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Is a 'friend' an 'enemy'? Between "proximity" and "opposition"

  • Sergueï Sakhno and Nicole Tersis
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From Polysemy to Semantic Change
This chapter is in the book From Polysemy to Semantic Change

Abstract

The article focuses on recurring semantic associations for the terms meaning “friend” in different genetic stocks. The data show a distinction between several semantic networks which partially overlap, and in which “friend” is linked to different terms designating the “other” in a dual relation. The presentation is treefold, according to the semantic associations of “friend” with the following semantic fields: proximity, complementarity, and opposition. The study is based on three types of semantic and formal links as attested in the data: synchronic polysemy, heterosemy (derivation, composition), historical depth (i.e., diachronic links when available). The typological approach also allows to back up some tricky cases of diachronic reconstructions, and to consider new semantic networks which were thought before as doubtful.

Abstract

The article focuses on recurring semantic associations for the terms meaning “friend” in different genetic stocks. The data show a distinction between several semantic networks which partially overlap, and in which “friend” is linked to different terms designating the “other” in a dual relation. The presentation is treefold, according to the semantic associations of “friend” with the following semantic fields: proximity, complementarity, and opposition. The study is based on three types of semantic and formal links as attested in the data: synchronic polysemy, heterosemy (derivation, composition), historical depth (i.e., diachronic links when available). The typological approach also allows to back up some tricky cases of diachronic reconstructions, and to consider new semantic networks which were thought before as doubtful.

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Semantic associations: A foreword vii
  4. Part 1. State of the art
  5. Approaching lexical typology 3
  6. Part 2. Theoretical and methodological issues
  7. Words and their meanings: Principles of variation and stabilization 55
  8. The typology of semantic affinities 93
  9. Cognitive onomasiology and lexical change: Around the eye 107
  10. Mapping semantic spaces: A constructionist account of the "light verb" xordæn 'eat' in Persian 139
  11. Semantic maps and the typology of colexification: Intertwining polysemous networks across languages 163
  12. A catalogue of semantic shifts: Towards a typology of semantic derivation 217
  13. Semantic associations and confluences in paradigmatic networks 233
  14. Part 3. Case studies
  15. About 'Eating' in a few Niger-Congo languages 267
  16. Eating beyond certainties 291
  17. From semantic change to polysemy: The cases of 'meat/animal' and 'drink' 303
  18. Is a 'friend' an 'enemy'? Between "proximity" and "opposition" 317
  19. Semantic associations between sensory modalities, prehension and mental perceptions: A crosslinguistic perspective 341
  20. Cats and bugs: Some remarks about semantic parallelisms 371
  21. General index 387
  22. Index of languages 397
  23. Index of names 401
https://doi.org/10.1075/slcs.106.16sak

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Semantic associations: A foreword vii
  4. Part 1. State of the art
  5. Approaching lexical typology 3
  6. Part 2. Theoretical and methodological issues
  7. Words and their meanings: Principles of variation and stabilization 55
  8. The typology of semantic affinities 93
  9. Cognitive onomasiology and lexical change: Around the eye 107
  10. Mapping semantic spaces: A constructionist account of the "light verb" xordæn 'eat' in Persian 139
  11. Semantic maps and the typology of colexification: Intertwining polysemous networks across languages 163
  12. A catalogue of semantic shifts: Towards a typology of semantic derivation 217
  13. Semantic associations and confluences in paradigmatic networks 233
  14. Part 3. Case studies
  15. About 'Eating' in a few Niger-Congo languages 267
  16. Eating beyond certainties 291
  17. From semantic change to polysemy: The cases of 'meat/animal' and 'drink' 303
  18. Is a 'friend' an 'enemy'? Between "proximity" and "opposition" 317
  19. Semantic associations between sensory modalities, prehension and mental perceptions: A crosslinguistic perspective 341
  20. Cats and bugs: Some remarks about semantic parallelisms 371
  21. General index 387
  22. Index of languages 397
  23. Index of names 401
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