[Lingtyp] Semantic map for the verb 'mean'

[Riccardo Giomi]

 Dear Sebastian,

I don't know of any published study, but perhaps I can mention that a
student of mine recently came up with a nice set of data from Persian,
where the word *ya'ni* seems to have at least the following functions:

- lexical meaning ('mean');
- copula;
- "restrictive copula" (where 'X *ya'ni *Y' is reportedly understood as
'only X is Y');
- self-correction (as in English *I mean*);
- clarification (again comparable to *I mean*);
- exemplification (cf. the particle/discourse marker use of English *like*);
- emphasis (roughly equivalent to English *indeed*).

The data are from a course assignment, so I'd rather not share them through
a public discussion list. But maybe I can send them to you in a private
email, if you are interested.

Best,
Riccardo

Sebastian Löbner <loebner at hhu.de> escreveu no dia domingo, 10/04/2022 à(s)
14:46:

> Hi Jess,
>
> the map should comprise both meaning variants. What I'm looking for is a
> map that contains the major different uses of 'mean' and relates them to
> verbs and their uses in other languages. Simple example: English 'mean'
> corresponds to German 'bedeuten' or 'meinen' and to Dutch 'betekenen' or
> 'bedoelen', but 'bedeuten' and 'betekenen', and 'meinen' and 'bedoelen',
> do not match completely. A crosslinguistic semantic map would help to
> provide a more detailed crosslinguistic comparison of the complex
> polysemies of the verbs involved. The semantic field(s) are interesting
> because they constitute basic metalinguistic and metacommunicative
> meanings/concepts/vocabulary (whatever you prefer) to be expected in
> almost all languages in one way or other.
>
> Bests, Sebastian
>
>
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-- 
Riccardo Giomi, Ph.D.
University of Liège
Département de langues modernes : linguistique, littérature et traduction
Research group *Linguistique contrastive et typologie des langues*
F.R.S.-FNRS Postdoctoral fellow (CR - FC 43095)
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