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Two approaches
1) Diachronic approach(历时的) •From the diachronic point of view, polysemy is thought to be the result of growth and development of the semantic structure of a word.
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Polysemy
• A lexical item has a range of different meanings, that is, one single word has two or more senses at the same time.
• blanket: 羊毛毯；给……盖羊毛毯 • get: 150 meanings • cut: 120 meanings
Two heads are better than one.
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• Concantenation (连锁型)
– Concatenation, “linking together” is a semantic process in which the meaning of a word moves gradually away from its first sense by successive shifts, like the links of a chain, until there is no connection between the sense that is finally developed and the primary meaning.
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Two processes of (leading to) polysemy
• radiation • concantenation
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• Radiation (语义辐射)
– Semantically, radiation is the process in which the primary or central meaning stands at the center while secondary meanings radiate from it in every direction like ray. – All the meanings are independent of one another, but can all be traced back to the central meaning.
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• As most words are arbitrary and conventional symbols without any intrinsic connection with what they refer to, it may sometimes happen that more than one meaning is attached to a word, or two or more words may have the same form but be different in meaning. The former is known as polysemy, and the latter, homonymy.
Chapter VI
POLYSEMY AND HOMONYMY
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பைடு நூலகம்
• A man who was involved in a serious motorcycle accident was unable to speak when he first regained consciousness. • Wishing to know how long he had been unconscious, he took a piece of paper and a pencil from the bedside and, after writing “date”? on it, gave it to his nurse. • She handed it back to him after she had written the word “Married” on it.
Of the three types, homophones constitute the largest number and are most common.
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• Sources of homonyms
– A. Phonetic convergence: sea/see steal/steel – B. Semantic divergence: When two or more meanings of the same word drift apart to such an extent that there will be no obvious connection between them, polysemy will give place to homonymy – C. Foreign influence – D. Shortening
– This first meaning is the primary meaning(原始意义). These later meanings are called derived meanings(派生意义).
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An Example Face: 12 meanings (1)the front of the head (2)a surface of a thing (3)the appearance (4)the functional surface (5)effrontery (6)the topography…
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• In order to express new ideas, new processes, new products, and so forth, language can do three things: form a new word, borrow a word from other languages, or add new meanings to established words. Of the three ways, the simplest one is to have old words take on additional meaning. That is why polysemic words of long standing are signs of an advanced culture.
• (1) is the primary meaning and all the rest are derived later on from the primary meaning. All derived meanings (212) are related to the primary one in one way or another.
– The basic meaning of a word is considered to be the core of word meaning, called the central meaning (中 心意义). The derived meanings, no matter how numerous, are secondary meanings (次要意义). •The interrelation or comparison between the central meaning and secondary meanings.
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• In some cases, the primary meaning (diachronically) and the central meaning (synchronically) coincide. • However, in some cases, a meaning that appeared after the original meaning can become the central meaning. • The two approaches are supplementary to each other in the analysis of a polysemous word.
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• Radiation describes a process where each of the derived meanings is directly connected to the primary meaning.
2012-12-16
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Homonymy
• Greek homonumos (homo: the same, onoma:name) • refer to two or more words, which have the same form, but differ in meaning. They are pronounced alike, or spelled alike, or both. • E.g.:
– Homophones（同音异义词）
• Words identical in sound but different in spelling and meaning • meet/mi:t/（遇见）mete/mi:t/（边界）meat/mi:t/（肉）
– Homographs(同形异义词)
• Words identical in spelling but different in sound and meaning • tear/tɪə/（眼泪）tear/teə/（撕裂）
A piece of timber table dining table
board→木板→餐桌→会议桌→董事会
council table
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