A central construct in LCCM theory.

Cognitive models, while related to the notion of frame, semantic frame and domain (1), are distinct from all three. The distinct notion of cognitive model is necessary for understanding the way lexical concepts contribute to meaning construction. The main claim is that a given lexical concept provides an access site to cognitive models and are relativised with respect to them. A cognitive model is a coherent, in large-part non-linguistic, knowledge structure. That is, it is a richly specified conceptual entity which represents an interface between richly specified conceptual knowledge and nodes of access at particular points in the cognitive model provided by specific lexical concepts. Thus lexical concepts provide particular established (i.e. conventional) perspectives or construals with respect to the set of cognitive models: the cognitive model profile, accessed via a given lexical concept.

Cognitive models relate to coherent bodies of knowledge of any kind, being multi-modal conceptual entities, which can be used as a basis for perceptual simulation. For instance, they include knowledge relating to specific entities, such as the complex knowledge associated with a ‘car’, or a more specific entity such as ‘my car’. They include information such as whether the car needs filling up and when I last cleaned its interior.

Cognitive models can relate to ‘procedural’ bodies of knowledge such as ‘cultural scripts’ which form templates for how to interact in restaurants in order to be seated and secure a meal, for instance. Cognitive models also include bodies of knowledge relating to more abstract entities such as containment, love and physics. They operate at varying levels of detail and while stable, are dynamic, being in a perpetual state of modification and renewal by virtue of ongoing experience, mediated both by linguistic and non-linguistic interaction with others and one’s environment.