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Part of
Language Learning, Discourse and Cognition: Studies in the tradition of Andrea Tyler
Edited by Lucy Pickering and Vyvyan Evans
[Human Cognitive Processing 64] 2018
► pp. 85–110

Chapter 4
The speech went on (and on) as Kerry dozed off (*and off)

A conceptual grammar approach to on and off

This chapter provides an encapsulated segment of a larger, on-going study centering on a complex set of prepositions and their corresponding phrasal verb particles and adverbs viewed from the methodological and analytic perspective of Conceptual Grammar. Conceptual Grammar is an approach to the analysis and teaching of grammar that combines three paradigms: corpus, discourse analysis, and cognitive linguistics to reveal systematically patterned grammatical meanings. The visual conceptual system is intended to dually represent various gradations of spatial/temporal/metaphorical/abstract meanings in graphic terms, using simple shapes as a mnemonic to aid in the apprehension of conceptual meaning. The system is intended to be generalizable across all uses and meanings of the target lexemes and thus to facilitate productivity of use, serving as a new type of “grammatical rule”.

Keywords: grammar teaching, prepositions, visual conceptual system
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Literature review: Prepositions, phrasal verbs and adverbs
    • 2.1Prepositions: From space to time and more abstract concepts
    • 2.2Phrasal verbs and adverbs
    • 2.3The case of on and off
  • 3.Challenges for L2 teachers and learners
  • 4.Alternate analytic perspectives: Corpus, discourse analysis, and cognitive linguistics: Prepositions, phrasal verbs, adverbs on and off
    • 4.1Procedures
  • 5.The graphic/conceptual system
    • 5.1The primary components of the conceptual system, in graphics
      • 5.1.1Entries 1–5 for ONs
      • 5.1.2Entries 1 – 4 for OFF
  • 6.Conclusion and pedagogical implications
  • References
Published online: 20 December 2018
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/hcp.64.05sta
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