Las leyes del cambio semántico: una reflexión epistemológica

Abstract

The present paper has as its aim to study the theoretical possibility of formulating scientific laws to explain the semantic changes which take place in natural languages. A concise explanation about what is understood as scientific law in philosophy of science will initially be offered, followed by an analysis of the way in which semantics has applied the concept of law, additionally assessing some of the most significant contributions. Finally, our paper will make a proposal on how to establish semantic evolution laws using the current concepts of epistemology, for which purpose two particularly rich and comprehensive semantic change processes are going to be studied: semantic changes related to corporeal awareness; and polysemy generation.