Hjelmslev, a forerunner of the semantic maps method in linguistic typology?

ABSTRACT In this paper, we show that Hjelmslev’s approach to language description and crosslinguistic comparison, on the one hand, and the semantic maps model used in linguistic typology, on the other, differ significantly. Although Hjelmslev paved the way for employing graphic representations as a means to show how each language of the world subdivides the semantic continuum in its own way, he can hardly be considered as a forerunner of the semantic maps tradition. In a nutshell, Hjelmslev’s schemas are meant to compare the specific organisation of individual linguistic systems, but the semantic maps method aims at unveiling semantic regularities across languages. The former targets the particular ‘grid’ imposed by each language on a given semantic space, but the latter abstracts away from specific linguistic systems and posits universal atoms of sense that can be organised in cross-linguistically valid networks.