In the conceptual structuring system approach, the conceptual structuring system is based upon a limited number of large-scale schematic systems. These provide the basic organisation of the cognitive representation upon which the rich content meaning encoded by open class forms can be organised and supported. The various schematic systems collaborate to structure a scene that is expressed via language.

Each schematic system contributes different structural aspects of the scene, resulting in the overall delineation of the scene's skeletal framework. There are four key schematic systems that have been addressed in detail by Leonard Talmy in his work although there are likely to be more. These are the configurational system, the perspectival system, the attentional system and the force-dynamics system.