Why is polysemy important?

Asked by: Prof. Greyson O'Conner
Score: 4.1/5 (34 votes)

Polysemy plays an important role in lexical change. The development of polysemy is a common means whereby languages encode new referents or alter the encoding of existing ones (Witkowski & Brown in press; Witkowski et al. I98i).

What is polysemy problem?

There are three problems to be addressed in an adequate theory of polysemy: sense selection, semantic relatedness, and category identity. Each seems to require a cognitive rather than a purely linguistic solution. ... Semantic relatedness is an issue because polysemy is distinct from homo- nymy.

What is polysemy explain it with examples?

When a symbol, word, or phrase means many different things, that's called polysemy. The verb "get" is a good example of polysemy — it can mean "procure," "become," or "understand." ... Generally, polysemy is distinguished from simple homonyms (where words sound alike but have different meanings) by etymology.

What are some examples of polysemy?

One example of polysemy is the word 'sound'. This word has a very large number of meanings. It has 19 noun meanings, 12 adjective meanings, 12 verb meanings, 4 meanings in verb phrases, and 2 adverb meanings. A word with an even greater number of meanings is another example, 'set'.

What are the causes of polysemy?

Sources of Polysemy

The rate of approaching and recession of the meanings from each – other, the rate of their recognition and type of dictionary which distinguishes the meanings of a polysemantic word, make that borders between meanings of a given word not to be punctual and checked (Thomai, p.

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38 related questions found

What do you call one word with two meanings?

Homonyms, or multiple-meaning words, are words that have the same spelling and usually sound alike, but have different meanings (e.g. dog bark, tree bark).

What is the difference between polysemy and Homonymy?

A word is polysemous if it can be used to express different meanings. The difference between the meanings can be obvious or subtle. Two or more words are homonyms if they either sound the same (homophones), have the same spelling (homographs), or both, but do not have related meanings.

How do you use the word polysemy?

English has many polysemous words. For example, the verb "to get" can mean "procure" (I'll get the drinks), "become" (she got scared), "understand" (I get it) etc. In linear or vertical polysemy, one sense of a word is a subset of the other.

How do you teach polysemy?

Students share answers as they watch the video. Explain those meanings that students do not understand. Introduce the concept of polysemy and ask students to think of other words that have several meanings. Encourage students to use the dictionary to learn meanings of words that students do not know.

Is bank a polysemy?

When a word or phrase has several meanings, you can describe that word as polysemous. One word that's famously polysemous is "bank." You can choose a pronunciation for this adjective with stress on the second or third syllable since most dictionaries give both.

When a sentence has two meanings?

A double entendre is a phrase or figure of speech that could have two meanings or that could be understood in two different ways. One of these meanings is often humorous, bawdy or even risqué. Keep reading for several double entendre examples from literature, movies and everyday conversation.

What means hyponym?

A hyponym is a word or phrase whose semantic field is more specific than its hypernym. The semantic field of a hypernym, also known as a superordinate, is broader than that of a hyponym. ... For example, verbs such as stare, gaze, view and peer can also be considered hyponyms of the verb look, which is their hypernym.

Why do English words have so many meanings?

That's because the other important element of language is context. ... The more of these words included in a language, the faster, and more efficiently, people could understand one another — as long as they were also good at parsing out which of the words' different meanings were appropriate.

What is the meaning of Homonymy?

Homonymy is the relationship between words that are homonyms—words that have different meanings but are pronounced the same or spelled the same or both. It can also refer to the state of being homonyms. The word homonym can be used as a synonym for both homophone and homograph.

What does not many mean?

: only a few Not many people showed up.

What are the 10 homonyms?

10 Homonyms with Meanings and Sentences
  • Cache – Cash:
  • Scents – Sense:
  • Chile – Chili:
  • Choir – Quire:
  • Site – Sight:
  • Facts- Fax:
  • Finnish – Finish:

What are 2 words that sound the same?


What are homonyms and give example?

A homonym is a word that is said or spelled the same way as another word but has a different meaning. "Write” and “right” is a good example of a pair of homonyms.

What is the meaning of polysemy and Homonymy?

Polysemy and homonymy are semantic phenomena that are part of our everyday language. Polysemous words possess two or more related senses; homonyms possess two or more. unrelated meanings. These phenomena are distinguished by dictionaries based on two.

What does polysemy mean in media?

The term polysemy refers to the "interpretive scope of media texts, the argument being that several interpretations coexist as potentials in any one text" (Jensen 1995, p. 75).

Are bank and bank homonyms?

Homographs have the same spelling but do not necessarily sound the same. Bank (a financial establishment) and bank (the slope bordering a river) are homographs that are spelled and sound the same: Go to the bank and deposit your paycheque.

What is Hyponymy and polysemy?

As nouns the difference between polysemy and hyponymy

is that polysemy is (semantics) the ability of words, signs and symbols to have multiple meanings while hyponymy is (semantics) the semantic relation between hyponyms; the quality of being hyponymous.

What are some examples of homonyms?

Homophones. Homophones are words that share the name pronunciation, regardless of their spelling. The word 'phone' in homophone means sound. Examples of homophones include the words 'write' and 'right', 'knight' and 'night', and the words 'see' and 'sea'.