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Polysemy ( or ; ) is the capacity for a sign (e.g. a
symbol A symbol is a mark, sign, or word that indicates, signifies, or is understood as representing an idea, object, or relationship. Symbols allow people to go beyond what is known or seen by creating linkages between otherwise very different conc ...
, a
morpheme A morpheme is the smallest meaningful Constituent (linguistics), constituent of a linguistic expression. The field of linguistics, linguistic study dedicated to morphemes is called morphology (linguistics), morphology. In English, morphemes are ...
, a
word A word is a basic element of language that carries an objective or practical meaning, can be used on its own, and is uninterruptible. Despite the fact that language speakers often have an intuitive grasp of what a word is, there is no conse ...
, or a phrase) to have multiple related meanings. For example, a word can have several
word sense In linguistics, a word sense is one of the meanings of a word. For example, a dictionary may have over 50 different senses of the word " play", each of these having a different meaning based on the context of the word's usage in a sentence, as ...
s. Polysemy is distinct from ''monosemy'', where a word has a single meaning. Polysemy is distinct from
homonymy In linguistics, homonyms are words which are homographs (words that share the same spelling, regardless of pronunciation), or homophones ( equivocal words, that share the same pronunciation, regardless of spelling), or both. Using this definition ...
—or homophony—which is an accidental similarity between two or more words (such as '' bear'' the animal, and the verb ''bear''); whereas homonymy is a mere linguistic coincidence, polysemy is not. In discerning whether a given set of meanings represent polysemy or homonymy, it is often necessary to look at the history of the word to see whether the two meanings are historically related. Dictionary writers often list polysemes (words or phrases with different, but related, senses) in the same entry (that is, under the same headword) and enter homonyms as separate headwords (usually with a numbering convention such as ''¹bear'' and ''²bear'').


Polysemes

A polyseme is a word or phrase with different, but related,
senses A sense is a biological system used by an organism for sensation, the process of gathering information about the world through the detection of stimuli. (For example, in the human body, the brain which is part of the central nervous system re ...
. Since the test for polysemy is the vague concept of the 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 Etymology () The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) – p. 633 "Etymology /ˌɛtɪˈmɒlədʒi/ the study of the class in words and the way their meanings have changed throughout time". is the study of the history of the form of words ...
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 seemingly 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 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. These are examples of hyponymy and hypernymy, and are sometimes called autohyponyms. For example, 'dog' can be used for 'male dog'. Alan Cruse identifies four types of linear polysemy: * autohyponymy, where the basic sense leads to a specialised sense (from "drinking (anything)" to "drinking (alcohol)") * automeronymy, where the basic sense leads to a subpart sense (from "door (whole structure)" to "door (panel)") * autohyperonymy or autosuperordination, where the basic sense leads to a wider sense (from "(female) cow" to "cow (of either sex)") * autoholonymy, where the basic sense leads to a larger sense (from "leg (thigh and calf)" to "leg (thigh, calf, knee and foot)") In non-linear polysemy, the original sense of a word is used figuratively to provide a different way of looking at the new subject. Alan Cruse identifies three types of non-linear polysemy: *
metonymy Metonymy () is a figure of speech in which a concept is referred to by the name of something closely associated with that thing or concept. Etymology The words ''metonymy'' and ''metonym'' come from grc, μετωνυμία, 'a change of name ...
, where one sense "stands for" another (from "hands (body part)" to "hands (manual labourers)") *
metaphor A metaphor is a figure of speech that, for rhetorical effect, directly refers to one thing by mentioning another. It may provide (or obscure) clarity or identify hidden similarities between two different ideas. Metaphors are often compared wi ...
, where there is a resemblance between senses (from "swallowing (a pill)" to "swallowing (an argument)") * other construals (for example, from "month (of the year)" to "month (30 days)") There are several tests for polysemy, but one of them is zeugma: if one word seems to exhibit zeugma when applied in different
context Context may refer to: * Context (language use), the relevant constraints of the communicative situation that influence language use, language variation, and discourse summary Computing * Context (computing), the virtual environment required to s ...
s, it is probable that the contexts bring out different polysemes of the same word. If the two senses of the same word do not seem to ''fit,'' yet seem related, then it is probable that they are polysemous. This test again depends on speakers' judgments about relatedness, which means that it is not infallible, but merely a helpful conceptual aid. The difference between homonyms and polysemes is subtle. Lexicographers define polysemes within a single dictionary
lemma Lemma may refer to: Language and linguistics * Lemma (morphology), the canonical, dictionary or citation form of a word * Lemma (psycholinguistics), a mental abstraction of a word about to be uttered Science and mathematics * Lemma (botany), ...
, while homonyms are treated in separate entries, numbering different meanings (or lemmata). Semantic shift can separate a polysemous word into separate homonyms. For example, '' check'' as in "bank check" (or ''Cheque''), ''check'' in chess, and ''check'' meaning "verification" are considered homonyms, while they originated as a single word derived from
chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to dist ...
in the 14th century. Psycholinguistic experiments have shown that homonyms and polysemes are represented differently within people's mental
lexicon A lexicon is the vocabulary of a language or branch of knowledge (such as nautical or medical). In linguistics, a lexicon is a language's inventory of lexemes. The word ''lexicon'' derives from Greek word (), neuter of () meaning 'of or fo ...
: while the different meanings of homonyms (which are semantically unrelated) tend to interfere or compete with each other during comprehension, this does not usually occur for the polysemes that have semantically related meanings. Results for this contention, however, have been mixed. For
Dick Hebdige Dick Hebdige (born 1951) is an expatriate British media theorist and sociologist, and a professor of art and media studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. His work is commonly associated with the study of subcultures, and its ...
, polysemy means that, "each text is seen to generate a potentially infinite range of meanings," making, according to Richard Middleton, "any homology, out of the most heterogeneous materials, possible. The idea of ''signifying practice''—texts not as communicating or expressing a pre-existing meaning but as 'positioning subjects' within a ''process'' of semiosis—changes the whole basis of creating social meaning". Charles Fillmore and Beryl Atkins' definition stipulates three elements: (i) the various senses of a polysemous word have a central origin, (ii) the links between these senses form a network, and (iii) understanding the 'inner' one contributes to understanding of the 'outer' one. One group of polysemes are those in which a word meaning an activity, perhaps derived from a verb, acquires the meanings of those engaged in the activity, or perhaps the results of the activity, or the time or place in which the activity occurs or has occurred. Sometimes only one of those meanings is intended, depending on
context Context may refer to: * Context (language use), the relevant constraints of the communicative situation that influence language use, language variation, and discourse summary Computing * Context (computing), the virtual environment required to s ...
, and sometimes multiple meanings are intended at the same time. Other types are derivations from one of the other meanings that leads to a verb or activity.


