A cognitive analysis of the Bulgarian prepositions and verbal prefixes NAD and POD

Abstract: This paper analyzes the Bulgarian prepositions and verbal prefixes NAD and POD from a cogni-tive linguistic perspective. Their prototypical senses are presented as a trajector (TR) situated above or below a landmark (LM), an idealized cognitive model that is neutral with respect to vertical alignment and contact between the TR and LM. The networks of NAD and POD each exhibit a common semantic core stemming from the central spatial sense of each term, close connections between prefixes and prepositions, consistent spatial-metaphorical meaning shifts, and structural similarities between NAD and POD that are often opposites (which can be represented as reversed mirror images) of each other. Analyzing spatial terms such as NAD and POD in this way has explanatory power and the potential to help learners and teachers of Bul-garian see the connection between verticality and metaphor, make sense of the polysemy of these spatial terms, and learn or explain them more easily.