University Tehran Language Research 2251-9289 8 1 2017 08 23 Semantic Analysis of Prepositions Læ and Wæ in Gurani Kurdish: A Cognitive Approach Semantic Analysis of Prepositions Læ and Wæ in Gurani Kurdish: A Cognitive Approach 21 40 63133 10.22059/jolr.2017.63133 FA Parsa Bamshadi Shahid Beheshti University Khosrow Gholamalizadeh Razi University Shoja Tafakkori Rezayi Department of English Language and Literature, Razi University, Iran Journal Article 2016 12 25 The present research explores the semantics of two prepositions in Gurani Kurdish, i.e. “læ” and “wæ”. Our approach is cognitive semantics and we particularly use the principled polysemy model (Tyler and Evans, 2001, 2003; Evans and Tyler, 2004a, 2004b; Evans, 2004, 2005, 2006) that suggests clear criteria for determining both distinct senses and primary (or prototype) sense of spatial prepositions. The findings of the research show that the primary sense of<em> læ</em> is “beginning, source or origin” while that of <em>wæ </em>is “receiver or target”. The semantic network of <em>læ </em>has three clusters of senses – i.e. metaphorical, inclusion and comparison- with sixteen distinct senses. The semantic network of <em>wæ</em> includes five distinct senses without any cluster. The findings also confirm the efficiency of this model’s criteria for determining and classifying the distinct and primary senses of prepositions. The present research explores the semantics of two prepositions in Gurani Kurdish, i.e. “læ” and “wæ”. Our approach is cognitive semantics and we particularly use the principled polysemy model (Tyler and Evans, 2001, 2003; Evans and Tyler, 2004a, 2004b; Evans, 2004, 2005, 2006) that suggests clear criteria for determining both distinct senses and primary (or prototype) sense of spatial prepositions. The findings of the research show that the primary sense of<em> læ</em> is “beginning, source or origin” while that of <em>wæ </em>is “receiver or target”. The semantic network of <em>læ </em>has three clusters of senses – i.e. metaphorical, inclusion and comparison- with sixteen distinct senses. The semantic network of <em>wæ</em> includes five distinct senses without any cluster. The findings also confirm the efficiency of this model’s criteria for determining and classifying the distinct and primary senses of prepositions. https://jolr.ut.ac.ir/article_63133_9f6e006117d48336ad74c1265cbcf1a5.pdf