Examples

; ;Man :# The human species (i.e., man vs. other organisms) :# Males of the human species (i.e., man vs. woman) :# Adult males of the human species (i.e., man vs. boy) :#(As a verb) to operate or constitute a vehicle or machine (To man a ship) This example shows the specific polysemy where the same word is used at different levels of a taxonomy. ;Bank :# a financial institution :# the physical building where a financial institution offers services :# to deposit money or have an account in a bank (e.g. "I bank at the local credit union") :# a supply of something held in reserve: such as "banking"
brownie points Brownie points in modern usage are an imaginary social currency, which can be acquired by doing good deeds or earning favor in the eyes of another, often one's spouse. Conjectures for etymology Girlguiding A popular etymology is an allusion to t ...
:# 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: 1 is borrowed from Italian ''banco'', a money lender's bench, while a river ''bank'' is a native English word. Today they can be considered
homonym In linguistics, homonyms are words which are homographs (words that share the same spelling, regardless of pronunciation), or homophones ( equivocal words, that share the same pronunciation, regardless of spelling), or both. Using this definitio ...
s with ''completely different'' meanings. But originally they were polysemous since Italian borrowed the word from a Germanic language. The Proto-Germanic cognate for "bank" is *bankiz. A river bank is typically visually bench-like in its flatness.


Related ideas

A lexical conception of polysemy was developed by B. T. S. Atkins, in the form of lexical implication rules. These are rules that describe how words, in one lexical context, can then be used, in a different form, in a related context. A crude example of such a rule is the pastoral idea of "verbizing one's nouns": that certain nouns, used in certain contexts, can be converted into a verb, conveying a related meaning. Another clarification of polysemy is the idea of predicate transfer—the reassignment of a property to an object that would not otherwise inherently have that property. Thus, the expression "''I am parked out back''" conveys the meaning of "parked" from "car" to the property of "I possess a car". This avoids incorrect polysemous interpretations of "parked": that "people can be parked", or that "I am pretending to be a car", or that "I am something that can be parked". This is supported by the morphology: "''We are parked out back''" does not mean that there are multiple cars; rather, that there are multiple passengers (having the property of being in possession of a car).


See also


References


Further reading

* * * * * * *Jamet, Denis (Ed.) (2008)
Polysemy
, 1st issue of ''Lexis, E-Journal in English Lexicology''.


External links

* * {{Authority control Homonymy Lexical semantics Philosophy of language Psycholinguistics Semantic relations