Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Ontologies and Construals in Lexical Semantics

  • Published:
Axiomathes Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to propose a framework of lexical meaning, broadly along the lines of Cognitive Semantics (Langacker 1987a). Within the proposed model, all aspects of meaning are to be explained in terms of properties of ontologies in conceptual space, i.e. properties of content ontologies and schematic ontologies and construals which are imposed on the conceptual structures on the occasion of use. It is through the operations of construals on ontological structures that different readings of lexical expressions arise. Lexical meanings are dynamic and sensitive to contextual demands, rather than fixed and stable. In a dynamic, usage-based model like this, polysemy and multiple readings emerge as a natural consequence of the human ability to think flexibly. Another more specific purpose of this paper is to draw attention to the usefulness of ontologies in linguistic research in general and semantic modelling in particular.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • L. Albertazzi (2001) ArticleTitleThe Roots of Ontics Axiomathes 12 299–315 Occurrence Handle10.1023/A:1015821423616

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • N. Asher (1993) From Events to Propositions: A Tour of Abstract Entities, Eventualities and the Nominals that Denote Them Kluwer Dordrecht

    Google Scholar 

  • A. Aikenvald (2000) Classifiers: A Typology of Noun Categorization Devices Oxford University Press Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • S. Bhat (1994) The Adjectival Category: Criteria for Differentiation and Identification John Benjamins Publishing Company Amsterdam and Philadelphia

    Google Scholar 

  • L. Brinton (1998) ArticleTitleAspectuality and Countability English language and linguistics 2 IssueID1 37–63

    Google Scholar 

  • M. Bierwich R. Schreuder (1992) ArticleTitleFrom Concepts to Lexical Items Cognition 42 23–60 Occurrence Handle10.1016/0010-0277(92)90039-K Occurrence Handle1582158

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • M. Bierwich (1997) Lexical Information from a Minimalist Point of View C. Wilder H-M Gärtner M. Bierwich (Eds) The Role of Economy Principles in Linguistic Theor Akademie Verlag Berlin 227–266

    Google Scholar 

  • V. Borschev B. Partee (2001) ArticleTitleGenitive Modifiers, Sorts, and Metonomy Nordic Journal of Lingusitics 24 140–160 Occurrence Handle10.1080/033258601753358597

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • P. Cicovacki (2001) ArticleTitleNew Ways of Ontology – The Ways of Interaction Axiomathes 12 159–170 Occurrence Handle10.1023/A:1015852024525

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • W. Croft (1990) Typology and Universals Cambridge University Press Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • W. Croft (2001) Radical Construction Grammar Syntactic Theory in Typological Perspective. Oxford University Press Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Croft, W.: (forthcoming) Verbs: Aspect and Argument Structure, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

  • W. Croft A. Cruse (2004) Cognitive Lingusitics Cambridge University Press Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • W. Croft E. Wood (2000) Construal Operations in Linguistics and Artificial Intelligence L. Albertazzi (Eds) Meaning and Cognition: A Multidisciplinary Approach John Benjamins Amsterdam and Philadelphia 51–78

    Google Scholar 

  • A. Cruse P. Togia (1996) ArticleTitleTowards a Cognitive Model of Antonomy Journal of Lexicology 1 113–141

    Google Scholar 

  • A. Cruse (2000) Meaning in Language Oxford University Press Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • A. Cruse (2002) ArticleTitleThe Construal of Sense Boundaries Revue de Sémantique et Pragmatique 12 101–119

    Google Scholar 

  • Ö Dahl (1981) On The Definition of the Telic-Atelic (Bounded-Non-Bounded) distinction P. J. Tedeshi A. Zaenen (Eds) Syntax and Semantics 14: Tense and Aspect Academic Press New York 79–90

    Google Scholar 

  • R. Declerck (1979) ArticleTitleAspect and the Bounded/Unbounded (Telic/Atelic) Distinction Linguistics 17 761–794

    Google Scholar 

  • I. Depraetere (1995) ArticleTitleOn the Necessity of Distinguishing between (un)Boundedness and (a)telicity Linguistics Philosophy 18 1–19 Occurrence Handle10.1007/BF00984959

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • R. Dixon (1982) Where have all the Adjectives Gone? Mouton Berlin, New York and Amsterdam

    Google Scholar 

  • Dirven R. and G. Radden: 1999, ‘The Conceptualisation of Situation Types in English’, in J. L. Cifuentes Honrubia, (ed.), Estudios de Lingüística Cognitiva II, Universidad de Alicante: Departamento de Filología Espanola, Lingüística General y Teoría de la Literatura, pp. 549–557.

  • Ekberg, L.: 2004, ‘Construal Operations in Semantic Change: The case of Abstract Nouns’, in L. Ekberg. (ed.), Nordlund 24. Småskrifter från Institutionen för nordiska språk i Lund,Institutionen för nordiska språk, Lunds universitet, pp. 47–65.

