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This paper offers the notion of semantic attenuation (Langacker 1985, 1990) as a bleaching process that involve subjectivity and thus can operate as the basis for the formation of cierto 'certain' as an attenuative marker where assertiveness is downplayed. The notion of intersubjectivity proposed by Delbecque for cierto (2009) is revised based on the range of meanings attested in discourse in Mexican Spanish. Intersubjective-objective uses are to be distinguished from intersubjective-interlocutive ones as the second type depends crucially on the interaction between speech participants. The study shows that the attenuative uses of cierto do not come from the adjectival intersubjective uses but from the fuzzy specific-indefinite determination of cierto and other fixed constructions (en cierta manera 'in some way', hasta cierto punto 'up to some degree/point') which diminish the degree of assertiveness of a sentence. The first samples of attenuation come from modifying scalar properties with negative associations and, from those uses, other assertive reducing effects take place. Finally, the paper shows that the digressive marker por cierto which operates at the level of discourse continuity lacks the semantic properties to fully operate as an attenuative marker. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the disciplines that has been studied in recent years under the umbrella of lexical semantics is terminology. This paper investigates the terminology of a specialised language, that of the leather industry, in order to analyse the observable conceptual relationships. The paper first reviews different approaches to the terminological typologization of the conceptual relationships with regard to examples from our corpus. The second part consists of a case study on the term petaquero. Finally, I suggest a typology of the conceptual relations according to the classification suggested by Casas Gómez, adding some relations identified on the basis of the Communicative Theory of Terminology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The basic colour terms are studied from four approaches: linguistic relativism (Gleason & McNeill), linguistic universalism (Berlin & Kay), the neurophysiological model (Kay & McDaniel) and cognitivism (Wierzbicka). Terms of colour share a common chromatic feature. According to Coseriu, they form a two-dimensional lexical area, non-sequential, which would be interpreted as a multidimensional lexical area, hierarchical, non-sequential, from the approach of Wierzbicka. The paper discusses the consequence for language if the hypothesis is correct that, from a physiological point of view, there is a hierarchy in the colour field focused on the RGB model, where the chromatic occupies a nuclear place and the achromatic a peripheral one. Although the paper includes colour terms from several languages, special attention is paid to Spanish and Chinese. The following aspects are in focus: 1) Reference and denotative meaning - their symbolic value; 2) Reference and denotative meaning - their connotative sense. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper deals with linguistic synaesthesia, that is, a combination of words inside a phrase that conveys a semantic transposition between different domains of human perception. The effect is particularly pronounced in combinations of sensorial adjectives with nouns that do not belong to the same perceptive domain, as in color chillón 'shrill (= shrilling/crying-out) colours'. The paper aims to delimit the concept of synaesthesia in lexical semantics and to differentiate it from other types of polysemy such as metaphor. Moreover, the paper suggests an explanation for the transposition process and the observable combinatory patterns. It further points out the most efficient paradigm for this explanatory model. The starting point is componential semantics, but features belonging to the semantics of speech as well as to pragmatic and cognitive linguistic theories are also taken into account and examined for their explanatory capacity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to study the historical contact between Aragonese and Catalan lexicon, in the context of the Romance languages, taking into account the historical influence exerted by the Aragonese on the Valencian language, which is also influenced by other Eastern peninsular dialects. We have used a method based on Geolinguistics and documentation, in order to analyze some words from popular authors from Valencia and Aragon of the XVIIIth, XIXth and XXth centuries. This way, our study provides new data and new interpretations on the study of the linguistic contact between the peninsular languages. Also the study provides Valencian words not included in the dictionaries (coscarrana, a tassament), first documentations (acabacases, bolxaca, cara-sol, cútio, estrela, a la gatamau, monyica) and words used in Aragón not included in the DECH (acabacasas, bolchaco, botinchado, a gatomiau, tasamente), or included in the DECH but not in Aragón (botinchado, carasol). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to highlight that both neology and terminology are linguistic disciplines that permit, using both general and specialized words, an analysis of the cultural, scientific, economic, political and ideological evolution of a given society throughout its history. For this purpose, it is crucial to distinguish the speaker's perspective from that of the hearer, especially when tackling the pragmatic and discursive implications of terminological neologisms. Both neology and terminology need to be investigated in an interdisciplinary way as new topics of lexical semantics. The goal is to formally, semantically and functionally describe the lexical units that take new functions and meanings according to the context. These lexical units are thereby subject to variation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a long tradition of semantic studies regarding the concept of lexical meaning that reflects the importance of sociocultural factors for its description. Some examples are the study of synonymy, some remarks in dictionaries and the typology of linguistic variation. This paper investigates lexical variants from a sociolinguistic point of view in socially stratified samples. The statistical analysis of the data obtained up to now confirms the relevance of sociolinguistic variables such as the degree of (in) formality, the hearer, the topic of the conversation, the situation where communication takes place, and options offered by the lexicon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores from a cognitive linguistic perspective the continuity between lexical and semigrammaticalized uses of the lexeme caudal in the noun phrase of the type [Det. caudalN1 de N2] in written peninsular Spanish. This structure yields various constructional schemas, going from [[Det. + N1] ([de + N2])] with N1 as nucleus, and more or less lexicalized [Det. N1 de N2] collocations, to [[Det. N1 de] N2] with N2 as nucleus. The meaning of the nominal caudal, linked to the fluvial scenery, presents various quantitative, spatial, tempo-aspectual and qualitative components that predispose it to metaphorical projection from the hydric domain to other domains. In the binominal quantifying construction [[un caudal de] N2] caudal keeps some nominal distributional properties, and certain facets of its lexical meaning persist as well. While the degree of schematization or semantic bleaching varies in function of N2 and of the wider context, caudal does not only quantify N2, it at the same time endows it with an aspectual-appreciatory dimension essentially conceived of in terms of fluidity, continuity and accumulation, i.e., situating N2 in an evolutionary perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper's intention is a programmatic one. After presenting several definitions for the terms semantics of speech and structuralism, the topic is discussed with regard to Coseriu's theoretical framework. After confirming that there is not a methodological assignment within the universal level, I establish the hypothesis that it is due to the impossibility of structuralism for consistently carrying it out. For this purpose, I expound some arguments from Ricoeur, criticizing however that he did not take into account the efforts of structuralism to overcome these limitations. Briefly developing several methodological changes to structuralism, I critically comment on some of Coseriu's remarks on cognitive semantics. This allows a better understanding of the relation between the semantics of language and the semantics of speech. Finally, I propose several ways to methodologically develop the semantics of speech. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this research is to show the application of Cognitive Semantics to the description of nominal compounding in American Spanish. Compounding is a productive morphologic process used to create words with a transparent meaning (apoyacabeza 'head restraint', destapabotellas 'bottle opener' etc.). However, many compounds also have an important level of idiomaticity (ahogabecerro 'tree', bienmesabe 'candy' etc.). The paper shows that Cognitive Semantics can explain the semantic opacity of these idiomatic compounds on the basis of metaphoric and metonymic processes. The data are extracted from the Diccionario de americanismos published by the Real Academia Española. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]