Stolova Natalya I. Cognitive Linguistics and Lexical Change: Motion Verbs from Latin to Romance

John Benjamins, 2015. — viii, 261 p. — (Current Issues in Linguistic Theory 331). — ISBN: 978-90-272-6986-7.This monograph offers the first in-depth lexical and semantic analysis of motion verbs in their development from Latin to nine Romance languages ― Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese, Romanian, Catalan, Occitan, Sardinian, and Raeto-Romance ― demonstrating that the patterns of innovation and continuity attested in the data can be accounted for in cognitive linguistic terms. At the same time, the study illustrates how the insights gained from Latin and Romance historical data have profound implications for the cognitive approaches to language ― in particular, for Leonard Talmy’s motion-framing typology and George Lakoff and Mark Johnson’s conceptual metaphor theory. The book should appeal to scholars interested in historical Romance linguistics, cognitive linguistics, and lexical change.Objectives and key concepts
Goals of the present study
Motion verbs in the Romance language family
Levels of lexical change: Onomasiology and semasiology
The historical cognitive linguistics framework as a new type of diachrony
Cognitive onomasiology and cognitive typology of motion encoding
Cognitive onomasiology
Cognitive typology of motion encoding
Latin and Romance verb biographies
Generic motion
Direction-specific motion
Manner-specific motion
Biographical overview
Patterns of onomasiological continuity and change from Latin to Romance
Lexical continuity and lexical loss from Latin to Romance
Romance innovative lexical creation
Latin and Romance motion verbs as part of constructions
Cognitive semasiology and conceptual metaphor theory
Conceptual metaphor and motion source domain
Conceptual metaphor and the evolution of the Romance languages
Semantic continuity and loss from Latin to Romance
Motion-based mappings shared by Latin and Romance
Motion-based semantic continuity and loss within a wider context
Romance innovative semantic developments
Pan-Romance semantic innovations
Language-specific semantic innovations
Semantic innovations through borrowing
Written evidence and the latent state
Motion-based semantic innovations within a wider context
Implications for the cognitive typology of motion encoding
Refining the cognitive typology of motion encoding across languages
Toward a diachrony-inclusive cognitive typology of motion encoding
Implications for the conceptual metaphor theory
Conceptual metaphors across language families
Universal and language-specific conceptual metaphors: Historical Latin and Romance data as testing ground
Conclusions