La polisemia de la posposición ã en bribri

This paper examines the polysemy of the Bribri postposition a from the perspective of cognitive linguistics. It suggests a semantic network in which all the senses of the word are directly or indirectly linked to one central meaning: the static spatial location of a trajector within a landmark conceived as a three-dimensional container (inessive). Several semantic extensions emerge from this proto-scene through metaphors, metonymies, and subjectification, thus creating different continua of associated meanings. In this manner, the primary sense extends to both the temporal domain and the dynamic spatial sub-domain. Likewise, a series of uses of a as a marker of the more abstract semantic roles of recipient, addressee, and beneficiary derives from the function of the metaspatial marker.