Sociocultural commitment of cognitive linguistics via dimensions of context

Abstract

The paper explores basic properties of language that can be explained by appealing to its main functions, namely, cognitive, communicative, and interpretive. Although the first two functions have always been recognized, it is only recently that the third one has been outlined (see Boldyrev, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014). Boldyrev claims that linguistic interpretation reveals static and dynamic processes of cognition shaping overall collective and individual knowledge of language speakers. Viewed from this perspective, linguistic interpretation involves selection, classification, and evaluation within contexts of knowledge that language speakers acquire as members of societies and cultures. These contexts are dependent on metaconcepts-Roles, Stereotypes, Values, Norms, Space, Time, Language Performance - that regulate language use. This paper examines static vs. dynamic, collective vs. individual and the metaconceptual dimensions of contexts of knowledge to suggest that they underlie the Sociocultural Commitment of Cognitive Linguistics.