  • Fillmore, C.: 1982, ‘Frame semantics’, Linguistics in the Morning Calm, ed. by Lingusitic society of Korea, Seoul: Hanshin, pp. 111–138.

  • W. Frawley (1992) Linguistic Semantics Lawrence Erlbaum Hillsdale

    Google Scholar 

  • P. Gärdenfors (2000) Conceptual Spaces: The Geometry of Thought MIT Press Cambridge, Massachusetts

    Google Scholar 

  • R. Giora (1997) ArticleTitleUnderstanding Figurative and Literal Language: The Graded Salience Hypothesis Cognitive Linguistics 7 IssueID1 183–206

    Google Scholar 

  • R. Giora (2003) On our Mind: Salience, Context, and Figurative Language Oxford University Press New York

    Google Scholar 

  • T. Givón (1979) On Understanding Grammar Academic Press New York

    Google Scholar 

  • T. Givón (1984) Syntax: A Functional-typological Introduction John Benjamins Amsterdam

    Google Scholar 

  • I. Graham (2001) Object-oriented Methods EditionNumber3 Principles and Practice. Addison-Wesley London

    Google Scholar 

  • R. Jackendoff (1991) ArticleTitleParts and boundaries Cognition 41 9–45 Occurrence Handle10.1016/0010-0277(91)90031-X Occurrence Handle1790657

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • R. Jackendoff (2002) Foundations of Language Oxford University Press Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • I. Kecskes (2004) ArticleTitleEditorial: Lexical Merging, Conceptual Blending, and Cultural Crossing Intercultural pragmatics 1 IssueID1 1–26

    Google Scholar 

  • Kuhn, W.: 2003, Why information Science needs Cognitive Semantics – and what it has to offer in return. Draft Version 1.0, March 21. http://musil.unimuenster.de/documents/WhyCogLingv1.pdf

  • G. Lakoff (1987) Women, Fire, and Dangerous Things, University of Chicago Press Chicago

    Google Scholar 

  • G. Lakoff M. Johnson (1980) Metaphors we Live by University of Chicago Press Chicago

    Google Scholar 

  • R. Langacker (1987a) Foundations of Cognitive Grammar Stanford University press Stanford

    Google Scholar 

  • R. Langacker (1987b) ArticleTitleNouns and Verbs Language 63 IssueID1 53–94

    Google Scholar 

  • R. Langacker (1999) Grammar and Conceptualization Mouton de Gruyter Berlin and New York

    Google Scholar 

  • W. Levelt (1989) Speaking: from Intention to Articulation MIT Press Cambridge Massachusetts

    Google Scholar 

  • B. Levin (1993) English Verb Classes and Alternations: a Preliminary Investigation The University of Chicagor Press Chicago

    Google Scholar 

  • J. Lyons (1977) Semantics Cambridge University Press Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • G. A. Miller (1998) Nouns in WordNet C. Fellbaum (Eds) Wordnet: an Electronic Lexical Database The MIT press Cambridge Massachusets and London 23–46

    Google Scholar 

  • G. Miller P. Johnson-Laird (1976) Language and Perception Harvard University Press Cambridge MA

    Google Scholar 

  • G. Murphy (1990) ArticleTitleNoun Phrase Interpretation and Conceptual Combination Journal of memeory and language 29 259–288 Occurrence Handle10.1016/0749-596X(90)90001-G

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • G. Murphy (2002) The Big Book of Concepts MIT Press Cambridge Massachusetts and London (England)

    Google Scholar 

  • L. Murphy (2000) Knowledge of Words Versus Knowledge about Words: The Conceptual Basis of Lexical Relations B. Peeters (Eds) The Lexicon-Encyclopedia Interface Elsevier Amsterdam 317–348

    Google Scholar 

  • G. Nelson S. Wallis B. Aarts (2002) Exploring Natural Language Working with the British Component of the International Corpus of English. John Benjamins Publishing Company Amsterdam and Philadelphia

    Google Scholar 

  • A. Ortony R. J. Vondruska M. A. Foss L. E. Jones (1985) ArticleTitleSalience, Similies and Asymmetry of Similarity Journal of memory and language 24 569–594 Occurrence Handle10.1016/0749-596X(85)90047-6

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • C. Paradis (1997) Degree Modifiers of Adjectives in Spoken British English Lund University Press Lund

    Google Scholar 

  • C. Paradis (2000a) It’s Well Weird DegreeModifiersofAdjectivesRevisited:TheNineties Kirk John (Eds) Corpora Galore: Analyses and Techniques in Describing English Rodopi Amsterdam and Atlanta 147–160

