Cognitive linguistics as an alternative to the immanent approach to the study of language: the case of La Laguna School of Semantics

Abstract

The immanent approach to language has traditionally been seen as both the foundation stone and a necessary requirement for modern linguistics. However, when applied to the study of meaning, it faces both theoretical and practical difficulties, which cast doubt on its validity. As an alternative, cognitive linguistics builds on embodied realism (Lakoff and Johnson 1999) to challenge the philosophical foundations of the model, and restore the links between language, thought and reality. Relevant similarities, it is posed here, can be found between cognitive linguistics and European structuralism, especially in the case of the La Laguna School of Semantics (LLSS), as the heterodox branch of structuralism it is. On this basis, it might be worth for the LLSS to adopt cognitive linguistics’ philosophical foundations and methodological principles as a way to overcome the difficulties its model currently faces.