تسجيل الدخول

تسجيل

Methodology in Cognitive Linguistics Abstract

المؤلف:  Dirk Geeraerts

المصدر:  Cognitive Linguistics: Current Applications and Future Perspectives

الجزء والصفحة:  P21-C1

2026-11-05

37

Methodology in Cognitive Linguistics

Abstract

The future of linguistics is likely to be determined by methodological issues: whether linguistics will be able to turn its current theoretical chaos (however creative it may be) into a situation of cumulative development will crucially depend on the possibility of finding a common ground that allows competing accounts to be compared in an objective way. We will explore the position of Cognitive Linguistics vis à vis the methodological evolution of linguistics: what is the current state of affairs in Cognitive Linguistics, and in what direction could the cognitive approach contribute to the methodological progress of linguistics? We first introduce the concept of empirical research, using a non-linguistic example. Then we sketch a scenario for the evolution of linguistics at large, highlighting the specific role of method as a safeguard of theoretical comparability. Then we describe the particularly advantageous position of Cognitive Linguistics, i.e. the fact that a number of theoretical features of Cognitive Linguistics seem to be specifically favorable to the methodological development that is meant here. Then we take into account the other side of the coin: if we consider the actual state of affairs in Cognitive Linguistics, the situation is definitely a mixed one, with a growing concern for empirical method on the one hand and waving of hands at the other. If this heterogeneous situation is not accidental, we should be able to identify theoretical features that have exactly the opposite effect, that is, that go against the tendency towards well-grounded empirical research. The overall future of Cognitive Linguistics, needless to say, will then be determined by the extent to which it can resolve the methodological tensions that seem to derive from its theoretical assumptions.