    Google Scholar 

  • C. Paradis (2000b) Reinforcing Adjectives: A Cognitive Semantic Perspective on Grammaticalization Bermúdez-Otero Ricardo Denison David M. Hogg Richard C. B. Mc Cully (Eds) Generative Theory and Corpus Studies Mouton de Gruyter Berlin 233–258

    Google Scholar 

  • C. Paradis (2001) ArticleTitleAdjectives and Boundedness Cognitive linguistics 12 IssueID1 47–65

    Google Scholar 

  • C. Paradis (2003a) Between Epistemic Modality and Degree: The Case of Really R. Facchinetti F. Palmer M. Krug (Eds) Modality in contemporary English Mouton de Gruyter Berlin 197–220

    Google Scholar 

  • C. Paradis (2003b) ArticleTitleIs the Notion of Linguistic Competences Relevant in Cognitive Linguistics Annual Review of Cognitive Linguistics I I 247–271

    Google Scholar 

  • C. Paradis (2004) ArticleTitleWhere does Metonymy Stop? Senses, Facets and Active Zones Metaphor and symbol 19 IssueID4 245–264 Occurrence Handle10.1207/s15327868ms1904_1

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • R. Poli (2001a) ArticleTitleForeword Axiomathes 12 157–158 Occurrence Handle10.1023/A:1015841116773

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • R. Poli (2001b) ArticleTitleThe Basic Problem of the Theory of Levels of Reality Axiomathes 12 261–283 Occurrence Handle10.1023/A:1015845217681

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • R. Poli (2002) ArticleTitleOntological Methodology International Journal of Human-Computer Studies 56 639–664 Occurrence Handle10.1006/ijhc.2002.1003

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • R. Porzel I. Gurevych (2003) Contextual Coherence in Natural Language Processing P. Blackburn C. Ghidini R. Turner F. Giunchiglia (Eds) Modeling and Using Context LNAI 2680 Springer Berlin 272–285

    Google Scholar 

  • Pustejovsky, J.: 1998a [1995 1st ed.], The Generative Lexicon, Cambridge, Mass and London: The MIT Press.

  • Schmid H-J. (2000) English Abstract Nouns as Conceptual Shells. From corpus to cognition, Topics in English linguistics 34. Berlin and New York: Mouton de Gruyter.

  • L. Stassen (1997) Intransitive Predication Clarendon Press Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • L. Talmy (1988) The Relation of Grammar to Cognition Brygida Rudzka-Ostyn (Eds) Topics in Cognitive Linguistics Benjamins Amsterdam 165–205

    Google Scholar 

  • L. Talmy (2000) Towards a Cognitive Semantics I The MIT Press Cambridge (MA) and London

    Google Scholar 

  • E. Tegtmeier (2001) ArticleTitleHartmann’s General Ontology Axiomathes 12 217–225 Occurrence Handle10.1023/A:1015849318590

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • S. Thompson (1988) A Discourse Approach to the Cross-Linguistic Category ‘Adjective’ J.A. Hawkins (Eds) Explaining Language Universals Blackwell London 167–185

    Google Scholar 

  • E. Traugott R. Dasher (2002) Regularity in Semantic Change Cambridge University Press Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • H. Verkuyl (1993) A Theory of Aspectuality Cambridge University Press Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Vossen, P., L. Bloksma, H. Rodriguez, S. Climent, N. Calzolari, A. Roventini, F. Bertagna, A. Alonge, W. Peters.: 1997, ‘The EuroWordNet Base Concepts and Top Ontology’, http://www.illc.uva.nl/EuroWordNet/docs.html DO17DO34DO36

  • Warren B.: 1984, Classifying Adjectives, Gothenburg Studies in English 56.

  • B. Warren (2003) The role of links and/or qualia in modifier-head constructions D. Clarke V. Herman B. Nerlich Z. Todd (Eds) Polysemy: Patterns of Meaning in Mind and Language John Benjamins Amsterdam

    Google Scholar 

  • H. Wetzer (1996) The Typology of Adjectival Predication Mouton de Gruyter Berlin and New York

    Google Scholar 

  • A. Wierzbicka (1986) ArticleTitleWhat’s a noun? (Or: how do nouns differ in meaning from adjectives?) Studies in language 10 353–389

    Google Scholar 

  • W. Wildgren (2001) ArticleTitleNatural Ontologies and Semantic Roles in Sentences Axiomathes 12 171–193 Occurrence Handle10.1023/A:1015804816998

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • http://www.formalontology.it/index.htm

  • http://www.cogsci.princeton.edu/wn/

  • http://www.illc.uva.nl/EuroWordNet/docs.html (Vossen et al.1997)

  • http://www.icsi.berkeley.edu/framenet/

Download references

Authors
  1. Carita Paradis
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Paradis, C. Ontologies and Construals in Lexical Semantics. Axiomathes 15, 541–573 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10516-004-7680-7

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10516-004-7680-7

Key words

Search

Navigation