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Body Part Terms in Conceptualization and Language Usage
Edited by Iwona Kraska-Szlenk
[Cognitive Linguistic Studies in Cultural Contexts 12] 2020
► pp. 77–98

Towards a semantic lexicon of body part terms

This chapter focuses on recurring patterns of semantic extension of body part terms taking into account two major factors which lie at the heart of the phenomenon, one being the so-called embodied cognition, the other – shared culture. While these two factors lead to considerable resemblance among unrelated languages, they encounter the counterbalance of language-specific features resulting from non-shared culture and different language usage practices. The question posed is whether a systematic research program can examine polysemy of body part terms from a cross-linguistic perspective and what kinds of difficulties this kind of research would have to overcome.
Keywords: body part terms, embodiment, cognitive universals, polysemy, semantic change, semantic extension
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Embodied cognition and linguistic embodiment
  • 3.Cross-linguistic tendencies in extension of body part terms
  • 4.Body part terms and cross-linguistic equivalence
  • 5.Equivalence of extended senses
  • Concluding remarks and further research questions
  • Notes
  • Acknowledgement
  • References
Published online: 23 March 2020
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/clscc.12.c04kra
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