Semantic Maps or Coding Maps? Towards a Unified Account of the Coding Degree, Coding Complexity, and Coding Distance of Coordination Relations

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to explore the degree to which semantic maps and conceptual spaces may comprehensively describe cross-linguistic variation by discussing the types of phenomena that may be consistently represented in a unified account. By analyzing the cross-linguistic coding of coordination relations, it will be argued that the degree to which every conceptual situation is explicitly coded by means of dedicated markers and the cross-linguistic possibility that two conceptual situations are coded by means of the same construction (coding degree) are not the only dimensions of cross-linguistic variation that may be described on a semantic map. On the contrary, it is possible to build a unified coding map accounting also for the presence and morphophonological complexity of overt markers coding the conceptual situations at issue (coding complexity). The integration of this representation with the Multi-Dimensional Scaling (MDS) technique will provide a representation for a further dimension of variation, namely the frequency with which two conceptual situations are coded by means of the same marker across languages (coding distance). It will be argued that the coding map and the MDS map are compatible and complementary and therefore highlight the possibility of building a unified representation of the coding degree, coding distance, and coding complexity of coordination relations.

Keywords

• semantic maps
• coordination