At 02:31 AM 13/02/01 -0000, Brian Moss wrote:
>So they progress from a simple mapping of a word to an action
>to a complex multi-word description. Has anyone looked at the
>in-between stages? Sounds like a strategy where you first
>make a simple connection and then add exception clauses. [...]
>Are the holophrastic words
>arbitrary? If not it seems they'd be very restricted.
There's a *huge* literature on all this, which alas I don't know well so
can't offer any further pointers. Jerome Bruner has worked in this area,
and his books are readable.
I'd suggest as a first pass on the web the essay at
http://www.le.ac.uk/psychology/metaphor/semdev.html
"Semantic Development and Semantic Change
with special reference to metaphor and metonymy
An overview of theories from 1950 to 1990"
by Brigitte Nerlich
Damien Broderick
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