The semantic map model is relatively new in linguistic research, but it has been intensively used during the past three decades for studying both cross‐linguistic and language‐specific questions. The goal of the present contribution is to give a comprehensive overview of the model. After introducing the different types of semantic maps, we present the steps involved for building the maps and discuss in more detail the different types of maps and their respective advantages and disadvantages, focusing on the kinds of linguistic generalizations captured. Finally, we provide a thorough survey of the literature on the topic, and we sketch future avenues for research in the field.
This paper investigates universal and areal structures in the lexicon as manifested by colexification patterns in the semantic domains of perception and cognition, based on data from both small and large datasets. Using several methods, including weighted semantic maps, formal concept lattices, correlation analysis, and dimensionality reduction, we identify colexification patterns in the domains in question and evaluate the extent to which these patterns are specific to particular areas. This paper contributes to the methodology of investigating areal patterns in the lexicon, and identifies a number of cross-linguistic regularities and of area-specific properties in the structuring of lexicons.
This article focuses on the Greek ALLATIVE preposition eis, and in particular on the semantic extension from the ALLATIVE to the RECIPIENT. Based on diachronic data, it is argued that the emergence of the ALLATIVE-RECIPIENT polysemy is not directly connected to the loss of the dative case, as often implied. Under the theoretical framework provided by cognitive linguistic studies, the mechanism which underlies this polysemy of eis is investigated. Furthermore, it is shown that in the course of time, Greek does not follow one single pattern with regard to the encoding of these two senses. Finally, the article continues the debate about the extension pathways that may give rise to the RECIPIENT.
Nuclear accents have two interesting properties. First, they have a projective property, i.e. they may refer to a focus domain that encompasses a higher syntactic projection. Second, at least for some languages, nuclear accents may have an interpretational property, i.e., they may have alternative realizations that reveal particular interpretations, such as contrast, correction, surprise, etc. The present article examines the interaction between the projective and the interpretational properties of nuclear pitch accents. Based on an experimental study on Greek, we show that the nuclear accent that is interpreted as 'contrastive' refers to a local focus domain, i.e., it is not projected to higher layers of the constituent structure. Furthermore, our experimental findings show that these properties interact with syntactic and prosodic markedness, in a way that the canonical word order and the unmarked accentual structure are felicitous in a larger array of contexts than the marked syntactic and accentual configurations.
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