Some Aspects of Cognitive Semantics in the Reconstruction of Semantic Structures

The applicability of cognitive semantics in diachronic studies of linguistic phenomena is explored, investigating how the two principal features of conceptual categories - flexibility & dynamics - can aid in the reconstruction of meaning changes in the semantic history of polysemic lexical items...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inSuvremena lingvistika Vol. 26; no. 1-2; pp. 125 - 141
Main Author Raffaelli, Ida
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published 01.01.2000
Subjects
Cognitive Semantics
Conceptual Semantics
Croatian and Serbian
Polysemy
Semantic Change
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Summary:The applicability of cognitive semantics in diachronic studies of linguistic phenomena is explored, investigating how the two principal features of conceptual categories - flexibility & dynamics - can aid in the reconstruction of meaning changes in the semantic history of polysemic lexical items. The Croatian adjective trudan 'tired, weary, pregnant, hard, difficult, demanding, sad' is studied as it evolved a broad gamut of meanings from its prototypical 'fatigued/tired' attested in 16th- & 17th-century Croatian. The dynamics between the adjacent conceptual domains that led to the emergence of new meanings of trudan is traced in the processes of prototypical core dissolution & transfer & semantic specialization. The semantic expansion from 'fatigued/tired', to 'difficult/hard', to 'pregnant' & 'sad /mournful' is schematically represented. 22 References. Z. Dubiel
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ISSN:0586-0296