5.1. Polysemantic
and monosemantic words. Classification
5.2. Diachronic
approach to polysemy.
5.3. Synchronic
approach to polysemy.
5.4. The
semantic structure of correlated words in English and Russian.
5.5. The
national character of the semantic structure.
5.1.
Polysemy
is the ability of words to have more than one meaning. A word with
several meanings is called polysemantic.
Monosemantic
words, which have only one meaning, are comparatively few; they are
mainly scientific terms (e.g. hydrogen) or rare words (e.g.
flamingo).
The bulk of English words are
polysemantic. All the meanings of a polysemantic word make up a
system which is called the semantic structure of the word.
e.g. The
word TABLE
has the semantic structure made up of at least 9 meanings:
-
piece of furniture;
-
the persons seated at a
table; -
(sing.) food put on the
table; -
a thin flat piece of
stone, metal, wood, etc.; -
(pl.) slabs of stone;
-
words cut into them or
written on them (the Ten Tables); -
an orderly arrangement of
facts, figures, etc.; -
part of a machine tool on
which work is put; -
a level area, a plateau.
5.2. Polysemy
can be viewed diachronically
and synchronically.
The system of meanings of a
polysemantic word develops gradually, mostly over centuries, as new
meanings are added to old ones or oust some of them. As a result, the
total number of meanings grows, and the vocabulary is enriched.
Thus,
polysemy
viewed diachronically
is a historic change in the semantic structure of a word that results
in disappearance of some meanings and appearance of new meanings, and
also in the rearrangement of the meanings in the semantic structure.
Diachronically,
we distinguish between the
primary meaning
and secondary
meanings
of a word.
The
primary meaning
is the oldest meaning of the word, its original meaning with which
the word first appeared in the language,
e.g. the
primary meaning of TABLE
is «slabs of stone»: O.E. tabule f. Lat tabula.
All the other meanings
appeared later than the primary meaning.
When we
describe a meaning as secondary
we imply that it can’t have appeared before the primary meaning; when
we say a meaning is derived we imply not only that but also that it
is dependent on another meaning and subordinate to it,
e.g. TABLE
1,2,3 are secondary, appeared later than TABLE 5;
TABLE 2, 3 are derived from
TABLE 1.
The main
source of polysemy is semantic
derivation
(radiation of meanings; adding new meanings to the existing ones).
Polysemy
may also result from homonymy.
When two words coincide in sound-form, their meanings come to be felt
as making up one semantic structure.
e.g. the
human EAR
(f. Lat auris) and the EAR
of corn
(f. Lat acus, aceris) diachronically are homonyms. Synchronically,
however, they are perceived as two meanings of one polysemantic word
ear. The ear of corn is felt to be a metaphoric meaning (Of.: the eye
of a needle, the foot of the mountain) and thus, as a derived meaning
of the word. Cases of this type are comparatively rare.
5.3.
Viewed
synchronically,
polysemy is understood as co-existence of several meanings of the
same word and their arrangement in the semantic structure.
The status
of individual meanings is not the same. We distinguish between the
central (=basic, major) meaning
and minor
meanings.
How do we determine which
meaning is the basic one?
(1) The basic meaning occurs
in various and widely different contexts. It is representative of the
word taken in isolation, i.e. it occurs to us when we hear/see the
word in isolation; that is why it is called a free meaning.
e.g. the
central meaning of TABLE is «a piece of furniture» Minor
meanings occur only in specific contexts,
e.g. to
keep the table amused (TABLE 2) or the table of contents (TABLE 7).
(2) The basic meaning has the
highest frequency in speech,
e.g. TABLE
1 has the highest frequency value and makes up 52% of all the uses of
the word; TABLE 7 accounts for 35%; all the other meanings between
them make up just 13% of all the uses.
(3) The basic meaning is
usually stylistically neutral and minor meanings are as a rule
stylistically coloured,
e.g.
YELLOW
1) coloured like egg yoke or gold (neutral),
2) sensational (Am slang),
3) cowardly (coll).
Synchronically,
we also distinguish between direct
meanings
and figurative
(transferred) meanings,
e.g. YELLOW 4) (fig) (of
looks, mood, feelings, etc.) jealous, envious, suspicious.
