 There has been scientific and terminological controversy around the label 'cognitive linguistics'; there is no consensus on what specifically is meant with the term.The roots of cognitive linguistics are in Noam Chomsky’s 1959 critical review of B. F. Skinner’s "Verbal Behavior".Chomsky's rejection of behavioural psychology and his subsequent anti-behaviourist activity helped bring about a shift of focus from empiricism to mentalism in psychology under the new concepts of cognitive psychology and cognitive science.