desemanticization

English

Noun

desemanticization (uncountable)

1. The loss or removal of all or part of the original semantic content (meaning) of a word or morpheme, sometimes (but not always) as part of grammaticalization.

   Synonym: desemantization

   Coordinate terms: bleaching, decategorialization

   • 1984, Bernd Heine, Mechthild Reh, Grammaticalization and Reanalysis in African Languages, Helmut Buske Verlag Gmbh, →ISBN, pages 39 and 40:

     […] Desemanticization
     By this process, a lexical item receives a second, non-lexical function, which may ultimately become its only function. Thus, in addition to its lexical meaning, a word receives  […]
     Once again, this leads to the desemanticization of lexical meaning, namely that of the action verbs […]

   • 2003, Karen Emmorey, Perspectives on Classifier Constructions in Sign Languages, Psychology Press, →ISBN:

     Desemanticization. The meaning of forms tends to shift from more concrete to more abstract in grammaticalization. This happens through the loss of concrete semantic features that were part of the original form but have been “bleached out” […]