From Polysemy to Semantic Change: Towards a typology of lexical semantic associations (Studies in Language Companion Series)

Part 1. State Of The Art Approaching Lexical Typology / Maria Koptjevskaja-tamm -- Part 2. Theoretical And Methodological Issues -- Words And Their Meanings : Principles Of Variation And Stabilization / Stéphane Robert -- The Typology Of Semantic Affinities / Bernard Pottier -- Cognitive Onomasiology And Lexical Change : Around The Eye / Peter Koch -- Mapping Semantic Spaces : A Constructionist Account Of The Light Verb Xordæn Eat In Persian / Neiloufar Family -- Semantic Maps And The Typology Of Colexification : Intertwining Polysemous Networks Across Languages / Alexandre François -- A Catalogue Of Semantic Shifts : Towards A Typology Of Semantic Derivation / Anna A. Zalizniak -- Semantic Associations And Confluences In Paradigmatic Networks / Bruno Gaume, Karine Duvignau & Martine Vanhove -- Part 3. Case Studies -- About Eating In A Few Niger-congo Languages / Emilio Bonvini -- Eating Beyond Certainties / Christine Hénault -- From Semantic Change To Polysemy : The Cases Of Meat/animal And Drink / Pascal Boyeldieu -- Is A Friend An Enemy ? Between Proximity And Opposition / Sergueï Sakhno & Nicole Tersis -- Semantic Associations Between Sensory Modalities, Prehension And Mental Perceptions : A Crosslinguistic Perspective / Martine Vanhove -- Cats And Bugs : Some Remarks About Semantic Parallelisms / Michel Masson. Edited By Martine Vanhove. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Studies in Language Companion Series 106 From Polysemy to Semantic Change 1 Editorial page 2 Title page 3 LCC data 4 Table of contents 5 Semantic associations: A foreword 7 References 12 Acknowledgements 12 PART I. State of the Art 15 Approaching lexical typology 17 1. Introduction 17 2. Typology, semantic and lexical typology 18 3. General premises: Words and meanings 21 3.1 Possible words 21 3.2 Semantic generality vs. polysemy, or when are meanings lexicalized? 22 3.3 The meaning of “meaning”: Denotation vs. sense, approximate vs. precise meaning definitions 25 4. What meanings can and cannot be expressed by a single word? 27 4.1 Categorization within lexical fields and conceptual domains: A couple of examples to start with 28 4.2 Domain-categorization studies: Language coverage and focus 30 4.3 Methodology 31 4.4 Questions and generalizations 32 4.5 Explanations 37 4.6 Universal vs. language-specific lexicalizations? 38 5. What different meanings can be expressed by one and the same lexeme or by words derivationally related to each other? 40 5.1 Focusing on semantic motivation: Another look at the body and outside 41 5.2 Formal motivation and its semantic correlates 46 5.3 Lexical semantics in cross-linguistic research on motivation 49 6. What cross-linguistic patterns are there in lexicon-grammar interaction? 51 7. Lexical typology: Past, present and future 56 Acknowledgements 60 References 60 PART II. Theoretical and methodological issues 67 Words and their meanings 69 1. Introduction* 69 2. Language malleability and variation at the unit level 70 2.1 Different means of reference accessing (on synonymy) 70 2.1.1 Variable categorization, segmentation and construals 71 2.1.2 Property selections and referential paths 73 2.1.3 The internal architecture of meaning and the referential background 74 2.2 Meaning’s malleability (polysemy and meaning shifts) 75 2.2.1 Metaphor 75 2.2.2 Metonymy 80 2.2.3 Combining metaphor and metonymy 83 2.2.4 Active zones and contextual interactions 84 2.3 The depth dimension of language 84 2.3.1 Semantic universes: Frames and scenarios 84 2.3.2 Connotations 86 2.3.3 The depth dimension of language: Fabric of networks 87 3. The problem of transparency and referential accessibility 88 3.1 Motivation 88 3.2 Opacity and accessibility 90 4. Construing meaning in discourse: Stabilization mechanisms 93 4.1 Application domains, meaning attractors and semantic isotopics 94 4.1.1 Application domains 94 4.1.2 Primitive meaning attractors (prototypes, personal attractors and discourse situations) 94 4.1.3 Contextual meaning attractors: Semantic isotopics 95 4.2 Contextual linkage and multiple landmarks 96 4.2.1 Lexical interactions 97 4.2.2 The framing role of the verbal context 97 4.2.3 Interactions between syntax and semantics 98 4.2.4 Some semantic