In Search of a Cognitive Linguistic Model of Semantic Change: History of English Synonyms Referring to the Conceptual Domain MAN/MALE HUMAN BEING - Couverture souple

Grygiel, Marcin

 
9783848435166: In Search of a Cognitive Linguistic Model of Semantic Change: History of English Synonyms Referring to the Conceptual Domain MAN/MALE HUMAN BEING
Couverture souple
ISBN 10 : 3848435160 ISBN 13 : 9783848435166
Editeur : LAP LAMBERT Academic Publishing, 2012

Synopsis

Semantic change is a linguistic phenomenon that allows words to mean something different from what they used to. The problem has preoccupied linguists ever since the beginning of the 19th century. At that time many students of language first realised that sense alterations can be no longer treated as corruption or degeneration and tried to bring them into some kind of order and system. Although its golden period is long gone, the study of diachronic changes in meaning has never been abandoned entirely. In my research, I treat semantic change as a natural consequence of the dynamic and creative nature of human cognitive capacities. In the proposed model, semantic change is perceived as an unconscious act of creation resulting from the basic mental mechanism of putting two things together, otherwise referred to as conceptual blending. Paradoxically, language is possible only if it allows a limited number of combinable linguistic forms to cover a very large number of meaningful situations. Constructing cross-domain mappings and putting mental spaces together, we arrive at new meanings that become entrenched and conventionalised in language, leading to semantic change.

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Présentation de l'éditeur

Semantic change is a linguistic phenomenon that allows words to mean something different from what they used to. The problem has preoccupied linguists ever since the beginning of the 19th century. At that time many students of language first realised that sense alterations can be no longer treated as corruption or degeneration and tried to bring them into some kind of order and system. Although its golden period is long gone, the study of diachronic changes in meaning has never been abandoned entirely. In my research, I treat semantic change as a natural consequence of the dynamic and creative nature of human cognitive capacities. In the proposed model, semantic change is perceived as an unconscious act of creation resulting from the basic mental mechanism of putting two things together, otherwise referred to as conceptual blending. Paradoxically, language is possible only if it allows a limited number of combinable linguistic forms to cover a very large number of meaningful situations. Constructing cross-domain mappings and putting mental spaces together, we arrive at new meanings that become entrenched and conventionalised in language, leading to semantic change.

Biographie de l'auteur

Marcin Grygiel is a researcher at the Department of Russian Studies (University of Rzeszów, Poland) where he teaches linguistic subjects, English and Old Church Slavonic. His research activities focus on various aspects of cognitive and historical linguistics such as semantic change in the history of English and affirmation in Slavic.

Les informations fournies dans la section « A propos du livre » peuvent faire référence à une autre édition de ce titre.

Éditeur
LAP LAMBERT Academic Publishing
Date d'édition
2012
Langue
anglais
ISBN 10 
3848435160
ISBN 13 
9783848435166
Reliure
Broché
Nombre de pages
308
Coordonnées du fabricant
non disponible
Personne responsable
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