We should note that a word may
have two or more central meanings,
e.g. GET
«obtain» and «arrive» are equally central in the
semantic structure.
As the semantic structure of a
word is never static, the status (type) of its meanings may change in
the course of time. The primary meaning may become a minor one; a
secondary meaning may become the central meaning of a word.
e.g. The
primary meaning of QUICK
is «living»; it is still retained in the semantic structure
but has become a minor meaning which occurs only in some expressions:
to touch/ wound to the quick, the quick and the dead; «rapid,
fast» has become the central meaning.
5.4.
Words of different languages are said to be correlated when their
central meanings coincide,
e.g. table
– cтол
«piece of furniture».
But there
is practically no one-to-one correspondence between the semantic
structures of correlated polysemantic words of different languages.
The relations between correlated words are quite complicated, and we
may single out the following cases (and show them graphically).
The semantic structures of two
correlated words may coincide; usually they are monosemantic words,
e.g.
flamingo.
W
e
can show this relationship like this: two overlapping circles.
If the
number of meanings is different, the semantic structure of one word
may include that of its correlate it is the relationship of
inclusion,
e.g.
MEETING
1) a gathering of people for a purpose
2
)
the people in such a gathering
3) the coming together of
two or more people, by chance or arrangement
МИТИНГ
a (political) gathering of a number of people».
Some meanings of two
correlated words may coincide and the others don’t. This is the
relationship of intersection.
e
.g.
BOY МАЛЬЧИК
1) male child 1) male
child,
-
young man 2) apprentice
(obs.), -
male native servant,
-
junior sailor.
5.5.
All lexical meanings of a polysemantic word are interconnected.
The relations beween them are based on various logical and
psychological associations. Some of these relations are common to all
or to many languages; others are peculiar to a particular language.
Thus, a semantic structure has a national character (some specific
characteristics).
Relations
that
are common to all/most languages are:
1)
metaphorical
relations,
e.g ass
1
«animal»
— осёл
1
«animal»,
ass 2
(fig)
«stupid person» — осёл2
«person».
2)
metonymic
relations,
e.g. table
1
«piece of furniture» — стол
1
«piece of furniture»,
table 3
«food«
– стол
3
«food
put on (1)
«.
Relations
typical of English, but not of Russian are:
1.
One and the same English verb may have both transitive and
intransitive meanings in its semantic structure,
e.g. Paper
burns easily. (intr)
Cf.:
гореть,
She burnt his letters, (tr)
жечь.
2. One
word has countable and uncountable, concrete and abstract meanings,
e.g. his
love of painting Сf.:живопись
— the
paintings on the wall картина,
coal — a coal, hair — a
hair.
3. In the same semantic
structure we find individual and collective meanings,
e.g.
YOUTH 1) young people collectively Сf.: молодежь,
-
a young man – юноша,
-
the
state of being young — юность.
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Presentation on theme: «POLYSEMY Lecture 5. POLYSEMY 1.POLYSEMY 2.DIACHRONIC APPROACH TO POLYSEMY 3.SYNCHRONIC APPROACH TO POLYSEMY 4.HISTORICAL CHANGEABILITY OF SEMANTIC STRUCTURE.»— Presentation transcript:
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POLYSEMY Lecture 5
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POLYSEMY 1.POLYSEMY 2.DIACHRONIC APPROACH TO POLYSEMY 3.SYNCHRONIC APPROACH TO POLYSEMY 4.HISTORICAL CHANGEABILITY OF SEMANTIC STRUCTURE 5.POLYSEMY AND CONTEXT. TYPES OF CONTEXT.
