Cognitive Linguistics

Concept – …………..
Choose a definition or a couple of them you like better (the list is applied at the end).
Concept, in general, relates with Language, Cognition and Culture (as a language is a keeper, a store-house, a depository of a culture, and cognition is formed in a language and cultural surrounding). They are general factors which stipulate formation of a concept.
The relations can be comprehended in the following way:
- Cognition is a sphere where Concept exists (it is kept there);
- Culture determines peculiarities of Concept (Concept is a mental projection of elements of Culture);
- Language (materialized through Speech) is a sphere in which Concept is realized, subjected.


Formation of Concept in Cognition of a man is realized on the ground of:
- a man’s individual sensor experience (perception of reality with the organs of feelings and senses);
- direct operations of a man with objects and things that refer to his subjective activity;
- thinking operations of a man with other concepts (that have already been formed in his consciousness);
- language communication (explanation of the essence of a concept);
- own individual cognition of language units’ meanings which are learnt and mastered by a man (e.g., looking up into a dictionary to learn the meaning of a new word).


The phenomenon of Man is distinguished from the fauna of the world with the unique ability to cognize and, thus, with the phenomenon of cognition and the one of consciousness.
Cognition – mental ability to cognize the world: the process by which a man recognizes and understands things; the process by which knowledge and understanding is developed in the mind.
Consciousness – a certain comprehension of the world: someone’s mind and thoughts; the state of being able to use your senses and mental powers to understand what is happening.
One of the phenomena that consciousness works out is a cognitive-linguistic phenomenon of Concept which is, on the one hand, a certain product of cognition, and, on the other one, a peculiar basic unit of consciousness.
Concept is a multisided complex phenomenon which is stipulated by a series of main factors, such as:

1. 
   cognitive (general): the ability of men to think and cognize the world and themselves in it; the ability to process experience, get information, memorize it, as well as transform and develop;
   
2. 
   linguistic (general): the ability of men to express their thoughts with a help of linguistic means, to present a thought in a language form in communicative purposes;
   
3. 
   linguistic (particular): the influence of a particular language on perceiving things (e.g.: English is said to be a ‘predicative language’, rather ordered and quite a laconic one, Russian – ‘nominative’, ‘contemplating’ with quite a free order of words. Corresponding features can be followed in the Russian and English national characters);
   
4. 
   cultural: the influence of a particular culture that directs traditional attitude to things (national mentality, customs, traditions, etc.);
   
5. 
   social: the influence of a particular social group;
   
6. 
   individual: unique attitude to the world.
   

Cognitive Linguistics studies Concept as a phenomenon which appears as a result of a certain collision of linguistic and psychological cognitive data.

3. 
   Concept and Language Knowledge: the phenomenon of Concept; the phenomenon of Language Knowledge; relations of Concept and Language Knowledge.
   

Knowledge:

• 
  the information, understanding and skills that you gain through education or experience; the state of knowing about a particular fact or situation [OxfDict,p. 658];
  
• 
  tested with practice result of cognizing reality, correct reflection of reality in thinking and consciousness of Man [SovietEnciclop, p. 471]
  
• 
  a cluster concept that points out relevant features but that is not adequately captured by any definition (Wikipedia, Philosophy of the Information Society).