This thesis addresses the lexico-semantic networks of verb-particle constructions (VPCs) within the framework of the Theory of Lexical Concepts and Cognitive Models (LCCM Theory) developed by Evans (2009). The semantics of VPCs have received much attention from many scholars over the last four decades (e.g., Lindner 1981; Morgan 1997). Although each researcher has
contributed to a better characterisation of the semantics of VPCs, the following question has remained unsolved: How is each distinct interpretation associated with an identical VPC originally formed in the mind? Therefore, the aim of this study is to suggest a better model of the mechanism whereby each distinct interpretation associated with a given VPC is originally formed in the mind by focusing on pick up within LCCM theory. LCCM theory is designed to characterise the protean nature of word meaning and assumes a bifurcation between the linguistic and conceptual systems. According to the theory, utterance-level meanings (conceptions) are produced due to the interaction of the information in the linguistic system (lexical concepts) with the corresponding one in the conceptual system (cognitive models).Based on the key assumption of LCCM theory, I argue that the interpretation of a given VPC is produced as a result of the lexical concepts associated with a verb and a particle, respectively, affording access to the corresponding cognitive models. In order to predict the process more accurately, building upon the detailed historical analysis of up,
I offer its semantic network, employing the methodology to distinguish distinct lexical concepts proposed by Evans (2009). Secondly, I identify the semantic network of pick up, as well as that of pick. Thirdly, drawing upon work on the human conceptual system (e.g., Barsalou 1999), I predict the types of cognitive models that are accessed/produced during the process of interpretation.