Prepositional semantics and metaphoric extensions

In this paper we analyze the semantics of the Spanish preposition desde. This analysis is developed within the cognitive linguistics framework. First, we establish the central uses of this category, using a corpus created from examples provided by Spanish speakers. Then, we examine the uses of this preposition that respond to a metaphoric extension. According to my working hypothesis, these metaphoric uses are derived from the topological schema that underlies all the uses of this preposition. The metaphoric extensions of this preposition have been gradually and only partially accepted by the ‘Real Academia de la Lengua’ and other linguistic authorities. However, there exits a use based on a metaphoric transfer which is ignored by traditional treatments. Furthermore, this use is explicitly defined as incorrect by the dictionary of the Spanish language Clave. We will show that this use is consistent with the topological schema that has given rise to the rest of the metaphoric uses of desde and thus should be treated as another valid use of this category.