Cognitive Theories of Meaning Construction in Verb Particles in English

Abstract

Abstract—Cognitive linguistics argues that meaning construction involves a speaker's interpretation or conceptualization of an experience for the purpose of linguistic communication. This interpretation is not a simple one-to-one correspondence between words and their meanings, but rather a complex process that takes into account various cognitive mechanisms or abilities such as metaphor, metonymy, schematization, categorization, polysemy, and others. Each of these operations contributes in some way to meaning construction. The aim of this study is to examine verb particles with various cognitive mechanisms that are mentioned above.  We can gain a deeper understanding of how verb particles are used to communicate our experiences and ideas. The data is taken from books, journals, and articles. The study concludes that cognitive abilities and mechanisms play a vital role in constructing meaning with the use of verb particles in our daily activities. This is largely influenced by our experiences and encyclopedic background.

Keywords: brain, Cognitive theory, verb particle, encyclopaedic view, experiential view.