Publications

Publication details [#943]

Alarcón, Paola. 2012. Polysemic Senses of Weight in Chilean Spanish. 12 pp. URL
Publication type
Book – conference proceedings
Publication language
English

Abstract

Cognitive Linguistics maintains that lexical items constitute categories of distinct, yet related, polysemous senses which are organised into networks, where extensions from the prototype or central sense are motivated by metaphor or image-schemas transformations. In this context, this paper zooms in on the conceptual domain of WEIGHT in order to examine the polysemic senses of the various lexical items that are related to it. Thus, throughout the paper, several metaphorical senses are discussed. According to the author, these senses emerge on the basis of metaphors like SITUATIONS THAT DEMAND EFFORT ARE BURDENS, HAVING A RESPONSIBILITY IS TO CARRY A BURDEN, SOCIAL INTERACTION IS A BURDEN, or HEAVY OBJECT IS IMPORTANT ENTITY. In addition, Alorcón employs the Corpus de Referencia del Español Actual of the Real Academia Española (CREA) for Chilean Spanish to determine the syntactic patterns through which polysemous senses are realised.