A Cognitive Syntactic Analysis of Abraham Lincoln’s Cooper Union’s Address of 1860
Keywords:
Cognitive-Syntax, Cooper-Union-Address, Lincoln, Metaphor, SpeechAbstract
This study is a cognitive syntactic study of Abraham Lincoln’s Cooper Union’s Address of February 27, 1860. This speech stands out as one of the greatest speeches that shaped both America's political and constitutional landscape. It is on this basis that a cognitive syntactic analysis on the speech is carried out. Cognitive syntax is simply defined as the structural grammar that organizes thought, not the everyday language that an individual speaks, but the deeper combinatorial system that allows an individual to build any concept or idea from simpler to complex parts. Cognitive syntax sits beneath conscious awareness, that shapes how a person or an individual reasons, remembers, and solves problems. Consequently, the study is anchored on Jerry Fodor’s Language of Thought Hypothesis of 1975, otherwise called Mentalese. The theory states that mental language is like spoken language that can combine into sentences, since words and sentences are meaningful linguistic units. In line with this fact, the linguistic tools of Phrase Structure, Deep and Surface Structure, Felicitous Act, Anaphoric and Cataphoric References, Collocation, Polysemy and Literary Applications were used to analyze the Address; these syntactic tools revealed the cognitive impact of the Address on the 1,500 New Yorkers present at the Cooper Institute in Manhattan in particular and the American population at large.
References
Atkinson, D. E., Churchill, T. N., & Okada, H. (2007). “Alignment & interaction in a Sociocognitive
approach to second acquisition.” The Modern Language Journal, 91 (2):169-88.
Brouwe, C. E., & Wagner, J. (2004). “Developmental issues in second language conversation.”
Journal of Applied Linguistics 1 (1):29-47.
Clark, H. H., & Haviland, S. E. (1977). “Comprehension and the given – new contract.” In Freedle,
R. O. ed. Discourse Production & Comprehension. Norwood, NJ: Ablex, pp. 1-40.
Clark, U. (2007). Studying Language: English in Action. New York: Macmillan Palgrave.
Cooper, R. (1997). “The Interpretation of Pronouns.” In Henry, F., & Schnelle, H. S. eds. Selections
from the third Groningen Round Table (= Syntax & Semantics 10). New York: Academic
Press.
Evans, V., & Green, M. (2006). Cognitive Linguistics: An Introduction. Hillsdale: NJ: Erlbaum.
Grice, H. P. (1975). “Logic & Conversation.” In Cole, P., & Morgan, J. L. eds. Syntax & Semantics:
Speech acts. Vol. 3. New York: Seminar, pp. 41-58.
Kearns, K. (2011). Semantics. 2nd ed. New York: Macmillan Palgrave.
Kovecses, Z. (2010). Metaphor: A Practical Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Lakoff, G., & Johnson, M. (2008). Metaphors We Live By. Chicago: University of Chicago.
Lincoln, A. Cooper Union Address.
https://www.abrahamlincolnonline.org/lincoln/speech/cooper.htm Retrieved 24/7/2026
Marti, L. (2003). “Contextual Variables.” PhD dissertation, University of Connecticut.
Nellhaus, T. (2004). “From embodiment to agency: cognitive science, critical realism and
communicative frameworks” Journal of Critical Realism. 3 (1): 103-32.
Pinker, S. (2007). The Stuff of Thought: Language as a Window into Human Nature. New York:
Viking.
Pratiwi, D. S., Sujatna, S. E. T., & Indrayani, L. M. (2020). “A Cognitive Semantic Analysis of
Conceptual Metaphor in Lang Leav’s Poetry” International Journal of English Literature & Social Sciences. 5 (4).
Rao, V. C. S. (2021). “Cognitive Linguistics: An Approach to the Study of Language & Thought.”
Journal of Research Scholars & Professions of English Language Teaching, 5 (24).
Saeed, J. I. (2003). Semantics. 2nd Ed. UK: Blackwell Publishing.
Sauerland, U., & Stateva, P. “Introduction.” In Sauerland, U., & Stateva, P. eds. In Preposition &
Implicature in Compositional Semantics. New York: Macmillan Palgrave.
Searl, J. I. (2003). Speech Acts. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Sperber, D. (2006). “Anthropology & Psychology: Towards an Epidemiology of Representation.” In
Moore, H. L., & Sanders, T. eds. Anthropology in Theory Issues in Epistemology. Pp. 311-
Taiwo, R. (2025). “Theoretical Approaches to Languages.” In Olateju, M., Ogunfolabi, O., Oyebode,
O., & Hunsu, F. eds. Research Methods in English Linguistics & Literary Studies: A Practical
Approach. Ibadan: Bookminds Publishers, pp. 44-64.
Wells, A. (2012). The Literate Mind: A Study of Scope & Limitations. New York: Macmillan Palgrave.
Winkelman, M. A. (2013). A Cognitive Approach to John Donne’s Song & Sonnets. New York:
Macmillan Palgrave.
Yule, G. (1996). The Study of Language. 2nd ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Zhang, X., & Gao, X. (2009). An Analysis of Conceptual Metaphor in Western Commercial
Advertisements. https://dor.org/10.5589/ass.v5n12pg97
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
Copyright (c) 2026 Anthony James, Hauwa T. Mohammad, Blessing Vou Dakat
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
This open-access article is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY-NC-SA) license.
You are free to: Share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format. Adapt — remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially. The licensor cannot revoke these freedoms as long as you follow the license terms.
Under the following terms: Attribution — You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.
No additional restrictions You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits.
