This volume is not aimed at SLA researchers but is a book that SLA researchers interested in usage- and frequency-based models will find valuable. Taylor provides a lucid, comprehensive account of Langacker's theory of Cognitive Grammar (CG) and along the way also offers a thoughtful introduction to Cognitive Linguistics (CL). Of the many approaches within CL, CG has a notably wide scope and high degree of internal consistency and, thus, is particularly worthy of SLA researchers' attention. CG's central premise is that language is inherently symbolic and that linguistic expressions symbolize—or represent—conceptualization. In the original, Langacker's writing is technical and detailed, with many unfamiliar formal conventions; Taylor provides the uninitiated with a thorough, clear introduction to this significant, innovative work. SLA researchers will find it a valuable resource that provides many access points into CG and CL.

Cognitive Linguistics offers a provocative counterpoint to the generativist paradigm. The theory looks to general human cognitive abilities and human interaction with the sociophysical environment (including massive, contextualized language input) to explain the nature of language. CL emphasizes that humans have a unique constellation of cognitive capacities, including the ability to form categories and make fine-grained comparisons across categories (the essence of metaphor), the ability to form highly complex patterns of organized memory (schemata), and a capability for rapid pattern detection). CL holds that the unique neurological architecture reflected in these abilities, in conjunction with our embodied experience of the sociophysical world, accounts for the nature of language—both its universal traits and its more idiosyncratic quirks. CL offers cogent analyses of some of the most complex areas of language, such as English prepositions and the match between verbs and their argument structures—areas notoriously difficult for second language learners. As such, it represents a theoretical model of language that addresses issues of genuine interest to second language researchers and teachers.

The book is divided into seven parts. The first two sections, which make up nearly half the book, are likely to be of most interest to SLA researchers. Here, Taylor compares the general assumptions that distinguish CL from the generativist paradigm and discusses CG's basic approach to syntactic, semantic, and phonological issues. Most chapters include study questions.