Open AccessSpace and metaphor in verbs prefixed with od-/ot- ‘from’ in Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian and Bulgarian
Author(s) -
Ljiljana Šarić,
Ivelina K. Tchizmarova
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
oslo studies in language
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 1890-9639
DOI - 10.5617/osla.741
Subject(s) - bulgarian , serbian , bosnian , linguistics , cognitive linguistics , image schema , metaphor , croatian , space (punctuation) , schema (genetic algorithms) , deixis , slavic languages , computer science , philosophy , psychology , cognition , neuroscience , machine learning
This article analyzes Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian (BCS) and Bulgarian (Blg.) verbs prefixed with od /ot- ‘(away) from’ from a cognitive linguistics perspective, focusing on spatial meaning extensions into non-spatial domains, as well as similarities and differences between the languages in question. The prototypical sense of these verbs involves a path and can be presented as a trajector (TR) moving away from a landmark (LM), often a LM-boundary. This from schema is illustrated by BCS/Blg. otići/otida ‘go (away)’ and odalečiti se/otdaleča se ‘go/move away’. Most non-spatial meanings of od /ot- verbs are derived by applying the idea of movement through space or a spatial path to a metaphorical or figurative movement/path—for example, BCS/Blg. odustati od/otkaža se ot ‘refuse, give up’ and odskakati od (impf.) /otliča se ot ‘stand out, be different from’—in which the verbs often co-occur with the prepositions od/ot. Our analysis shows that the various meanings of verbs with od /ot- are not random collections of senses, but form semantic networks with systematic and partially predictable associations of abstract ideas and spatial locations.