The Polysemy of Khilal: A Cognitive Approach


  •  Sameerah Saeed    

Abstract

This paper presents a cognitive analysis of the Arabic preposition khilāl “through” on the basis of Tyler & Evans’ (2001, 2003) model of Principled Polysemy. The study includes developing a semantic or polysemous network of khilāl through applying the criteria of this model, identifying its primary sense and distinct senses. The study also includes a contrastive analysis of the semantic networks of khilāl and the equivalent English preposition through in terms of their proto-scenes and the distinct senses associated with each. Analyses showed that both khilāl and through share the same proto-scene of a Trajector Traversing a bounded Landmark. Moreover, khilāl seems to have very limited uses comparing to through and this, as I assume, might be due to its restricted use in Modern Standard Arabic, decreasing as a result its pragmatic strengthening possibilities. 



This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
  • ISSN(Print): 1923-869X
  • ISSN(Online): 1923-8703
  • Started: 2011
  • Frequency: bimonthly

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