Semantics

COGNITIVE STRUCTURES 223
CONSTRUAL. One of the most important contributions of Langacker’s
cognitive grammar is precisely this idea that speakers can construe a scene
in alternative ways.
Profiling
One type of construal is profiling. Langacker defines this concept as
the process of assigning prominence to certain elements of a scene. Within
the action chain the speaker can choose to highlight certain aspects of the
chain of action. Langacker proposes the following example to illustrate
how within the action chain the speaker can choose to profile certain
aspects of the chain as shown in the following three sentences:
a. Floyd broke the glass with the hammer.
b. The hammer broke the glass.
c. The glass broke.
Sub
In Floyd broke the glass with the hammer, the whole chain is profiled.
Obj
Sub
In The hammer broke the glass, both the subj. and the obj. are profiled.
Obj
In The glass broke, only the subject is profiled.
Subject
Here Langacker proposes his own version of the mapping hierarchies
that relate thematic roles, grammatical relations and syntactic structures