Relational Semantics and the Anatomy of Abstraction

This book presents a study of meaning relations, linking the philosophical tradition of conceptual analysis with recent theories and methodologies in cognitive semantics. Its main concern is the extent to which analyzing meaning relations between cognate words reveal the infrastructure of the actual and mental lexicon, assuming that language mirrors thought. Sovran aims to elucidate their infrastructure and the metaphorical and perceptual models that constitute abstract concepts, dealing finally with the role of abstraction in poetic metaphors. Overall, this volume addresses major contemporary issues in the philosophy of language and theoretical semantics.

Tamar Sovran is Associate Professor in the Hebrew Culture Studies Department at Tel Aviv University, Israel.

1. Introduction 2. Background and Methods 3. Similarity 4. Difference 5. Negativity 6. Truth 7. Norm 8. Abstraction and Poetic Metaphor 9. Conclusion