Published: 2024-10-31

The Role of Prepositions in Perceiving the World. Cognitive Analysis of the Comparison of Some Cases in Italian and Polish

Aleksandra Paliczuk Logo ORCID

Website: https://us.edu.pl/instytut/ij/osoby/aleksandra-paliczuk/

Abstract

This text aims to analyze the role of Italian and Polish prepositions in the process of perceiving the world, or in this case, a comparison between the two linguistic and conceptual systems. Prepositions are lexical elements treated in different ways in linguistic studies: some researchers argue that the preposition is semantically empty, on the contrary, its function is to combine two elements or linguistic structures in a sentence; others say it has some semantic features. There are many examples of expressions in Italian and Polish (or in other languages) in which the prepositional phrases
differ in the translations, i.e., some prepositions are untranslatable (they do not have a lexical
equivalent) and some are not translated with use of their so-called equivalents. There are natural languages in which prepositions are used less frequently or offer greater possibilities of use, or the given language provides other linguistic tools to express the same meaning.

In this contribution, the basis for the considerations is mainly the theory of Cognitive Grammar by Ronald W. Langacker (1987, 1991a, 1991b, 1995, 2000, 2008), with the central notion of “construal” (previously known as “imagery”), and its dimensions, in particular the prominence with the distinction of the trajector/landmark alignment. The analysis of prepositions, regardless of the examined language, can be vast and complex; therefore, here we will present examples (in Italian and Polish) of selected expressions, i.e., the most interesting and contrasting ones.

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Paliczuk, A. (2024). The Role of Prepositions in Perceiving the World. Cognitive Analysis of the Comparison of Some Cases in Italian and Polish. Neophilologica, 36, 1–26. https://doi.org/10.31261/NEO.2024.36.05

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Vol. 36 (2024)
Published: 2025-01-17


ISSN: 0208-5550
eISSN: 2353-088X
Ikona DOI 10.31261/NEO

Publisher
Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Śląskiego | University of Silesia Press

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