On the river, on an island, on the street: The semantics of English on-constructions involving “laterality”

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Author(s)
Goddard, Cliff
Griffith University Author(s)
Year published
2013
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This study analyses a set of highly English-specific on-constructions of the form [on + NPPLACE], such as: on the bank of the river, (a house) on the beach, on an island, on the plains, on the street, on a farm. The analysis is conducted in the Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM) framework originated by Anna Wierzbicka. Six semantically discrete construction types are identified and each is assigned a semantic schema framed in the metalanguage of semantic primes. All of them, it is argued, include a semantic component involving "laterality" (semantic prime SIDE), often in combination with a component involving visibility ...
View more >This study analyses a set of highly English-specific on-constructions of the form [on + NPPLACE], such as: on the bank of the river, (a house) on the beach, on an island, on the plains, on the street, on a farm. The analysis is conducted in the Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM) framework originated by Anna Wierzbicka. Six semantically discrete construction types are identified and each is assigned a semantic schema framed in the metalanguage of semantic primes. All of them, it is argued, include a semantic component involving "laterality" (semantic prime SIDE), often in combination with a component involving visibility (SEE). These constructions, along with others, constitute a complex network of grammatical polysemy in English.
View less >
View more >This study analyses a set of highly English-specific on-constructions of the form [on + NPPLACE], such as: on the bank of the river, (a house) on the beach, on an island, on the plains, on the street, on a farm. The analysis is conducted in the Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM) framework originated by Anna Wierzbicka. Six semantically discrete construction types are identified and each is assigned a semantic schema framed in the metalanguage of semantic primes. All of them, it is argued, include a semantic component involving "laterality" (semantic prime SIDE), often in combination with a component involving visibility (SEE). These constructions, along with others, constitute a complex network of grammatical polysemy in English.
View less >
Journal Title
International Journal of Cognitive Linguistics
Volume
3
Issue
2
Publisher URI
Copyright Statement
© 2013 Nova Science Publishers. This is the author-manuscript version of this paper. It is posted here with permission of the copyright owner[s] for your personal use only. No further distribution permitted. For information about this journal please refer to the journal’s website or contact the author[s].
Subject
Linguistic Structures (incl. Grammar, Phonology, Lexicon, Semantics)
Cognitive Sciences
Linguistics