Cognitive Analytical Modeling of the English Subject-verb Agreement

This paper attempts to extend Langacker's Cognitive Reference Point Principle (CRP) to the analysis of the phenomenon of English subject-verb agreement. Based on Lakoff's four structuring principles of the Idealized Cognitive Model(ICM), this paper claims that patterns of “tridimentional” cognitive reference points in the concord between subject and predicate can fall into three models: “Propositional Reference Points Model”, “Container Reference Point Model ” and “Analogical Reference Point Model”. The paper outlines the English subject-verb agreement with the cognitive reference point and its cognitive analytical model from the explaining perspective. It is the complements of subject and is established through different cognitive reference point models. By doing so, it offers a new perspective to the researches on the agreement between subject and verb.