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Asymmetries in Italian temperature terminology

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The Italian system of temperature terminology features the basic terms caldo ‘hot’ and freddo ‘cold’, two intermediate terms, tiepido ‘warm’ and fresco ‘cool’, and two terms for extreme temperature, bollente ‘very hot’ and gelato ‘ice-cold’, and might look remarkably symmetrical. However, a closer inspection uncovers a number of asymmetries, regarding both the intermediate and the extreme terms. It is argued that such asymmetries depend on perceptual and experiential factors that constitute the basis for conceptualisation of different degrees of temperature. In addition, data on usage and frequency point toward a special status of fresco with respect to other temperature terms. A diachronic survey of changes in the history of temperature terminology from Latin to Italian indicates that this is a result of the late introduction of this term, which was accompanied by a thorough restructuring of the system of temperature terms.

References

  1. Bhat, D.N. Shankaram
    1994 The Adjectival Category: Criteria for Differentiation and Identification [Studies in Language Companion Series 24]. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. doi: 10.1075/slcs.24
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    1995 Deutsches Etymologisches Wörterbuch. Tübingen: Mohr.
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    2006 “Some like it hot”: On the semantics of temperature adjectives in Russian and Swedish. STUF (Sprachtypologie und Universalienforschung)59 (2): 253-269. Special issue The Lexicon: Typological and Contrastive Perspectives, Giannoula Giannoulopoulou & Torsten Leuschner (eds).
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  8. Mallory, James P. & Adams, Douglas Q
    2008 The Oxford Introduction to Proto-Indo-European and the Proto-Indo-European World. Oxford: OUP.
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    2003 Temperature talk: The basics. Paper presented at the Workshop on Lexical Typology at the ALT conference inCagliari, September.
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References

  1. Bhat, D.N. Shankaram
    1994 The Adjectival Category: Criteria for Differentiation and Identification [Studies in Language Companion Series 24]. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. doi: 10.1075/slcs.24
     https://doi.org/10.1075/slcs.24 [Google Scholar]
  2. Fruyt, Michèle
    2013 Temperature and Cognition in Latin. Revue de Linguistique Latine du Centre Alfred Ernout. De Lingua Latina9.
     [Google Scholar]
  3. Köbler, Gerhard
    1995 Deutsches Etymologisches Wörterbuch. Tübingen: Mohr.
     [Google Scholar]
  4. Koptjevskaja-Tamm, Maria
    2007 Guidelines for collecting linguistic expressions for temperature concepts, Version 1. temperature.ling.su.se/images/7/7c/Guidelines.pdf
  5. 2008 Approaching lexical typology. InFrom Polysemy to Semantic Change: A Typology of Lexical Semantic Associations[Studies in Language Companion Series 106], Martine Vanhove (ed.), 3-52. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. doi: 10.1075/slcs.106.03kop
     https://doi.org/10.1075/slcs.106.03kop [Google Scholar]
  6. 2011 “It’s boiling hot!” On the structure of the linguistic temperature domain across languages. InRahmen des Sprechens. Beiträge zur Valenztheorie, Varietätenlinguistik, Kognitiven und Historischen Semantik. Peter Koch zum 60, Sarah Dessì Schmid , Ulrich Detges , Paul Gévaudan , Wiltrud Mihatsch & Richard Waltereit (eds), 393-410. Tübingen: Narr.
     [Google Scholar]
  7. Koptjevskaja-Tamm, Maria & Rakhilina, Ekaterina V
    2006 “Some like it hot”: On the semantics of temperature adjectives in Russian and Swedish. STUF (Sprachtypologie und Universalienforschung)59 (2): 253-269. Special issue The Lexicon: Typological and Contrastive Perspectives, Giannoula Giannoulopoulou & Torsten Leuschner (eds).
     [Google Scholar]
  8. Mallory, James P. & Adams, Douglas Q
    2008 The Oxford Introduction to Proto-Indo-European and the Proto-Indo-European World. Oxford: OUP.
     [Google Scholar]
  9. Plank, Frans
    2003 Temperature talk: The basics. Paper presented at the Workshop on Lexical Typology at the ALT conference inCagliari, September.
     [Google Scholar]

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