Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Lupyan G
PROVIDER: S-EPMC6015821 | biostudies-other | 2018 Aug
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-other
Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences 20180801 1752
How abstract is language? We show that abstractness pervades every corner of language, going far beyond the usual examples of <i>freedom</i> and <i>justice</i> In the light of the ubiquity of abstract words, the need to understand where abstract meanings come from becomes ever more acute. We argue that the best source of knowledge about abstract meanings may be language itself. We then consider a seemingly unrelated question: Why isn't language more iconic? Iconicity-a resemblance between the fo ...[more]