mechanisms at the utterance level 100 4.3 Semantic layering 102 5. Conclusion 104 References 104 The typology of semantic affinities 107 1. Introduction 107 2. Semantic divergence or polysemy 108 2.1 Polysemy and homonymy 108 2.2 The role of cultural habits 109 2.3 The parameter of the domains of instantiation 110 2.4 The parameter of synaesthesic fields 110 2.5 Mental schemas 110 2.5.1 The visueme 111 2.5.2 The ideeme 111 2.5.3 The noeme 112 2.5.4 The analytic schema 112 3. Semantic convergence or Parasemy 113 3.1 From referentiality to signs: Polysemiosis 113 3.2 Semiotization 113 3.3 The fields homology: Co-hyponymy and co-semy 116 3.4 Paradigmatic parasemy: The taxeme 116 4. Conclusion 118 References 119 Cognitive onomasiology and lexical change 121 1. Theoretical and methodological preliminaries 121 1.1 The search for semantic parallels 121 1.2 Onomasiology 123 1.3 Language samples 124 1.4 Change of designation and types of lexical change 124 1.5 A two-dimensional lexicological approach 127 2. A look at the data 130 2.1 A first exemplification: the target concept eyelash 130 2.2 Extending the analysis: The concepts eyelid, eyebrow, and eyeball 133 3. Refining the analysis 134 3.1 Dependent and independent conceptualisation 134 3.2 Typical shifts within the frame eye 137 3.3 Redundant compounds 139 4. Typology and lexical change 141 5. Conclusion 143 References 147 Mapping semantic spaces 153 1. Introduction 153 2. The Persian verbal system 154 3. The verb xordæn 155 4. Theoretical methods 160 5. XORDÆN’s islands 165 5.1 XORDÆN: Affected 165 5.1.1 XORDÆN: Affected: Modified: Fused 166 5.1.2 XORDÆN: Affected: Modified: Damaged 167 5.1.3 XORDÆN: Affected: Modified: Topology 167 5.1.4 XORDÆN: Affected: Modified: Surface 168 5.1.5 XORDÆN: Affected: Hurting: Weapon: Type of Hit 168 5.1.6 XORDÆN: Affected: Hurting: Weapon: Hand Held 168 5.1.7 XORDÆN: Affected: Hurting: Weapon: Projectile 169 5.1.8 XORDÆN: Affected: Hurting: Weapon: Blunt 169 5.1.9 XORDÆN: Affected: Hurting: Trick 169 5.2 XORDÆN: Suffering 170 5.2.1 XORDÆN: Suffering: Emotional 170 5.2.2 XORDÆN: Suffering: Physical 171 5.3 XORDÆN: Usurping 171 5.4. XORDÆN: Agitated 172 5.4.1 XORDÆN: Agitated: General 172 5.4.2 XORDÆN: Agitated: Rotation 172 6. Concluding remarks 173 References 174 Semantic maps and the typology of colexification 177 1. General issues of lexical typology* 177 2. Ensuring the comparability of lexicons 179 2.1 Monosemy vs. polysemy 179 2.2 Overlapping polysemies 180 3. Towards a typology of colexification 182 3.1 Senses: The atoms within each molecule 182 3.2 Colexification: The bonds between the atoms 184 3.3 Strict vs. loose colexification 185 3.4 Interpreting colexification 186 3.5 Typological prospects 188 4. Lexical semantic maps 191 4.1 General principles of semantic maps 191 4.2 Connecting senses together 192 4.3 Choosing a pivot notion 194 5. Elaborating a universal map for “breathe” 196 5.1 A first overview of the verb “breathe” 196 5.2 From the sense list to the map 198 5.3 Exploring the noun “breath” 200 5.3.1 "Breath”, “breath of air”, “scent” ... 201 5.3.2 "Life”, “spirit”, “mind”, “feelings” ... 201 5.3.3 "Soul”, “spirit”, “supernatural being” ... 203 5.3.4 "Going from “breath” to “supreme spirit” 204 5.3.5 From “soul” to reflexive marking 205 5.4 Drawing a more complete map for “breathe” 206 6. Conclusion 207 7. Appendices 208 7.1 Appendix 1: Lexical data 208 7.1.1 Sanskrit 208 7.1.2 Classical Greek 208 7.1.3 Classical Latin 209 7.1.4 Russian 210 7.1.5 Mandarin Chinese 210 7.1.6 Inuit/Aleut 211 7.1.7 Nahuatl 211 7.1.8 Mwotlap 211 7.1.9.Nêlêmwa 212 7.1.10 Standard Arabic 212 7.1.11 Beja 213 7.1.12 Makonde 213 7.1.13 Sar 213 7.2 Appendix 2: Results and semantic map 213 7.3 Appendix 3: Some isolectic sets for “breathe” 213 References 228 A catalogue of semantic shifts 231 1. Preliminary remarks 231 2. The structure of the lexicographic entry 234 3. Problems 239 Appendix. Examples of semantic shifts and their realizations. 