The Oxford Handbook of Cognitive Linguistics Part 9. In the past decade, Cognitive Linguistics has developed into one of the most dynamic and attractive frameworks within theoretical and descriptive linguistics The Oxford Handbook of Cognitive Linguistics is a major new reference that presents a comprehensive overview of the main theoretical concepts and descriptive/theoretical models of Cognitive Linguistics, and covers its various subfields, theoretical as well as applied. | 50 ARIE VERHAGEN 2. The Diversity of Construal Phenomena One of the first construal operations to have been recognized as linguistically highly relevant is the Figure Ground distinction well known from studies in Gestalt psychology. It was introduced into Cognitive Linguistics even before it was known under that name through the work of Talmy 1978 . In visual perception one element may be the focus of attention the Figure it is perceived as a prominent coherent element and set off against the rest of what is in the field of vision the Ground. This psychological distinction is reflected in many linguistic distinctions lexical as well as grammatical. Consider for instance the expressions X is above Y and Y is below X while these expressions denote the same spatial configuration they are semantically distinct in that they reflect different selections of the participant that is to provide the Ground with respect to which the other participant as Figure can be located. A well-known example of a grammatical alternation in which the construal of a participant as either Figure or Ground constitutes part of the semantic difference is the active passive contrast. The meanings of lexical items quite generally include a subtype of this Figure Ground construal. Consider the meaning of the word uncle which presupposes a background network of kinship relations and foregrounds one particular node in it. More generally a lexical item usually designates or profiles in Langacker s terminology a substructure within a larger structure the base and knowing what larger structure is involved is part of knowing the meaning of that item. The words finger and thumb while profiling different substructures share the conception of a hand as their base the same holds for ceiling and floor with respect to a room and so on. A general linguistic reflex of this phenomenon is found in constraints on expressions denoting part-whole relationships these may not bypass base-profile relations. While The .
