Semantic maps and mental representation
Semantic maps are usually assumed to describe a universal arrangement of different conceptual situations in a speaker's mind as determined by perceived relations of similarity between these conceptual situations. This paper provides a number of arguments that challenge this view, based on vario...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Dartmouth College Library
2010-01-01
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| Series: | Linguistic Discovery |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1349/PS1.1537-0852.A.345 |
| _version_ | 1818614501474304000 |
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| author | Sonia Cristofaro |
| author_facet | Sonia Cristofaro |
| author_sort | Sonia Cristofaro |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Semantic maps are usually assumed to describe a universal arrangement of different conceptual situations in a speaker's mind as determined by perceived relations of similarity between these conceptual situations. This paper provides a number of arguments that challenge this view, based on various types of evidence from processes of semantic change and synchronic implicational universals. The multifunctionality patterns described by semantic maps may originate from processes of form-function recombination in particular contexts rather than any perceived similarity between individual conceptual components. These patterns may also originate from the fact that a particular functional principle leads to the association of a particular construction type with different conceptual situations, independently of any specific relation between these conceptual situations as such. A number of synchronic and diachronic phenomena pertaining to the very structure of individual semantic maps further reveal that, even if one assumes that these provide a representation of similarity relations between different conceptual situations, they do so only to a limited extent. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-16T16:19:01Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-e96e5065bc224574a17b038cf422f913 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1537-0852 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-16T16:19:01Z |
| publishDate | 2010-01-01 |
| publisher | Dartmouth College Library |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Linguistic Discovery |
| spelling | doaj.art-e96e5065bc224574a17b038cf422f9132022-12-21T22:24:58ZengDartmouth College LibraryLinguistic Discovery1537-08522010-01-018110.1349/PS1.1537-0852.A.345345Semantic maps and mental representationSonia CristofaroSemantic maps are usually assumed to describe a universal arrangement of different conceptual situations in a speaker's mind as determined by perceived relations of similarity between these conceptual situations. This paper provides a number of arguments that challenge this view, based on various types of evidence from processes of semantic change and synchronic implicational universals. The multifunctionality patterns described by semantic maps may originate from processes of form-function recombination in particular contexts rather than any perceived similarity between individual conceptual components. These patterns may also originate from the fact that a particular functional principle leads to the association of a particular construction type with different conceptual situations, independently of any specific relation between these conceptual situations as such. A number of synchronic and diachronic phenomena pertaining to the very structure of individual semantic maps further reveal that, even if one assumes that these provide a representation of similarity relations between different conceptual situations, they do so only to a limited extent.http://dx.doi.org/10.1349/PS1.1537-0852.A.345grammaticalizationsemantic mapsmetonymyconceptual space |
| spellingShingle | Sonia Cristofaro Semantic maps and mental representation Linguistic Discovery grammaticalization semantic maps metonymy conceptual space |
| title | Semantic maps and mental representation |
| title_full | Semantic maps and mental representation |
| title_fullStr | Semantic maps and mental representation |
| title_full_unstemmed | Semantic maps and mental representation |
| title_short | Semantic maps and mental representation |
| title_sort | semantic maps and mental representation |
| topic | grammaticalization semantic maps metonymy conceptual space |
| url | http://dx.doi.org/10.1349/PS1.1537-0852.A.345 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT soniacristofaro semanticmapsandmentalrepresentation |