The semantic map model: State of the art and future avenues for linguistic research

The semantic map model is relatively new in linguistic research, but it has been intensively used during the past three decades for studying both cross-linguistic and language-specific questions. The goal of the present contribution is to give a comprehensive overview of the model. After introducing the different types of semantic maps, we present the steps involved for building the maps and discuss in more detail the different types of maps and their respective advantages and disadvantages, focusing on the kinds of linguistic generalizations captured. Finally, we provide a thorough survey of the literature on the topic, and we sketch future avenues for research in the field.