MEANING AND STRUCTURE OF THE CLAUSES (FROM A COGNITIVE LINGUISTIC POINT OF VIEW)

Abstract

This article present an overview of clause structure and meaning from a cognitive approach. The starting point will be the concept of construction: every aspect of clause structure and meaning must be interpreted in terms of the construction in which it appears. Clauses-as constructions-are symbolic units, that is conventional associations between meaning and form with two poles: formal pole and meaning pole. The formal pole includes phonological and morphosyntactic properties of constructions. On the formal pole, we have to consider semantic, pragmatic, and discourse-functional properties. This article focuses more on the symbolic links between meaning and form than on the nature of our conceptualisations of actions and events. The section 11.1 of this article includes a short review of the basis of syntactic roles and an introduction to the interaction between verbs and clausal constructional schema. In section 11. 2, we pay attention to the  conceptualisation of events and move from event types toward more general account in terms of force dynamics, action chains, and cognitive salience.