognitive principles that give rise to linguistic organization, construction grammar aims to provide a more descriptively and formally detailed account of the linguistic units that comprise a particular language.
Langacker first explicates the system of cognitive grammar in his seminal, two-volume work Foundations of Cognitive Grammar. Volume one is titled "Theoretical Prerequisites", and it explores Langacker's hypothesis that grammar may be deconstructed into patterns that come together in order to represent concepts. This volume concentrates on the broad scope of language especially in terms of the relationship between grammar and semantics. Volume two is titled "Descriptive Application", as it moves beyond the first volume to elaborate on the ways in which Langacker's previously described theories may be applied. Langacker invites his reader to utilize the tools presented in the first volume of Foundations in a wide range of, mainly English, grammatical situations.
Cognitive grammar is unorthodox with respect to generative grammars and American structuralism. It primarily diverges from Chomskyan tradition through its assertion that grammar and language are integral and essential parts of cognition, not merely autonomous processes in the brain. Langacker argues not only that cognitive grammar is natural by virtue of its psychological plausibility, but also that it offers conceptual unification and theoretical austerity. It considers the basic units of language to be symbols (i.e. conventional pairings of a semantic structure with a phonological label). Grammar consists of constraints on how these units can be combined to generate larger phrases. The semantic aspects of cognitive grammar are modeled as image schemas rather than propositions, although these schema are only demonstrative, and are not intended to reflect any actual visual operation occurring during the production and perception of language. A consequence of the interrelation between semantic structure and phonological label is that each can invoke the other.
Thus, letters, words, and sounds are language symbols that represent thought processes. A cognitive schema, for example, is a mental plan that a human being develops to address recurrent specific situations. For example, a human might form a step-by-step plan for how to react when meeting a stranger and carry out this plan unconsciously. In linguistic terms, languages might create a certain standard, or schema, for putting action words in different tenses.
Cognitive grammar practitioners are also interested in how words and phrases can be altered and moved to create a certain effect or express a certain idea. Rhetoric, or the use of language for persuasive purposes, might be a particular topic of focus for many cognitive grammar researchers. Even literary devices like comparative similes and metaphors can become important areas of study in cognitive-based focuses.
Several specific sub-fields of cognitive grammar exist. For one, famed language scholar Noam Chomsky introduced generative grammar in the mid-20th century. This theory deals with syntax, or the particular ordering of words. Chomsky proposed that the human mind contained instinctual guidelines for using words and sounds — or phonology — to create comprehensible phrases and sentences. These ideals were universal to all humans in general terms if not in specifics, and thus the human brain naturally contained mental capacities for language from birth.
Other cognitive grammar approaches consider different aspects of how the mind forms relationships between words, their sounds, and their meanings. Word grammar, for example, proposes that the human mind has a vast, almost computer-like network where it stores words, sounds, and meanings. Such modes of cognitive grammar owe much of their origin to gestalt psychology, which focuses on organized groupings, building-block rules and customs, and a holistic philosophy.
Construction grammar furthers the aims of word grammar by considering how words are linked with specific and categorized sounds and meanings. As an example, the English words knife and gun can both be categorized under another word: weapon. In this and countless other examples, the brain creates pathways between the specific profiles, or definitions, and the more general domain categories. This gradual building of associations eventually generates whole languages.