Theory of prototypes: prototyping models in cognitive linguistics

THEORY OF PROTOTYPES: PROTOTYPING MODELS IN COGNITIVE LINGUISTICS
Yartseva Svetlana Vladimirovna
UzSWLU, Department of “Linguistics and English literature”
Oripova Malika Raxmanovna
UzSWLU, 2^nd year master student
Abstract
In this article, we will make an attempt to demonstrate the variety of linguistic description techniques associated with the following fundamental property of human language: the set of language tools is finite, and the possibilities of using the language are endless. Prototype theory and related ways of representing linguistic knowledge try to use this circumstance as the most important feature of natural language, associated with the endless possibilities of human cognition - human cognition. The concepts considered below are included in the family of theories qualified as a “cognitive approach”, which has been much written about in the linguistic literature of recent years.
Key words: prototype, cognitive linguistics, cognitive approach, categorization, semantics paradigm.
Introduction. Prototype theory is a theory of categorization in cognitive science, particularly in psychology and cognitive linguistics, in which there is a graded degree of belonging to a conceptual category, and some members are more central than others. It emerged in 1971 with the work of psychologist Eleanor Rosch, and it has been described as a "Copernican revolution" in the theory of categorization for its departure from the traditional Aristotelian categories. It has been criticized by those that still endorse the traditional theory of categories, like linguist Eugenio Coseriu and other proponents of the structural semantics paradigm.
Literary review. Quite a lot of works are devoted to the study of the theory of prototypes in cognitive linguistics, both by Russian (E. S. Kubryakova, V. Z. Demyankov, S. A. Pesina, I. K. Arkhipova, etc.) and foreign scientists (E. Roche, J. Lakoff, C. Fillmore, A. Vezhbitskaya and others). In domestic science, the greatest contribution to the development of the theory of the lexical prototype was made by the works of S.A. Pesina, who managed to bring the understanding of the lexical meaning of a polysemantic word to a higher level of abstraction. Her works also quite fully cover the influence of the prototypical theory in the context of polysemy. A. V. Shiryaeva studied the semantic structure of verbal lexical units linked by synonymy relations.
The latter hypothesis was recognized by D. Gerats as the most capable of explaining the emergence of prototypical effects, since their sources in categories are determined by the general principles of human cognitive functioning. Later, J. Lakoff also spoke of "prototype effects", the essence of which he saw in the fact that the members of the category, closer to the prototype, are used to understand the category as a whole. He saw the source of such effects in bundles of sensations and radial structures.