polysemy homophone
17.25
Definition
Polysemy is the association of one word with
two or more distinct meanings. A polyseme is a word or phrase with
multiple meanings. Adjective: polysemous or polysemic.
In contrast,
a one-to-one match between a word and a meaning is called monosemy.
According to William Croft, "Monosemy is probably most clearly found in
specialized dealing with vocabulary technical topics" (The Handbook of
Linguistics, 2003).
Examples
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 taxonimy. 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
1. a financial
atentiation
2. the building
where a financial institution offers services
3. a synonymy
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 homonymy
to 1 and 2, as they do not share etymologies. It is a completely different
meaning. River bed, though, is polysemous with the beds on which
people sleep.
Book
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
http://grammar.about.com/od/pq/g/polysemyterm.htm
https://www.google.com/search?q=polysemy&client
Homonymy
homonymy - the relation between two words
that are spelled the same way but differ in meaning or the relation between
two words that are pronounced the same way but differ in meaning
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Several
similar linguistic concepts are related to homonymy. These include:
- homograph (literally "same writing") are usually defined as words that share the same spelling, regardless of how they are pronounced. If they are pronounced the same then they are also homopones (and homonyms) – for example, bark (the sound of a dog) and bark (the skin of a tree). If they are pronounced differently then they are also heteronyms – for example, bow (the front of a ship) and bow (a ranged weapon).
- homophones (literally "same sound") are usually defined as words that share the same pronunciation, regardless of how they are spelled. If they are spelled the same then they are also homographs (and homonyms); if they are spelled differently then they are also heterographs (literally "different writing"). Homographic examples include rose (flower) and rose (past tense of rise). Heterographic examples include to, too, two, and there, their, they’re. Due to their similar yet non-identical pronunciation in American English, ladder and latter do not qualify as homophones, but rather synophones.
- heteronym (literally "different name") are the subset of homographs (words that share the same spelling) that have different pronunciations (and meanings). Such words include desert (to abandon) and desert (arid region); tear (to rip) and tear (a drop of moisture formed in the eye); row (to argue or an argument) and row (as in to row a boat or a row of seats - a pair of homophones). Heteronyms are also sometimes called heterophones (literally "different sound").
- polysemes are words with the same spelling and distinct but related meanings. The distinction between polysemy and homonymy is often subtle and subjective, and not all sources consider polysemous words to be homonyms. Words such as mouth, meaning either the orifice on one's face, or the opening of a cave or river, are polysemous and may or may not be considered homonyms.
- capytonyms are words that share the same spelling but have different meanings when capitalized (and may or may not have different pronunciations). Such words include polish (make shiny) and polish (from Poland); march (walk or advance) and March (the third month of the year in the Gregorian calendar). However, both polish and march at the beginning of sentences still need to be capitalized.
Example:
A further
example of a homonym, which is both a homophone and a homograph, is fluke.
Fluke can mean:
- A fish, and a flatworm.
- The end parts of an anchor.
- The fins on a whales's tail.
- A stroke of fluck.
These
meanings represent at least three etimologically separate lexemes, but share
the one form, fluke.
Similarly, a
river bank, a savings bank, a bank of switches, and a bank
shot in pool share a common spelling and pronunciation, but differ in meaning.
- bow – a long wooden stick with horse hair that is used to play certain string instruments such as the violin
- bow – to bend forward at the waist in respect (e.g. "bow down")
- bow – the front of the ship (e.g. "bow and stern")
- bow – a kind of tied ribbon (e.g. bow on a present, a bowtie)
- bow – to bend outward at the sides (e.g. a "bow-legged" cowboy)
- bow – a district in London
- bow—a weapon to shoot projectiles with (e.g. a bow and arrow)
Idiom phrases
Idioms are groups of words that can mean things other than what they say.
The meanings vary from location to location (and possibly speaker to speaker),
and they often depend on context for meaning. Have a look at the following
sentences and see if you can figure out what’s happening:“You look hot!” the man said as he handed a water bottle to the sweaty athlete.
“You look hot!” the man said as he handed a glass of wine to the young woman.
Context, as you can see, is imperative.
Idioms are most distressing when they’re made from words which don’t really make sense in the context in which they’re used.
“What’s up?” Adam asked as he walked into the room. Matt looked up at the ceiling, wondering what he was missing.
“Want to hang out?” Adam asked. Matt – horrified – replied that he didn’t do anything wrong and didn’t need to hang.
“Catch you later,” Adam muttered as he left the room. Matt said he wouldn’t run away so Adam wouldn’t really need to catch him.
When idioms are created by combining a verb and an adverb or preposition – sometimes both – they’re called phrasal verbs. Phrasal verbs come in two varieties:
- Intransitive – cannot take a direct object (they’re always inseparable)
- Transitive – takes a direct object
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