The general approach to linguistic semantics adopted in cognitive semantics. There are five key assumptions which comprise this perspective.

Firstly, There is no principled distinction between semantics and pragmatics, that is there is no distinction between 'core' meaning on the one hand, and pragmatic, social or cultural meaning on the other.

Secondly, encyclopaedic knowledge is structured: the knowledge structures that words provide access to represent an organised inventory of knowledge. Thirdly, encyclopaedic meaning arises in context(s) of use, so that the 'selection' of encyclopaedic meaning is informed by contextual factors. For example, the word safe can have different meanings depending on the particular context of use. Safe can mean 'unlikely to cause harm' when used in the context of a child playing with a spade. Alternatively safe can mean 'unlikely to come to harm' when used in the context of a beach that has been saved from development as a tourist resort.

Fourthly, the encyclopaedic approach views lexical items as points of access to encyclopaedic knowledge.

Accordingly, words selectively provide access to particular parts of the vast semantic potential of encyclopaedic knowledge. Fifthly, while the central meaning associated with a word is relatively stable, the encyclopaedic knowledge that each word provides access to is dynamic. For instance, the knowledge that the lexical concept (car) provides access to continues to be modified as a result of our ongoing interaction with cars, our acquisition of knowledge regarding cars.