Summary
This book has a two-level structure. Its central part is a case study of a cognitive approach to the representation of lexical “senses”, which is sometimes called “prototype semantics” (cf. Kleiber 2003 [1990]). This initial delimitation of the “object” of investigation merits some comment.
The label “prototype semantics” serves well as a sign of opposition to previous, more openly structuralist approaches to the representation of lexical senses. It is, however, potentially troublesome in respect of both its segments. While one may read the label's meaning as “an application of the prototype theory of categorization to semantic issues”, it is not obvious that one can cogently talk about the prototype theory. What is beyond dispute is the existence of prototype effects, which may have relevance for psychological theories of concepts. Moreover, the notion of “prototype” as used in cognitive psychology (see section 0.2. below) need not play the central role in the linguistic study labelled “prototype semantics”. There are other features of “prototype phenomena” which may be as important in language study as the notion of “prototype” itself, i.e. graded and nondiscrete aspects of linguistic categories, or “family resemblances” between their members. In short, psychological “prototype effects” could be only a suggestive analogy to some linguistically relevant phenomena.
The label can be also misleading as concerns the “semantics” segment. As understood traditionally, “semantics” is centrally opposed to syntax and pragmatics.
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- Information
- Prepositional Network ModelsA Hermeneutical Case Study, pp. 7 - 16Publisher: Jagiellonian University PressPrint publication year: 2009