Linguistic knowledge includes, in addition to that of lexical items and syntactic rules as narrowly defined, knowledge of grammatical constructions. This idea amounts to the claim that an optimal theory of form-meaning pairing must take into account those procedures of interpretation that are attached to constructional templates. This study focuses on clauses linkage constructions and examines parameters to define them. The major claims are as follows: 1) the traditional coordination-subordination dichotomy is untenable and finer distinctions, based on the level of linkage (juncture) and the type of dependency (nexus) should be introduced; 2) the relative position (=preposing vs. postposing) of a dependent clause has its own meaning, which can only be captured by positing some constructional template; 3) when a dependent clause is suspended and is not followed by a main clause, a framing effect arises, inducing an inference-intensive reading. All these facts point to the conclusion that a full description of linguistic knowledge requires reference to grammatical constructions, and that some sort of construction lexicon should be built in the future.

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As soon as we engage in language use, we perform elaborate creative cognitive operations, and we do so for the most part unconsciously. Aspects of this basic creativity are discussed in the present article. First, I emphasize the central role of mappings in meaning construction, using examples from analogy and counterfactuals. Then, I turn to a complex and creative mapping operation, conceptual blending, and outline its dynamic properties. Finally, I return to counterfactuals, examine their analogical properties, and provide an analysis in terms of conceptual integration. The data and analysis illustrate the general theme that cognitive operations which apply creatively in science, art, or literature, also apply in everyday thought and language. Such operations are automatic, very fast, and largely unconscious.

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Among the central features of a major strand of cognitive linguistics (R. W. Langacker's cognitive grammar) is its symbolic view of grammar (syntax in particular): grammar can be adequately characterized as a system composed of form-meaning pairings (rather than a purely formal component organized independently of semantic factors). By way of illustrating how the symbolic view can give us insights into cross-linguistic variation, cognitive accounts are provided of two areas of grammar where English and Japanese exhibit marked contrasts. It is suggested that apparently arbitrary ways some grammatical units (e.g. grammatical relations and constructions) behave begin to make perfect semantic sense if (1) construal (as opposed to conceptual content) is held to form an essential part of an expression's semantic value, (2) proper attention is given to the ubiquity in language of categories built around experientially grounded prototypes (rather than classical categories defined by sets of necessary and sufficient conditions), and (3) a usage-based model of linguistic structure (in contrast to the traditional reductionist view of grammar as an algorithmic device) is adopted.

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In this paper, we will show a surprising parallelism of behaviour in spite of the difference in meaning between bare nouns in Japanese and definite noun phrases in English, and try to explain it in terms of discourse processing. We assume that linguistic input is processed in relation with the discourse resources consisting of three distinct databases: general knowledge, utterance situation and discourse memory. Discourse memory is further divided into three subdomains: linguistic data memory, linguistic understanding memory, and long-term discourse memory. For each of these five domains, some means must be available for identifying elements there. Pronouns can only search in the linguistic data memory and demonstratives, in the utterance situation or the linguistic data memory. Definites in English and bare nouns in Japanese usually express roles with parameters left unspecified. They yield values when the parameters are specified, but they don't tell how to identify the appropriate parameters. This underdetermination is exactly what is needed for them to be able to operate a search in any of the domains within the discourse resources. If any language needs a means to signal this kind of default search and if only bare nouns in Japanese and definites in English can fulfil this, then they will. We thus hypothesize that the parallelism of behaviour of definites in English and bare nouns in Japanese comes from this kind of general principle of language.

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In this paper we attempt to construct a dynamic model of discourse management, a version of Mental Space Theory, modified to accommodate dialogic discourse by incorporating a memory management system. We posit a cognitive interface between linguistic expression and knowledge-base. This interface contains pointers or indices linked to addresses in the knowledge base, controlling access paths to the data in the base. Utterances in a dialogue exchange can be redefined as input-output operations via this interface: registering, searching, editing, etc. The main theses of our approach to discourse management are as follows:
The operations coded in the various forms are to be defined as performing input-output operations on the database of the speaker and not that of the hearer's model in the speaker. It is argued that the hearer's model in the speaker is not only unnecessary but also harmful in the description of sentence forms. We divide the interface into two components, I-domain and D-domain. The former is linked to temporary memory, houses the assumptions and propositions newly introduced to the discourse yet to be incorporated into the database and can be accessed only indirectly by inferences, logical reasoning, hearsay, and data search. The latter is linked to the permanent memory, houses information already incorporated in the database and can be directly accessible by simple memory search like pointing to an index. New information passes through only via I-domain. We will demonstrate that our approach solves problems in mutual knowledge but also provides a powerful tool in the description of some of the most recalcitrant phenomena in natural language.

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Previous work has shown that there are a number of SUBJECTIVE uses of change predicates; in Sweetser (1996) I suggested some generalizations about which English change predicates are open to such extended interpretations, which do not involve an actual change of an individual entity (Matsumoto (1996a, b) has made interesting generalizations about Japanese change predicates). This paper analyzes another subjective use of change predicates, one where not the subject of the change predicate, but the scale or standard of comparison, is the entity which is interpreted as changing. For example, a professor who is getting older and keeps on teaching 20-year-old students might say, “The students keep getting younger every year.” In fact, not the students' age, but the professor's evaluative scale is changing as the professor ages. I propose an analysis of these usages in terms of mental space structure and figure-ground reversal.

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The cognitive and kinematic changes on forehand drive in tennis were examined as a learning of hitting skill in human movement. The self reports and three-dimensional analysis were used to clear the both changes during learning. After the course, the both planning and performing a main movement showed insufficient development. However, on the kinematic changes, the learner made more earlier completion of the back swing phase of stroke and larger hip and knee joint angles during back swing phase with practice. The learner planned the control of preparatory movement rather than main movement during the learning sessions. These changes showed importance of the preparatory movement, especially in preparation on foot before and/or during back swing phase of stroke. This result was discussed from schema theory and the anticipatory postural adjustment model. It is suggested that basic dynamic position would enhance a coordination of rotation movement, and as result the main hitting movement will be improved.

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