Abstract
This article explores the importance of developing a cognitive model of linguistic categories to better understand them as outcomes of cognitive processes. It highlights the fundamental problem of how humans conceptualize the world and how these conceptualizations are translated into cognitive models, which in turn find expression in speech and communication. The study emphasizes the close interdependence between cognition and linguistic categories, showing that grammatical categories are not merely formal structures but rather reflections of different layers of abstraction that emerge from human cognitive activity. By reconstructing cognitive models of grammatical categories, it becomes possible to trace how language encodes the gradual stages of cognitive development. The primary aim of the article is to examine grammatical categories within phraseological units through the lens of cognitive model theory, communicative grammar, and prototype theory as developed in cognitive linguistics. Phraseological units are analyzed using cognitive descriptions and syntagmatic approaches across three interconnected dimensions: conceptual, grammatical, and communicative. Such an approach makes it possible to study phraseological units at both the internal and external levels of syntagmatics, offering a comprehensive view of their structural and functional properties. Ultimately, the article demonstrates that phraseological grammar cannot be fully understood without reference to the cognitive processes that shape language use.