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1. POLYSEMY Polysemy – is the ability of a word to possess several meanings or lexico- semantic variants (LSV), e.g. bright means “shining” and “intelligent”. Monosemantic word — a word having only one meaning; Polysemantic word — a word having several meanings is called
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The meanings of the word table in Modern English. tableстол 1. a piece of furniture 1. предмет обстановки (сидеть за столом) 2. the persons seated at a table 2. Ср. арх. застолица 3. the food put on a table, meals; cooking 3. пища (подаваемая на стол), еда 4. a flat slab of stone or board 4. Ср. плита 5. slabs of stone (with words written on them or cut into them) 5. Ср. скрижали 6. Bibl. Words cut into slabs of stone (the ten tables). 6. Ср. заповеди 7. an orderly arrangement of facts, figures, etc. 7. Ср. таблица 8. part of a machine-tool 8. Ср. планшайба 9. a level area, plateau [‘pl1tq4] 9. Ср. плато 10. Адресный стол 11. Стол заказов
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Prof. V.V. Vinogradov Meanings are fixed and common to all people, who know the language system. The usage is only possible application of one of the meanings of a polysemantic word, sometimes very individual, more or less familiar. Meaning is not identical with usage.
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Prof. A.I. Smirnitsky All the meanings of the word form identity supported by the form of the word. A lexico-semantic variant (LSV) — a two- facet unit. Words with one meaning are represented in the language system by one LSV, polysemantic words – by a number of LSV. They are united together by a certain meaning – the semantic centre of the word.
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2. DIACHRONIC APPROACH TO POLYSEMY Polysemy in diachronic term implies that a word may retain its previous meaning or meanings and at the same time acquire one or several new ones. According to the approach there are two types of meaning can be singled out: 1.the primary meaning; 2.the secondary meaning (derived)
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3. SYNCHRONIC APPROACH TO POLYSEMY Synchronically polysemy is understood as the coexistence of various meanings of the same word at a certain historical period of the development of the English language. According to the approach there are two types of meaning can be singled out: 1.the central (basic) meaning – the most frequent; 2.marginal (minor) meanings – all other meanings.
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4. HISTORICAL CHANGEABILITY OF SEMANTIC STRUCTURE The semantic structure is never static, the relationship between the diachronic and synchronic evaluation of individual meanings may be different in different periods of the historical development of language. The primary meaning of the word may become synchronically one of its marginal meanings and diachronically a secondary meaning may become the central meaning of the word.
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Evidence ‘significant appearance, token’ ‘information tending to establish fact’ Middle English diachronicallysynchronicallyprimarycentralsecondarymarginal Modern English diachronicallysynchronicallyprimarymarginalsecondarycentral
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5. POLYSEMY AND CONTEXT Context is the minimum stretch of speech determining each individual meaning of the word. Context can be linguistic (verbal) or extra-linguistic (non-verbal). Linguistic context can be subdivided into lexical and grammatical.
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TYPES OF CONTEXT Linguistic contexts: In the lexical context of primary importance are the groups of lexical items combined with the polysemantic word under consideration, e.g. heave table (of great weigh); heavy rain (abundant, falling with force); heavy industry (the larger kind of smth).
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In the grammatical context it is the grammatical (syntactic) structure of the context that serves to determine various individual meanings of a polysemantic word. The meaning of the verb to make – ‘to force, to induce’ is found only in the grammatical context possessing the syntactic structure ‘to make+pronoun+verb (to make sb laugh, work, dance). Another meaning of this verb – ‘to become’ is observed in the context of a different syntactic structure – to make+adj+noun (to make a good wife, good teacher).
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Extra-linguistic context When the meaning of a word is ultimately determined by the actual speech situation in which the word is used, i.e. by the extra- linguistic context (or context of situation), e.g. John was looking for the glasses, — the meaning of word glasses has two readings ‘spectacles’ or to ‘drinking vessels’. It is possible to state the meaning of the word glasses only through the extended context or situation
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References: 1.Зыкова И.В. Практический курс английской лексикологии. М.: Академия, 2006. – С.29- 32. 2.Бабич Н.Г. Лексикология английского языка. Екатеринбург – Москва, 2006. – С. 62-63. 3.Гинзбург Р.З. Лексикология английского языка. М.: Высшая школа, 1979. – С. 33-38. 4.Антрушина Г.Б., Афанасьева О.В., Морозова Н.Н. Лексикология английского языка. М.: Дрофа, 2006. – С. – 131-136.
