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Article published In:
Review of Cognitive Linguistics
Vol. 17:2 (2019) ► pp.438–464

The semantics of the English complex preposition next to

| University of Szczecin

The present paper is an analysis of the semantic structure of the complex spatial preposition next to. Theoretical concepts of the cognitive framework promote a deep understanding of spatial relations and their metaphorical transfers encoded by individual prepositional senses. Assuming the usage-based model of language, the study takes a closer look at corpus data which is the basis for proposing five distinct meanings of the preposition under investigation. Conceptual metaphor theory is used to explain metaphorical transfer of spatial next to to abstract domains of human experience.

Keywords: cognitive semantics, spatial prepositions, conceptual metaphor
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Spatial prepositions in the cognitive framework – basic assumptions
  • 3.Methodology
  • 4. Next to – an overview
  • 5.The semantics of next to – findings
    • 5.1The Adjacent Sense
    • 5.2Metaphorical extensions of the preposition next to
      • 5.2.1The source domain of space
      • 5.2.2Target domains for the preposition next to
        • 5.2.2.1The Addition Sense
        • 5.2.2.2The Comparison Sense
        • 5.2.2.3The Scale Sense
        • 5.2.2.4The Almost Sense
    • 5.3The semantic contribution of next and to
    • 5.4The semantic network for next to
  • 6.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 10 January 2020
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/rcl.00042.bre
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