Journal | Balcania et Slavia
Journal issue | 3 | 2 | 2023
Research Article | A Glimpse of the Semantic Structure of the Bulgarian Preposition na

A Glimpse of the Semantic Structure of the Bulgarian Preposition na

This paper demonstrates the applicability of a cognitive lexical semantic analysis to some of the meanings of the highly polysemous Bulgarian preposition na. It proposes an account of the various senses of na as a radial (conceptual) category with a prototypical sense and various extensions referred to as lexical concepts in the Principled Polysemy Approach developed by Tyler and Evans. Similarly, it is argued that, in addition to the spatio-geometric parameters, the core spatial lexical concept of the Bulgarian na includes also functional information from which non-spatial meanings such as ‘active state’ derive.


Open access | Peer reviewed

Submitted: Jan. 24, 2024 | Accepted: March 4, 2024 | Published: April 5, 2024 | Language: en

Keywords Lexical concept Polysemy Bulgarian preposition na Radial category Spatial and non-spatial meaning


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