Contents

Publishers' acknowledgements　 xxv
Preface to the second edition　 xxvii
Typographical conventions　xxix

Introduction　1
1 Prototypes and categories　7

1.1　Colours, squares, birds and cups: early empirical research into lexical categories　7
1.2　The internal structure of categories: prototypes, attributes, family resemblances and gestalt　
24
1.3　Context－dependence and cultural models　45

2 Levels of categorization　64
2.1　Basic level categories of organisms and concrete objects　64
2.2　Superordinate and subordinate categories　76
2.3　Conceptual hierarchies　85
2.4　Categorization and composite word forms　92
2.5　Basic level categories and basic experiences: actions, events, properties, states and locations
　101

3 Conceptual metaphors and metonymies 114
3.1　Metaphors and metonymies: from figures of speech to conceptual systems 114
3.2　Metaphors, metonymies and the structure of emotion concepts 132
3.3　Metaphors as a way of thinking: examples from science and politics 144
3.4　Thinking in metonymies: potential and limitations 154

4 Figure and ground 163
4.1 Figure and ground, trajector and landmark: early research into prepositions 163
4.2 Figure, ground and two metaphors: a cognitive explanation of simple clause patterns 176
4.3 Other types of prominence and cognitive processing 191


5 Frames and constructions 207
5.1 Frames and scripts 207
5.2 Event－frames and the windowing of attention 218
5.3 Language－specific framing and its use in narrative texts 230
5.4 Construction Grammar 244

6 Blending and relevance 257
6.1 Metaphor, metonymy and conceptual blending 257
6.2 Conceptual blending in linguistic analysis and description 268
6.3 Conceptual blending in advertising texts, riddles and jokes 280
6.4 Relevance: a cognitive－pragmatic phenomenon 288

7 Other issues in cognitive linguistics 300
7.1 Iconicity 300
7.2 Lexical change and prototypicality 312
7.3 Cognitive aspects of grammaticalization 321
7.4 Effects on foreign language teaching 328
Conclusion 343