Text as a Cognitive Structure

Abstract

The present work is devoted to the consideration of texts as cognitive systems in Uzbek linguistics and discusses their semantic and structural properties as well as cultural connotations. Over the past half a century, there has been substantial development in text linguistics, the coordination of cognitive, pragmatic, and cultural approaches in text analysis is still in its infancy. This paper fills this gap by analyzing texts as representing mental models and connotations, and as invoking specific semiotic connections and intertexts. The research applies the regime of representative analysis to study how texts function as replicas of reality integrating cognitive schemas, mental frames, and cultural signs. Analytically, the study employs methodological theories from cognitive linguistics and text pragmatics to discover the semantic coherence, presuppositions, and conceptual metaphors in texts. As the outcome of the analyses, texts are shown to be not less cohesive, containing both local and long-distance semantic bonds affected by anaphora, deixis, and ellipsis. In addition, texts contain cultural and philosophical semiotics, they interconnect intertextually and favour the creation of conceptual metaphors. The study focuses on cognitive activities that occur while constructing/interpreting the text through mental models to understand the text input. I believe that the findings of this research can be applied to cognitive linguistics, post-cultural studies, and language acquisition: while offering a way to look at texts as cognitive, plastic texts. This particular point of view improves the comprehension of how aspects of language can express rich meanings, and language and cognition are related.