POLYSEMY Lecture 4
POLYSEMY 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Polysemy Diachronic approach to polysemy Synchronic approach to polysemy Historical changeability of semantic structure Semantic structure of a polysemantic word Meaning & context Polysemy and context. Types of context.
1. POLYSEMY § Polysemy – is the ability of a word to possess several meanings or lexicosemantic variants (LSV), e. g. bright means “shining” and “intelligent”. § Monosemantic word — a word having only one meaning: hydrogen, molecule § Polysemantic word — a word having several meanings: table, yellow, etc.
Polysemy is not an anomaly Most English words are polysemantic. The wealth of expressive resources of a language largely depends on the degree to which polysemy has developed in the language. A well-developed polysemy is not a drawback but a great advantage in a language.
The number of sound combinations that human speech organs can produce is limited. § At a certain stage of language development the production of new words by morphological means becomes limited, and polysemy becomes increasingly important in providing the means for enriching the vocabulary. § The process of enriching the vocabulary does not consist merely in adding new words to it, but, also, in the constant development of polysemy.
The system of meanings of any polysemantic word develops gradually § The complicated process of polysemy development involves both the appearance of new meanings and the loss of old ones. § The general tendency with English vocabulary is to increase the total number of its meanings and in this way to provide for a quantitative and qualitative growth of the language’s expressive resources.
The meanings of the word table in Modern English. table стол 1. a piece of furniture 1. предмет обстановки (сидеть за столом) 2. the persons seated at a table 2. Ср. арх. застолица 3. the food put on a table, meals; cooking 3. пища (подаваемая на стол), еда 4. a flat slab of stone or board 4. Ср. плита 5. slabs of stone (with words written on them or cut into them) 5. Ср. скрижали 6. Bibl. Words cut into slabs of stone (the ten tables). 6. Ср. заповеди 7. an orderly arrangement of facts, figures, etc. 7. Ср. таблица 8. part of a machine-tool 8. Ср. планшайба 9. a level area, plateau [‘pl 1 tq 4] 9. Ср. плато 10. Адресный стол 11. Стол заказов
Acad. V. V. Vinogradov § Meanings are fixed and common to all people, who know the language system. § The usage is only possible application of one of the meanings of a polysemantic word, sometimes very individual, more or less familiar. Meaning is not identical with usage.
Polysemy exists only in language, not in speech. § The meaning of the word in speech is contextual. Polysemy does not interfere with the communicative function of a language because in every particular case the situation or context, i. e. environment of the word, cancels all unnecessary meanings and makes speech unambiguous.
Prof. A. I. Smirnitsky § All the meanings of the word form identity supported by the form of the word. § A lexico-semantic variant (LSV) — a twofacet unit. § Words with one meaning are represented in the language system by one LSV, polysemantic words – by a number of LSV. § They are united together by a certain meaning – the semantic centre of the word.
2. DIACHRONIC APPROACH TO POLYSEMY § Polysemy in diachronic term implies that a word may retain its previous meaning or meanings and at the same time acquire one or several new ones.
Then the problem of the interrelation and interdependence of individual meanings of a polysemantic word may be roughly formulated as follows 1. Did the word always possess all its meanings or did some of them appear earlier than the others? 2. Are the new meanings dependent on the meanings already existing? and if so what is the nature of this dependence? 3. Can we observe any changes in the arrangement of the meanings? and so on.
According to this approach there are two types of meaning can be singled out: 1. the primary meaning; 2. the secondary meaning (derived)
The main source of polysemy is a change in the semantic structure of the word § Of all the meanings of table it has in Modern English, the primary meaning is ‘a flat slab of stone or wood’, which is proper to the word in the Old English period (OE. tabule from L. tabula); § All other meanings are secondary as they are derived from the primary meaning of the word and appeared later.
Polysemy may arise from homonymy. The human ear (L. auris) and the ear of corn (L. acus, aceris) are from the diachronic point of view two homonyms. Synchronically they are perceived as two meanings of one and the same word. The ear of corn is felt to be a metaphor of the usual type and consequently as one of the derived or, synchronically, minor meanings of the polysemantic word ear.
§ Semantic changes result as a rule in new meanings being added to the ones already existing in the semantic structure of the word. § Some of the old meanings may become obsolete or even disappear, but the bulk of English words tend to an increase in number of meanings.
