Lexical Semantic Change Research Articles

Corpus Linguistic Tools for Historical Semantics in Arabic

In this paper, we present a set of corpus linguistic tools for conducting historical semantic research in the Arabic language. We compiled a Historical Arabic Corpus (HAC) that spans more than 1500 years of continuous language use. With techniques from the field of Natural Language Processing (NLP), the tools we presented here have been used to create the HAC and to explore lexical semantic change. The development of these tools is aimed at offering a catalyst to the ambitions goal of compiling an Arabic dictionary on historical principles. HAC and the tools can also be used for conducting research in a variety of areas of linguistics. .

Invariantist ‘might’ and modal meaning change

Invariantism proposed by Braun (Linguistics and Philosophy 35(6):461–489, 2012) aims to maintain full identity of semantic content between all uses of ‘might’. I invoke well-known facts regarding diachronic change in meanings of modals to argue that invariantism commits us to implausible duplication of familiar processes of lexical semantic change on the level of “lexical pragmatics”, with no obvious payoff.

The origins of grammaticalization in the verbalization of experience

The origins of language change, particularly grammatical change, appear to be unobservable. But the first step in language change, innovation, can be observed in the production of synchronic variation in sound change. The same can be done for morphosyntactic change such as grammaticalization by comparing alternative verbalizations of the same experience in a controlled situation. Examples of innovation in lexical semantic change and grammaticalization are examined using the twenty parallel English narratives of the Pear Stories. Morphosyntactic variation is pervasive in the Pear Stories narratives and the alternative verbalizations show that morphosyntactic change is drawn from a pool of synchronic variation. These results disconfirm the traditional theory of morphosyntactic change, in which innovation is rare and special mechanisms are required to produce it. Instead, grammaticalization, and language change in general, originates in the variation inherent in the verbalization of experience.

Word-waves: A computational model of lexical semantic change

Word-waves: A computational model of lexical semantic change

(h) Etymology and Polysemy: A Non-Objectivist Approach to the Domain of Vision in the Semitic Languages

This article is an exemplary study of semantic change of polysemous words in Arabic and Semitic languages. Since words do not change their meanings by mere coincidence or acquire new ones randomly, the study of the historical evidence of groupings according to related senses can show how multiple functions of a word are related to each other and which role cognitive structuring plays in the acquisition of new senses. To show that mental categories can explain the relations of the different usages of a single word I am adopting a cognitive approach. Metaphorical change within polysemous words in the domain of vision will serve as a case in point. Following SWEETSER (1990), I will look into the historical evidence of visionrelated verbs in Arabic and their equivalents in the Semitic languages.Key words: Etymology, lexical semantic change, polysemy, cognitive linguistics, visual metaphor

The Influence of Locale and Human Activity on Some Words in Colorado

ALTHOUGH it is seldom possible to point to the specific circumstances that bring about lexical innovations or semantic change, some conjectures can be made about the influence of locale and human activity. In Colorado, as elsewhere, some words are bound to be affected by the people who settled there, by their activities, and by the topography, which, in Colorado, largely determined their activities. Any peculiarities of language in Colorado may have been influenced by the early settlers. The earliest explorers in Colorado were the Spanish, followed by the French, who soon withdrew. The Spanish, on the other hand, made permanent settlements south of the Arkansas River, the southern half of Colorado, which until I861 was part of New Mexico. Somewhat later than the Spanish and French explorers, came Easterners and many immigrants from England, Scotland, and Ireland. The activities of these settlers were largely determined by the main topographical features: mountains, plains, and plateaus. The Rocky Mountains run north and south through the middle of the state; east of them are the plains; west of them, the plateaus. It is semiarid country. The river valleys of both the eastern plains and the western plateaus have yielded crops only because the water from the streams has been diverted to large areas by means of irrigation. On the eastern plains between the river valleys are nonirrigable areas that have been saved for agriculture only through dry farming. Until dry-farming methods were learned and practiced, these areas, whose soil had been abused by the early settlers, were badly eroded and became the Dust Bowl of Colorado. These three distinct types of land-the nonirrigable plains, the irrigated river valleys, and the Rocky Mountains-have each had their effect on the language. In the Rocky Mountains there are four main basins, which were once the beds of inland seas. They are wide grassy plateaus surrounded by high mountains and are called North Park, Middle Park, South Park, and the San Luis Valley. There are other smaller basins throughout the