1. I. Polysemy
Polysemy is the existence of several
meanings for a single word or phrase. The word polysemy comes from the Greek words πολυ-, poly-, “many” and
σήμα, sêma, “sign”. In other words it is the capacity for a word,
phrase, or sign to have multiple meanings i.e., a large semantic field. Polysemy is a pivotal
concept within the humanities, such as media studies and linguistics.
A
polyseme is a word or phrase with different, but related
senses. Since the test for polysemy is the
vague concept of relatedness, judgments of polysemy can be difficult to make.
Because applying pre-existing words to new situations is a natural process of
language change, looking at words'
etymology is helpful in determining
polysemy but not the only solution; as words become lost in etymology, what
once was a useful distinction of meaning may no longer be so. Some apparently
unrelated words share a common historical origin, however, so etymology is not
an infallible test for polysemy, and dictionary writers also often defer to
speakers' intuitions to judge polysemy in cases where it contradicts etymology.
English has many words which are polysemous. For example, the verb "to
get" can mean "procure" (
I'll get the drinks),
"become" (
she got scared), "understand" (
I get it)
etc.
In vertical polysemy a word refers to a member of a subcategory (e.g., 'dog'
for 'male dog').
[4] A closely related idea is
metonym, in which a word with one original
meaning is used to refer to something else connected to it.
A word like walk is
polysemous:
- I went walking this morning
- We went for a walk last Sunday
- Do you walk the dog every day?
- I live near Meadow Walk Drive
- The wardrobe is too heavy to lift; we’ll have to walk
it into the bedroom (move a large object by rocking).
- She walks the tower (to haunt a place as
a ghost).
- The workers threatened to walk (to
go on strike).
- Walk with
God! (to live your life in a particular way)
Example :
Man
1.
The human species (i.e., man vs.
animal)
2.
Males of the human species (i.e.,
man vs. woman)
3.
Adult males of the human species
(i.e., man vs. boy)
This example shows the specific
polysemy where the same word is used at different levels of a taxonomy.
Example 1 contains 2, and 2 contains 3.
Mole
1.
a small burrowing mammal
2.
consequently, there are several
different entities called moles (see the Mole
disambiguation page). Although these refer to different things, their
names derive from 1. :e.g. A Mole burrows
for information hoping to go undetected.
Bank
2.
the building where a financial
institution offers services
3.
a synonym for 'rely upon' (e.g. "I'm
your friend, you can bank on me"). It is different, but related,
as it derives from the theme of security initiated by 1.
However: a river bank
is a homonym to 1 and 2, as they do not share
etymologies. It is a completely different meaning.[15] River bed, though, is
polysemous with the beds on which people sleep.
1.
a bound collection of pages
2.
a text reproduced and distributed
(thus, someone who has read the same text on a computer has read the same book
as someone who had the actual paper volume)
3.
to make an action or event a matter
of record (e.g. "Unable to book a hotel room, a man sneaked into a nearby
private residence where police arrested him and later booked him for unlawful
entry.")
Newspaper
1.
a company that publishes written
news.
2.
a single physical item published by
the company.
3.
the newspaper as an edited work in a
specific format (e.g. "They changed the layout of the newspaper's front
page").
The different meanings can be
combined in a single sentence, e.g. "John used to work for the newspaper
that you are reading."
Milk
The verb milk (e.g. "he's milking it for all
he can get") derives from the process of obtaining milk.
Wood
1.
a piece of a tree
2.
a geographical area with many trees
Crane
1.
a bird
2.
a type of construction equipment
3.
to strain out one's neck
References :