242 References 244 Semantic associations and confluences in paradigmatic networks 247 1. Introduction 247 2. The structure of French dictionary graphs 248 2.1 Properties of field graphs 249 2.2 Lexical graphs 252 2.3 Hypothesis: The paradigmatic graphs of all natural languages are hierarchical small worlds 257 3. Confluences in hierarchical small world networks 258 3.1 Proxemy for confluence calculation 259 3.2 Prox for disambiguating homonymy in dictionaries 261 4. Confluence and semantic associations 265 5. A typology of languages based on co-confluence in paradigmatic graphs 270 6. Conclusion 274 References 275 PART III. Case studies 279 About “Eating” in a few Niger-Congo languages 281 1. Introduction 281 2. Eating as lexical item 282 3. The co-text of orthonymic eat 286 4. The polysemy of eat in non orthonymic context 289 5. Conclusion 300 References 302 Eating beyond certainties 305 1. Introduction 305 2. Eat: Concrete aspects 306 2.1 “Eat” and “tooth, masticating, biting” 306 2.2 “Eat” and “swallow” 307 2.3 “Eat” and “irritate, itch” 307 3. Eat, taste, try 308 3.1 “Eating” and “trying, attempting, testing” > “choosing” and “tasting, sampling, savouring” 308 3.2 “Tasting” and “knowing” 309 4. “Eat”: Emotional aspects and physical sensations 309 4.1 “Eat” and pleasant emotions: “Find sb. attractive” 310 4.2 “Eat” and undergone emotions and sensations: “Undergo sth. unpleasant”, “suffer”, “be beaten” 311 4.3 “Eat” and controlled activity: “Do sb. harm, make sb.’s life impossible”, “hate”, “destroy” 312 5. Conclusion 314 References 314 From semantic change to polysemy 317 1. Introduction 317 2. "Meat/animal” 318 3. "Drink” 321 References 329 Appendix: Quoted languages and sources 328 Is a “friend” an “enemy”? Between “proximity” and “opposition” 331 1. Introduction 331 2. "Friend” ~ “duality” ~ “proximity” 333 2.1 "Friend” ~ “other” ~ “one of the two” 334 2.2 "Friend” ~ ’follow, following” ~ “proximity” 336 2.3 Etymological discussion 338 2.4 "Friend” ~ “sharing” 339 3. "Friend” ~ “duality” ~ “similarity” ~ “complementarity” 342 3.1 "Friend” ~ “similar” 342 3.2 "Friend” ~ complementarity 342 3.3 "Friend” ~ “one’s own” ~ “the familiar one” 344 4. "Friend” ~ “duality” ~ “opposition” 345 4.1 "Friend” ~ duality ~ “enemy” 345 4.2 Etymological discussion 346 4.3 "Duality” ~ “opposition” ~ “enemy” 347 4.4 Etymological discussion 348 5. Conclusion 349 References 352 Semantic associations between sensory modalities, prehension and mental perceptions 355 1. Introduction 355 2. Background 356 3. Data and methodology 358 4. The auditory sense and mental perceptions 361 4.1 Auditory sense and internal reception 361 4.2 Auditory sense, internal and intellectual perceptions 362 4.3 Auditory sense and intellectual perceptions 366 4.4 Discussion and conclusions 366 5 Vision and mental perceptions 368 5.1 Vision and “understanding” 368 5.2 Vision and “knowing” 371 5.3 Vision, “understanding” and “knowing” 372 5.4 Discussion and conclusions 373 6 Prehension verbs and intellectual perceptions 375 6.1 Prehension and “understanding” 377 6.2 Prehension and “learning” 378 6.3 Prehension, “understanding” and “learning” 378 6.4 Conclusions 379 7. General conclusion 380 References 383 Cats and bugs 385 1. Introduction 385 2. Parallelisms in isolation 386 3. Parallelisms in networks 387 3.1 Parallelism associating the monkey and the cat to drunkenness 387 3.2 Cat and insects 388 3.3 Cat, monkey, insects and black mood 390 3.4 Cat, monkey, insects and dreadful creatures 392 3.5 Cultural and historical explanation 393 4. The semantic parallelism with “gloomy, grinning” 395 5. Conclusion 398 References 399 Index of general 401 Index of languages 411 Index of names 415 The Studies in Language Companion Series 419 This Book Is The Result Of A Joint Project On Lexical And Semantic Typology Which Gathered Together Field Linguists, Semanticists, Cognitivists, Typologists, And An Nlp Specialist. These Cross-linguistic Studies Concern Semantic Shifts At Large, Both Synchronic And Diachronic: The Outcome Of Polysemy, Heterosemy, Or Semantic Change At The Lexical Level. The First Part Presents A Comprehensive State Of The Art Of A Domain Typologists Have Long Been Reluctant To Deal With. Part Two Focuses On Theoretical And Methodological Approaches: Cognition, Construction Grammar, Graph Theory, Semantic Maps, And Data Bases. These Studies Deal With Universals And Variation Across Languages, Illustrated With Numerous Examples From Different Semantic Domains And Different Languages. Part Three Is Dedicated To Detailed Empirical Studies Of A Large Sample Of Languages In A Limited Set Of Semantic Fields. It Reveals Possible Universals Of Semantic Association, As Well As Areal And Cultural Tendencies.