Conceptual Semantics and Its Cognitive IntersectionsA Cognitive Approach to Exploring the Dimensions of the Mental Lexicon

Abstract

This study derives its significance from its attempt to deepen the scientific understanding of the relationship between language, mind, and brain by exploring the cognitive intersection between cognitive linguistics and neurolinguistics in approaching conceptual semantics.

To that end, the study addresses cognitive bridging between linguistic studies and neurosciences, thereby enriching research on the mechanisms of meaning production and its organization within the human mind. The study aims to achieve several scientific objectives. The first is to highlight the structural and integrative relationship between cognitive linguistics and neurolinguistics as two complementary theoretical frameworks for the study of conceptual semantics. The second objective is to reveal the nature of the relationship between semantics and the mental lexicon through analyzing how conceptual meanings are constructed within the speaker’s mental structure. The study also seeks to clarify the role of the human mental/neural environment in the interaction of various linguistic and cognitive faculties, leading to a deeper understanding of the mechanisms of meaning representation, storage, and retrieval.

Based on these objectives, the study raises a central research question: How does the cognitive-neuroscientific approach contribute to explaining the nature of conceptual semantics within the mental lexicon? To address this issue, the study adopts an analytical method based on the cognitive linguistic approach and the mechanisms provided by the principles of conceptual semantics.

This is achieved through analyzing theoretical concepts related to conceptual semantics and the mental lexicon, along with examining and describing selected applied examples.