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The Semantics of the Lexical Suffix '*wil'
Academic Work
This paper addresses the semantics of the lexical suffix *wil. Salishan lexical suffixes constitute a very old morphological system that can be reconstructed for Proto-Salish. Historically, lexical suffixes appear to have developed from roots used as the right member of a compound (Egesdal 1981, Mattina 1987, Carlson 1989, Kinkade 1998). Morphologically, these suffixes are derivational morphemes that denote entities referred to by full nominals in other languages, e.g. body-parts (FACE, HAND, BACK, MOUTH), cultural implements (CANOE, HOUSE, CLOTHING), and natural elements (FIRE, GROUND, WATER, TREE). The referentiality of the lexical suffix *wil is not an issue in this paper - the suffix is polysemous and has a generic rather than a referential function denoting a category of items related through a shape schema. Semantically, the suffix *wil has metaphorical, locational, and classifacotyr extensions.
AW.00011
2001
Language and Linguistics
UBC Working Papers in Linguistics Press
International Conference on Salish Languages, 36,
International Conference on Salish Languages, 36,
Working Papers
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