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Towards a theory of lexical meaning as ontologies and construals

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Author

Summary, in English

The purpose of this paper is to propose a framework of lexical meaning, broadly along the lines of Cognitive Semantics (Langacker 1987a). The paper focuses on interpretations of adjective-noun (ADJ N ) combinations in English. Within the proposed model, all aspects of meaning are to be explained in terms of properties of ontologies in conceptual space, i.e. properties of content ontologies and schematic ontologies and construals which are cognitive operations imposed on the conceptual structures on the occasion of use. It is through the operations of construals on ontological structures that different readings of lexical expressions arise. Lexical meanings are dynamic and sensitive to contextual demands, rather than fixed and stable. In a dynamic usage-based model like this, polysemy and multiple readings emerge as a natural consequence of the human ability to think flexibly.

Department/s

Publishing year

2004

Language

English

Publication/Series

The department of English in Lund: working papers in linguistics

Document type

Working paper

Topic

  • Languages and Literature

Status

Published

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 1652-0017