nam a22 c 4500 hcp.79/6031115 nljbp 260105054347.2 cr ||||||||||| 260105s2026 ne |||||||||||||||||eng|d 2025046622 9789027244277 (e-Book) nljbp eng nljbp nljbp P324.5 CFG bicssc LAN016000 bisacsh Fortescue, Michael author This is the Thing A cognitive/typological investigation into the concept of ‘thinghood’ Michael Fortescue Amsterdam ; Philadelphia : John Benjamins Publishing Company, 2026 ©2026 1 online resource (ix, 220 pp. ) text txt rdacontent computer c rdamedia online resource cr rdacarrier Human Cognitive Processing 1387-6724 79 Includes bibliographical references and indexes. Preface -- Chapter 1. Introduction -- Chapter 2. The historical origins of ‘thing’ words -- Chapter 3. The semantics of ‘thing’ words -- Chapter 4. The abstractness of ‘thing’ words -- Chapter 5. The thing as gestalt -- Chapter 6. Things in context -- Chapter 7. Misplaced concreteness -- Chapter 8. What ‘it’ refers to -- Chapter 9. There’s something to it… -- Chapter 10. Further functions of ‘thing’ and ‘something’ words -- Chapter 11. The properties of things -- Chapter 12. Philosophical and scientific approaches to ‘things’ -- Chapter 13. The ‘thing’ in art -- Chapter 14. The semantic source of ‘thing’ words revisited -- Chapter 15. Conclusions This monograph investigates for the first time words like ‘thing’ of maximal semantic generality across languages. Not all languages have exact equivalents of English ‘thing’ – in some, for instance, the nearest equivalent is an interrogative stem (‘what?’). Few languages extend their ‘thing’ words into indefinite ‘something’, ‘anything’, ‘nothing’, as in English. As regards Indo-European languages, Buck (1988) points out that such words typically derive from a more abstract source than that of simple material objects. In the case of ‘thing’, the earliest source usually given is the Germanic word for a ‘judicial assembly’. How does such a word develop the most general sense of ‘thing’ today? Do all languages follow this kind of pattern? These questions lead into an investigation of the concept of ‘thing’ in a wide range of contexts and in a wide variety of languages, involving both typological and cognitive aspects. The results have sometimes been unexpected. Buck, C. D. 1988. A Dictionary of Selected Synonyms in the Principal Indo -European Languages. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. Provided by publisher. Cognition and language Semantics Theoretical linguistics Typology Fortescue, Michael author Hardbound version: Amsterdam ; Philadelphia : John Benjamins Publishing Company, 9789027231987 DOI https://doi.org/10.1075/hcp.79 JB e-Platform https://www.jbe-platform.com/content/books/9789027244277