Polysemy. Homonymy

1. Polysemy and homonymy

2. Polysemy - a language universal

The result of semantic derivation is polysemy.
Polysemy is the existence of several related meanings within 1 word.
Lexical-semantic variant (LSV) – one of the meanings of a word in a
semantic structure and the smallest bilateral lexical unit of language.
Diachronically LSVs can be:
Primary – the first meaning generated in the word.
Secondary– meanings formed as a result of semantic derivation.
Synchronically we distinguish:
Major LSV (central, basic) - occurs in different contexts, possesses the
highest frequency of value
Minor LSV (marginal) - observed only in certain contexts and are less
frequent.

3. Types of polysemantic structure

Radial polysemy –
all secondary LSVs are connected with
primary LSV and motivated by it.
Chain polysemy – each secondary LSV has derived from a
previous one.
Mixed polysemy – there are
clusters of radial structure
and clusters of chain structure.
E.g. gear (see the scheme)

4. Semantic relations between LSVs

LSVs are connected
by common (integral) semantic components
(semes, semantic features). Semantic relations between LSVs
are revealed through the procedure of Componential analysis
and Comparative opposition.
Two main types of semantic relations between primary and
secondary LSVs are:
Metaphoric – integral semantic components reflect similarity of
form, shape, colour, function, position, behavior etc.)
Metonymic -integral semantic components reflect contiguity for
e.g. cause-effect, part-whole, object-function, object-material,
object – place etc.

5. Meaning and context

The meaning of a word is ultimately determined by the actual
speech situation in which the word is used.
Polysemantic word is realized in one of its LSVs in context.
Context is the minimal stretch of speech determining each
individual meaning of the word.
May be linguistic (grammatical structure, surrounding words
etc.) and extra-linguistic (the subject of speech in known or
unknown by the speakers, place of communication etc.).
E.g. The bill is large. (the meaning is ambiguous)
The bill is large as it’s more than I could afford. (the meaning is
clear)

6. Polysemy and homonymy

If you hear (or read) two words that sound (or are written) the
same but are not identical in meaning, you need to decide if it’s
really two words (homonyms), or if it is one word used in two
different ways (polysemy).
A word is polysemous if it can be used to express different
meanings (LSVs) which are semantically related.
Two or more words are homonyms if they have identical form
(sound form and\or spelling) but DO NOT have related meanings.
Criteria differentiation between homonymy and polysemy:
etymological and semantic (semantic relation between meanings)
+ criterion of spelling
+ the criterion of distribution

7. Classification of homonyms

Homonyms proper - the same in sound and spelling ( e.g. bank)
Homophones - the same in sound form but different in spelling
(e.g. piece – peace)
Homographs - identical in spelling but different in sound (e.g.
bow [bau], bow [bou]).

8. Classification of homonyms acc. to paradygm (by Smirnitskiy)

Full homonyms
- represent the same part of speech and have the
same paradigm.
Partial homonyms - are subdivided into 3 subgroups:
1) Simple lexical-grammatical - belong to the same part of speech
but have 1 identical form (e.g. found v. Inf. found v. Past Ind.)
2) Complex lexical-grammatical - belong to different parts of
speech and have one identical form (e.g. rose n – rose v. Past. Ind.)
3) Partial lexical - belong to the same part of speech and are
identical only in their corresponding forms (e.g. lie (lay, lain) - lie
(lied- lied)).

9. Sources of homonyms

Phonetic changes which words underwent in the course of
their historical development (e.g. night knight)
The appearance of borrowings (e.g. bank (shore) – a
native word, bank (a financial institution) – Italian loan)
Conversion
Shortening (e.g. fan
The loss of endings
from fanatic and fan – веер)