The aim of the present study is the delimitation and organization of
the lexical dimensions that encompass ‘hypothetical’ and ‘estimative’
processes –which belong to the semantic field of ‘cognition’– in order
to point out the main semantic, syntactic and functional differences
and similarities that are settled between them. We try to explore the
relations between language and cognition, how mental processes are
expressed by words. For this purpose, a detailed analysis of the English
verbal predicates that belong to the core of these lexical dimensions
has been carried out at both syntagmatic and paradigmatic levels, from
a functional-lexematic perspective (L. Martín Mingorance), which integrates
two descriptive models: Structural Lexematics (Coseriu and
Geckeler) and Functional Grammar (S.C. Dik). At the end we find out
how the linguistic relations among the predicates analysed reflect the
interrelation between both mental processes.
