From primary meanings of the sensory perceptions of touch and taste to lexicalized metaphors in an associative-semantic network in Slovak
From primary meanings of the sensory perceptions of touch and taste to lexicalized metaphors in an associative-semantic network in Slovak

Summary/Abstract: This paper investigates the semantic changes leading from primary meanings of sensory perceptions to lexicalized metaphors in Slovak. The cognitive semantic theory of the living word (Alefirenko 2009) is used as a theoretical framework for interpreting the patterns of lexicalization of figurative expressions motivated by the sensory perceptions of touch and taste. We have explored a figurative progression of expressions ranging from similes via phrasemes and paremias to lexicalized multi-word or single-word metaphors, and discovered the associative-evolutionary processes that gave rise to them. The hierarchization and the relationship with primary concepts are shown through reconstructing the branches of the associative-semantic network. The paper proposes a model of internal dynamics for the associated sets of figurative expressions. The schema of the emergent principle in the associations demonstrates the increasing metaphoricity of the expressions from index to icon to symbol. It has also been argued that the implicit relationship between the branch members is not logical by nature, but rather the result of associations. The given branches are not exhaustive in terms of potential members, but their internal progression entails the anticipation of the development of new metaphorical naming units.

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