Polysemy and the Semantic-pragmatic Interface: The Case ofUpin a Context-based Model

Abstract

AbstractThe present study adopts a context-based approach to the meaning ofup. The analysis draws on the notion of “context” defined as a composite of surrounding linguistic cues, world knowledge and physical environment of the utterance, and on a parsimonious criterion of sense establishment. I demonstrate that the proposed model is capable of distinguishing context-sensitive implicatures and senses, with only two separate senses listed: “vertically higher” and “completive”. I propose a developmental hierarchy in the meaning network that refines Hampe’s (2005. Whendownis not bad, andupnot good enough: A usage-based assessment of the plus-minus parameter in image-schema theory.Cognitive Linguistics16(1). 81–112) challenge to the axiological parameter by unhooking “completive” from “good”. The proposed model finally addresses cases of seeming oxymora to explicate the context-sensitivity of interpretations. The paper concludes with a two-fold implication: first, the context-oriented methodology is capable of distinguishing context-induced implicatures and context-insensitive senses. Second, it captures the details of lexical meaning as contextualization patterns by explicating how the prototypical sense of a spatial particle, undergoing the fine-tuning of linguistic, encyclopedic and physical context, derives diverse contextual implicatures in real use.