Conceptual Blending as an Important Theory in Cognitive Linguistics

This article presents a comprehensive examination of conceptual blending theory as one of the foundational frameworks of cognitive linguistics. The paper outlines the theoretical origins of the theory in Fauconnier's mental spaces model, describes its core architecture of input spaces, generic space, and blended space, and evaluates its explanatory power in relation to metaphor, analogy, grammar, and discourse. The article also situates blending theory within the broader intellectual landscape of cognitive linguistics, comparing it with conceptual metaphor theory and frame semantics.