Dear all,
I'd like to introduce the so called prototype theory.
brief definition:
Each language consists of a very high amount of concepts (the lexicon). Humans tend to bring them in order by defining certain categories, e.g. the category of animals, pieces of furniture, drinks or foods, etc. Each language however has its own prototypes for each category, e.g. if you ask an English speaker "Please give the name of a bird" he would probably name a robin, because this kind of bird is very present in the minds of the English, maybe because of its role as a tipical motif on christmas cards. A German, on the contrary, would probably rather tend to name a blackbird, maybe because of the song "Alle Vögel sind schon da".
The example with the birds is explained in every detail on:
http://culturitalia.uibk.ac.at/hispanoteca/Lexikon%20der%20Linguistik/po/PROTOTYP%20%20und%20PROTOTYPENSEMANTIK%20%20%20Prototipo.htm
Each language consists of a very high amount of concepts (the lexicon). Humans tend to bring them in order by defining certain categories, e.g. the category of animals, pieces of furniture, drinks or foods, etc. Each language however has its own prototypes for each category, e.g. if you ask an English speaker "Please give the name of a bird" he would probably name a robin, because this kind of bird is very present in the minds of the English, maybe because of its role as a tipical motif on christmas cards. A German, on the contrary, would probably rather tend to name a blackbird, maybe because of the song "Alle Vögel sind schon da".
The example with the birds is explained in every detail on:
http://culturitalia.uibk.ac.at/hispanoteca/Lexikon%20der%20Linguistik/po/PROTOTYP%20%20und%20PROTOTYPENSEMANTIK%20%20%20Prototipo.htm
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