Cognitive Semantics : Meaning and Cognition

114 ÅKE VIBERG
‘at poker’ Per slog Pål i poker ‘Per beat (defeated) Pål at poker’. The same
interpretation can also be obtained via the preceding discourse or topic of
conversation, but in the concordances that formed the basis for the original
study, it was only occasionally necessary to go beyond the sentence containing
the key word to determine the interpretation of the verb slå in an unambiguous
way. In Table 9, the various kinds of factors are illustrated with short,
idealized examples. The various classes of subjects shown in (1)-(6) have
already been commented on. A large number of more narrowly defined
classes of objects affect the interpretation in a radical way, as illustrated by
(7)-(9). Examples (10)-(11) show that the semantic class of the object determines
the interpretation even when there is a particle. We will return to these
examples shortly. Among the prepositions, i ‘in’ and med ‘with’ allow several
Table 9. Factors affecting the interpretation of slå
Subject Swedish examples Varying English equivalents
Human 1) Per slog Pål. Per hit Pål.
Natural force 2) Regnet slog Pål (i ansiktet). The rain hit Pål in the face.
Mental 3) Tanken slog Pål. The thought struck Pål.
Clock 4) Klockan slog. The clock struck.
Heart 5) Hjärtat slog. The heart was beating.
Product of art 6) Pjäsen slog. The play was a hit.
Object 7) Per slog gräsmattan. Per mowed the lawn.
8) Per slog telefonnumret. Per dialed the number.
9) Per slog rekordet. Per beat the record.
10) Per slog upp dörren. Per opened the door.
11) Per slog upp en grogg. Per poured a drink.
Prepositional
complement 12) Per slog Pål i ansiktet. Per hit Pål in the face.
13) Per slog Pål i poker. Per beat Pål at poker.
14) Per slog Pål med knytnäven. Per hit Pål with his fist.
15) Per slog Pål med 3-1. Per beat Pål 3-1.
16) Per slog Pål med häpnad. Per struck Pål with amazement.
Particle 17) Per slog in boken. Per wrapped up the book.
18) Per slog upp boken. Per opened the book.