Abstract
Verbs with meanings in the domain of 'percussion and impact' in the Arandic and Nyungic subgroups of Pama-Nyungan show a high degree of uniformity in the extended polysemous meanings which they simultaneously hold. These meanings are analysed according to a parsimonious typology of possible semantic extension in which metaphor and metonymy are the principal categories, and a comparative study of the linkages between core and extended meanings across different languages is presented. This comparison exposes typical patterns of semantic extension, and brings to light semantic correspondences and divergences between different languages. Such comparative data contribute to the body of evidence that suggest that the lexicon, far from being the repository of everything irregular in linguistic structure, is rather a domain in which significant regularity exists.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 45-96 |
| Number of pages | 52 |
| Journal | Australian Journal of Linguistics |
| Volume | 22 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Apr 2002 |