3. SYNCHRONIC APPROACH TO POLYSEMY § Synchronically polysemy is understood as the coexistence of various meanings of the same word at a certain historical period of the development of the English language. § According to the approach there are two types of meaning can be singled out: 1. the central (basic) meaning – the most frequent; 2. marginal (minor) meanings – all other meanings.
§ The central meaning occurs in various and widely different contexts, marginal meanings — only in certain contexts. § The central meaning – the most frequent meaning: table: 1. ‘a piece of furniture’ – 52%; 2. ‘an orderly arrangement of facts – 35%; all other meanings – 13%.
Stylistic stratification of meanings Daddy – colloquial; Parent – bookish Movie – American; Barnie – Scottish. Yellow – colour; Jerk – ‘a sudden movement or stopping of movement’. Slang and Americanisms: Yellow – ‘sensational’ Jerk – ‘an odd person’.
Stylistically neutral meanings are naturally more frequent § Worker & hand — ‘a man who does manual work’; § Worker – very frequent; § Hand – 2. 8% of all occurrences of the word ‘hand’ (to hire factory hands). § Hand – ‘the end of the arm beyond the wrist’ – 77%.
4. HISTORICAL CHANGEABILITY OF SEMANTIC STRUCTURE § The semantic structure is never static, the relationship between the diachronic and synchronic evaluation of individual meanings may be different in different periods of the historical development of language. revolution (ME) – ‘the revolving motion of celestial bodies’ & ‘the return or recurrence of a point or a period of time’ (Modern E) ‘a complete overthrow of the established government or regime’ & ‘a complete change, a great reversal of conditions’
Evidence ‘significant appearance, token’ ‘information tending to establish fact’ Middle English diachronically synchronically primary central secondary marginal Modern English diachronically synchronically primary marginal secondary central
§ The primary meaning of the word may become synchronically one of its marginal meanings and diachronically a secondary meaning may become the central meaning of the word.
Semantic structure of a polysemantic word § When analyzing the semantic structure of a polysemantic word, it is necessary to distinguish between two levels of analysis.
The semantic structure of the noun ‘fire’ (1 st level) 1. Flame 2. 3. 4. 5. An instance of destructive burning; Burning material in a stove, fireplace; The shootings of guns; Strong feeling, passion, enthusiasm. On the 1 st level the semantic structure of a word is treated as a system of meanings
Semantic structure of the adjective ‘dull’ 1. Uninteresting, monotonous, boring: a dull book, a dull film. 2. Slow in understanding, stupid: a dull student. 3. Not clear or bright: dull weather, a dull day, a dull colour. 4. Not loud or distinct: a dull sound. 5. Not sharp: a dull knife. 6. Not active: Trade is dull. 7. Seeing badly: dull eyes (arch. ). 8. Hearing badly: dull ears (arch. ).
Transformational operation (2 nd level) 1. Uninteresting → deficient in interest or excitement. 2. … Stupid → deficient in intellect. 3. Not bright → deficient in light or colour. 4. Not loud → deficient in sound. 5. Not sharp → deficient in sharpness. 6. Not active → deficient in activity. 7. Seeing badly → deficient in eyesight. 8. Hearing badly → deficient in hearing.
The 2 nd level of analysis of the semantic structure of a word § The transformational operation with the meaning definitions of dull reveals: the semantic structure of the word is ‘divisible, as it were, not only at the level of different meanings, but also at a deeper level’.
The scheme of the semantic structure of dull shows that the semantic structure of a word is not a mere system of meanings, for each separate meaning is subject to further subdivision and possesses an inner structure of its own. Thus, the semantic structure of a word should be investigated at both levels: a) of different meanings; b) of semantic components within each separate meaning.
Meaning and context § Context is the minimum stretch of speech determining each individual meaning of the word. § One of the most important ‘drawbacks’ of polysemantic words is that there is sometimes a chance of misunderstanding when a word is used in a certain meaning but accepted by a listener or reader in another.
