Language, Space and the Theory of Semantic Forms

Abstract

In A. Carsetti (Ed), pp. 245-275, 2004, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht. This paper, which is a synthesis of several previous publications, analyzes some of the principles according to which it is possible to build an analogy, or even a continuity, between language and perception. Several misleading options are identified, arising from erroneous models of perception, and the non-taking into account of polysemy as a fundamental property of language. Starting from the example of prepositions, we challenge these difficulties, in order to put forth general semantic principles, applicable to all categories of words and constructions. The key question of the relation between spatial and less-or non spatial uses of words will lead us to come back to the Gestalt and phenomenological theories of perception and action, which more than ever offer irreplaceable insights for semantics. We then sketch a radically dynamical theoretical framework, which gives a fundamental role to the mathematical concepts of instability. On this basis, the microgenesis of what we call Semantic Forms can be distributed between three layers of meaning, or 'stabilization and development phases', named motifs, profiles, and themes. Taken together, they shape linguistic structure and semantic activity. They apply in exactly the same way in lexical as well as in grammatical semantics, whose distinction is reassessed in conclusion. Keywords: Semantic Form, phenomenology, Gestalt, microgenesis, cognitive linguistics, grammar, space, polysemy, motif, profile, theme, instability, stabilization, complex system