Abstract
The study is aimed at attempting to reconstruct the cognitive mechanisms involved in the conceptualisation of meanings of nuclear tense-aspect grammatical constructions of the English language. The scientific novelty lies in identifying the integrative image schemas reflecting the deep mechanisms of conceptualisation of the categories of aspect and tense in the formation of meanings of grammatical units. As a result, it has been shown that different levels of abstraction are involved in the process of grammatical conceptualisation of aspectual-temporal characteristics. The initial stage of metaphorisation is represented by the basic system-forming conceptual metaphors, characterised by a high degree of abstraction. Reflecting sensory thinking, the metaphors record the interaction of concepts such as time, space, orientation and movement. The second stage of abstraction, reflecting more detailed logical thinking, is represented by conceptual schemes and their constituent components, presented in the paper in the form of graphic image schemas. The conceptual schemes reflect the interaction and features of a systemic distribution of aspectual-temporal characteristics represented in the meanings of verb forms.
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