Semantics and Lexicology, SVEM21
Fall, 2008
The course is an advanced course in semantics, from a broadly cognitive-functional
perspective. It focuses on two themes: (a) methodologies in the study of semantics, such as
intuition-based analysis, the use of corpora, cross-linguistic comparison, field work and
experimention and (b) the relationship between lexical and grammatical meaning.
Examination: The course literature consists of original texts, which will be discussed in class.
Students will formulate small ”research projects” individually or in pairs and present these at
the final occasion. Futhermore they can choose to either write individual reports on the basis
of these, or to do a take-home exam.
Preliminary schedule
Date Topic
13/11 Methods and key issues
17/11 Grammar and experience
20/12 Lexical typology
Lecturer
Zlatev
Henningsson
Zlatev
24/11
27/11
Zlatev
Burenhult
1/12
4/12
8/12
11/12
15/12
12/1
19/1
Polysemy and generality
Demonstratives and the emergence
of grammar
Semantic maps
Typology of motion, and thinking
for speaking
Subjectification
Discussion of students’ projects
Metaphors
Brief presentations
Papers/take home exams submitted
Henningsson
Zlatev
Literature
Zlatev (2007)
Croft (2007)
Tamm (2008)
Itkonen (in press)
Geeraerts (1993)
Burenhult (2008)
Zlatev
Haspelmath (2003)
Zlatev, Blomberg &
David (in press)
Langacker (2006)
Zlatev
Zinken (2007)
Literature
Burenhult, Niclas. 2008. Spatial coordinate systems in demonstrative meaning. Linguistic Typology 12:99-142.
Croft, William. 2007. The origins of grammar in the verbalization of experience. Cognitive Linguistics 18:339382.
Geeraerts, Dirk. 1993. Vagueness’s puzzles, polysemy’s vagaries. Cognitive Linguistics 4:223-272.
Haspelmath, Martin. 2003. The geometry of grammatical meaning: Semantic maps and cross-linguistic
comparison. In Tomasello, Michael (ed.), The new psycology of language: cognitive and functional
approaches, 211-242. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
Itkonen, Esa. (in press). The true nature of typological linguistics. In J.Zlatev, M. Andrén, M. Johansson Falck,
& C. Lundmark. Studies in Language and Cognition. London: Cambridge Scholars.
Koptjevskaja- Tamm, Maria, Martine Vanhove & Peter Koch (2007) Typological approaches to lexical
semantics. Linguistic Typology 11(1): 159-186.
Langacker, Ronald. 2006. Subjectification, grammaticization, and conceptual archetypes. In Subjectification,
Various paths to subjectivity,
Athanasiadou, Angeliki, Costas Canakis & Bert Cornillie, 17-40, Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
Zinken, Jörg. 2007. Discourse metaphors: The link between figurative language and habitual analogies.
Cognitive Linguistics: 445-466.
Zlatev, Jordan. 2007. Spatial semantics. In Geeraerts, Dirk & Hubert Cuyckens, The Oxford Handbook of
Cognitive Linguistics, 318-350. Oxford: OUP.
Zlatev, J., J. Blomberg & C. David. In press. Translocation, language and the categorization of experience. In
Space in language and cognition: The state of the art, P. Chilton & V. Evans (eds.) London: Equinox.