The catalogue of semantic shifts as a database for lexical semantic typology

Zalizniak, Anna A.; Bulakh, Maria; Ganenkov, Dmitrij; Gruntov, Ilya; Maisak, Timur; Russo, Maxim

doi:10.1515/ling-2012-0020

Cited by 39 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…The main problematic points that arise while identifying semantic shifts (discussed in Zalizniak 2001, 2013a, Zalizniak et al 2012 are:…”

Section: Identifying Semantic Shifts: Some Problematic Pointsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…From 2005 to 2009, our project was part of the international project "Core Vocabulary in a Typological Perspective: Semantic Shifts and Form/Meaning Correlations" supported by INTAS (The International Association for the Promotion of Cooperation with Scientists from the New Independent States of the Former Soviet Union) with Maria Koptjevskaja-Tamm as project coordinator. Information about the conceptual idea of CSSh, the architecture of the database (DatSemShift) in which it is implemented, and some preliminary conclusions concerning the occurrence of semantic shifts in the languages of the world may be found in Zalizniak 2001, 2013a, Gruntov 2007, Zalizniak et al 2012. From 2013 until the spring of 2018, the DatSemShift has been available online at http://semshifts.iling-ran.ru/.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

The Catalogue of Semantic Shifts: 20 Years Later

Zalizniak¹,

Андреевна²

2018

Vestn. Ross. univ. družby nar., Ser. Lingvist.

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The article summarizes the goals and the current state of the Catalogue of sematic shifts (CSSh), its primary notions being those of a semantic shift, which is understood as a relation of cognitive proximity between two linguistic meanings, and a realization of a semantic shift, i.e. one polysemic word or a pair of cognate words of the same language or different languages that act as "exponents" of this relation. The typology of semantic shifts occupies a position at the crossroad of semantic, lexical and grammatical typologies, overlapping each of these areas of study in terms of linguistic data and methods used; however, the domain of CSSh does not coincide with any of them. The framework of CSSh provides the theoretical foundation for identifying recurring cross-linguistic semantic shifts, and collecting them in the Database of Semantic Shifts for further analysis. The article demonstrates that the notion of semantic shift as defined in CSSh is just a formalization of an instrument of linguistic analysis that is already quite common in various areas of linguistics. Semantic shift provides a basis for the notion of semantic parallel used in the historical linguistics and etymology, for motivational models in word-formation, it is a central notion for grammaticalization theory; finally, semantic shift is one of various types of implicit meanings (along with presuppositions and connotations) that shape the "linguistic model of the world". Linguistic data contained in the Database of Semantic Shifts can be used in all these areas, in order to provide semantic plausibility criteria for linguistic reconstruction, to act as empirical evidence for cognitive mechanisms of linguistic conceptualization, to aid in identifying specific features of the semantic system of a given language or group of languages.

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“…The main problematic points that arise while identifying semantic shifts (discussed in Zalizniak 2001, 2013a, Zalizniak et al 2012 are:…”

Section: Identifying Semantic Shifts: Some Problematic Pointsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Catalogue of Semantic Shifts: 20 Years Later

Zalizniak¹,

Андреевна²

2018

Vestn. Ross. univ. družby nar., Ser. Lingvist.

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“…It might be useful to employ a cross-linguistic database of universal etymological semantics, drawing on works like Buck's Dictionary of selected synonyms in the principal Indo-European languages (1949; cf. Zalizniak et al 2012;List et al 2016). This could form the basis of a semantic filter that would exclude unlikely equations like 'big' = 'mouse' and 'small' = 'elephant', while allowing, say, 'sharp' = 'fox' and 'small' = 'clean'.…”

Section: Computerised Backwards Reconstructionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mechanising Historical Phonology

Sims-Williams¹

2018

Trans of the Philol Soc

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The Neogrammarian approach to historical phonology involves propounding soundchange laws and explaining exceptions by means such as sub-laws, rearranging the relative chronology, and appeal to special factors such as analogy, borrowing, and sporadic phenomena like metathesis. Progress is mostly made manually, but in the second half of the twentieth century some linguists looked forward to the 'triumph of the electronic Neogrammarian'. Although this has not been realized yet, there are opportunities to make important advances. This paper offers a critical survey of the field since the 1950s and suggestions for the future.

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“…e.g., the collection of papers in Vanhove 2008, Falkum & Vicente (eds. ) 2015; also Zalizniak 2008, Urban 2012, Zalizniak et al 2012, List et al 2014.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…There are some related efforts in the literature. E.g., Zalizniak (2008) and Zalizniak et al (2012) describe crosslinguistically recurring semantic shifts (=polysemies) in 319 of the languages of the world and manually implement a catalogue in the form of a manually searchable computer database, while List et al (2014) have automatically built an on-line database of colexifications, based on the Intercontinental Dictionary Series (IDS, Key & Comrie 2007) featuring lexical data for 233 world languages. In the first two papers, however, the authors concentrate on polysemy (relevant for semantic change) rather than more generally on colexification and use no automation either for database construction or subsequent search.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

On Colexification among Basic Vocabulary

Pericliev¹

2015

J. Univers. Lang.

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The paper presents a typological database of colexifications among basic vocabulary, derived from the Automated Similarity Judgment Program (ASJP) database. Some uses of the inventory of colexifications are proposed. Some heuristics are introduced regarding the discrimination of polysemy from homonymy in a typological database, as well as such pertaining to the determination of common membership of two languages in the same language family. In particular, it was found that shared colexifications corroborate the postulation of the Austric stock and the attribution of Sumerian to the Tibeto-Burman language family.

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The catalogue of semantic shifts as a database for lexical semantic typology

Cited by 39 publications

References 26 publications

The Catalogue of Semantic Shifts: 20 Years Later

The Catalogue of Semantic Shifts: 20 Years Later

Mechanising Historical Phonology

On Colexification among Basic Vocabulary

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