The Foundations of Modern Linguistic Studies in Semantics: From Structuralism to Cognitivism

Abstract

That meaning is one of the fundamental pillars that has been and still is the main concern, in all languages with their different orientations of philosophers, logicians, jurists, interpreters, critics, writers and linguists, however, each of them has his own approach and style, so that their study came according to what is in their references, and among all of this, language was the tool that was used to express what they aimed to access, so between the historical progression that linguistic study witnessed of neglect of meaning; This made it a reason to consider its importance on the scientific and linguistic axes. Therefore, we sought to identify the organizing principles of the mental processes that establish meaning, and we resolved to search further through a basic link that recognizes that language is not merely a formal structure; rather, it is closely linked to human cognitive starting points, relying on the mental function. Consequently, it can only be a reflection of a cognitive aspect possessed by human beings in all their cultural and social orientations, thus resting on human experience.