In an integration network, the generic space provides information that is abstract enough to be common to both (or all) the input spaces. blending theory holds that integration networks are, in part, licenced by interlocutors identifying the structure common to the input spaces, thereby licencing conceptual integration and thus the formation of a blended space. This is achieved by virtue of the generic space; elements in the generic space are mapped onto counterparts in each of the input spaces, which motivates the identification of cross-space counterparts in the input spaces.