Conceptualisation and Construal

Abstract

Fundamental to cognition is how we can conceptualise the same series of events in different ways. This ability is reflected in both the lexis and grammar of language. Consider sentences (32) and (33):

• (32) I adore Rome!

• (33) I love Rome very much!

At first sight, ‘adore’ and ‘love very much’ seem to make these sentences almost synonymous. However, each construes the expressed emotion somewhat differently from the other. ‘Adoration’ abases the subject before their admired object. ‘Loving very much’ simply makes Rome into the object of an intense emotion. The use of ‘love’ and ‘adore’ represent the same scene differently. CL calls these different ways of conceptualising a scene, construal (Langacker 1987). In CL there is no such thing as true synonymy because a different selection of words will achieve a different construal. Construal affects the grammar of the language and accounts for why we may select one form over another. Consider the following two sentences:

• (34) Now the plane was over the cars

• (35) Now the cars were under the plane

These two different sentences also depict the same scene. However, there are central differences in the way the depiction is construed.