LANGUAGE AND PERCEPTION - COGNITIVE DEFINITION OF A SENTENCE

Sentences describe. What do they describe? Sentences are combinations/fusions of descriptions of aspects of things/phenomena. John was riding a bicycle. John is a thing. His aspect, namely, ‘past action’ is described by ‘riding a bicycle. Riding is a thing. Its aspect ‘beholder’/’agent’ is described by ‘bicycle’. The sentence is a combination of the above two. The ball is in the dustbin. Ball is a thing. Its aspect - location - is described by ‘in the dustbin’. I was singing while cooking. ‘I’ is the thing. Its aspect - action - is described by ‘singing’. Singing is a phenomenon. Its aspect - timing - is described by ‘while cooking’. The sentence is a combination of the above two. One can notice that this aspect that is being talked about is the hidden element, not present in the sentence as or associated with a word. This is the cognitive component of the sentence - the thought about something that arises in the mind while wanting to express something. THe mind wants to talk about the location of the ball and out pops it - “The ball is in the dustbin”. You don't use the word standing for the aspect - location.