§ § § Customer: I would like a book, please. Bookseller: Something light? Customer: That doesn’t matter. I have my car with me. In this conversation the customer is honestly misled by the polysemy of the adjective light taking it in the literal sense whereas the bookseller uses the word in its figurative meaning ‘not serious, entertaining’.
§ In the following joke one of the speakers pretends to misunderstanding his interlocutor basing his angry retort on the polysemy of the noun kick: § The critic started to leave in the middle of the second act of the play. § ‘Don’t go, ’ said the manager. “I promise there’s a terrific kick in the next act’. § ‘Fine’ was the retort, ‘give it to the author’
§ It is common knowledge, that context is a powerful preventative against any misunderstanding of meanings. E. g. the adjective dull, if used out of context, would mean different things to different people and nothing at all. It is only in combination with other words that it reveals its actual meaning: a dull pupil, a dull play, a dull razor-blade, dull weather, etc.
§ Sometimes a minimum context fails to reveal the meaning of the word: § The man was large, but his wife was even fatter. § The word fatter here serves as a kind of indicator pointing that large describes a stout man and not a big one.
§ Current research in semantics is largely based on the assumption that one of the more promising methods of investigating the semantic structure of a word is by studying the word’s linear relationships with other words in typical contexts, i. e. its combinability or collocability.
5. POLYSEMY AND CONTEXT § Context can be linguistic (verbal) or extralinguistic (non-verbal). Linguistic context can be subdivided into lexical and grammatical.
TYPES OF CONTEXT Linguistic contexts: I. In the lexical context of primary importance are the groups of lexical items combined with the polysemantic word under consideration, e. g. heavy table (of great weight); heavy rain (abundant, falling with force); heavy industry (the larger kind of smth).
II. In grammatical context it is the grammatical (syntactic) structure of the context that serves to determine various individual meanings of a polysemantic word. § The meaning of the verb to make – ‘to force, to induce’ is found only in the grammatical context possessing the syntactic structure ‘to make+pronoun+verb (to make sb laugh, work, dance). Another meaning of this verb – ‘to become’ is observed in the context of a different syntactic structure – to make+adj+noun (to make a good wife, good teacher).
Extra-linguistic context § When the meaning of a word is ultimately determined by the actual speech situation in which the word is used, i. e. by the extralinguistic context (or context of situation), e. g. John was looking for the glasses, the meaning of word glasses has two readings ‘spectacles’ or to ‘drinking vessels’. It is possible to state the meaning of the word glasses only through the extended context or situation
Summary and conclusions: 1. The problem of polysemy is the problem of interrelation and interdependence of the various meanings of the same word. 2. Polysemy viewed diachronically is a historical change in the semantic structure of the word resulting in disappearance of some meanings (or) and in new meanings being added to the ones already existing and also in the rearrangement of these meanings in its semantic structure.
3. Polysemy viewed synchronically is understood as coexistence of the various meanings of the same word at a certain historical period and the arrangement of these meanings in the semantic structure of the word. 4. The concepts of central (basic) and marginal (minor) meanings may be interpreted in terms of their relative frequency in speech. The meaning having the highest frequency is usually the one representative of the semantic structure of the word, i. e. synchronically its central (basic) meaning.
5. As the semantic structure is never static the relationship between the diachronic and synchronic evaluation of the individual meanings of the same word may be different in different periods of the historical development of language. 6. The semantic structure of polysemantic words is not homogeneous as far as the status of individual meanings is concerned. Some meaning (or meanings) is representative of the word in isolation, others are perceived only in certain contexts.
7. The whole of the semantic structure of correlated polysemantic words of different languages can never be identical. Words are felt as correlated if their basic (central) meanings coincide.
References: 1. Зыкова И. В. Практический курс английской лексикологии. М. : Академия, 2006. – С. 29 -32. 2. Бабич Н. Г. Лексикология английского языка. Екатеринбург – Москва, 2006. – С. 62 -63. 3. Гинзбург Р. З. Лексикология английского языка. М. : Высшая школа, 1979. – С. 33 -38. 4. Антрушина Г. Б. , Афанасьева О. В. , Морозова Н. Н. Лексикология английского языка. М. : Дрофа, 2006. – С. – 131 -136.