What are polysemous words?
What are polysemous words?
A polysemous word is a word that has different meanings that derive from a common origin; a homograph is a word that has different meanings with unrelated origins. Polysemous words and homographs constitute a known problem for language learners.
Which one is an example of polysemous words?
sound
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’.
Why is language said to be polysemous?
The word “polysemy” comes from the Greek for “many signs.” The adjective forms of the word include polysemous or polysemic. The fact that so many words (or lexemes) are polysemous “shows that semantic changes often add meanings to the language without subtracting any,” says M.
How do you use polysemous in a sentence?
3. Every linguistic category is a polysemous category, or it is one that contains several potential senses. 4. “Text” is a polysemous word in Western languages, and is used toward popularization in modem multidisciplinary language situations.
How many English words are polysemous?
About 40% of English words are polysemous. This means that they have more than one meaning. Some words, such as run or set have more than thirty different meanings. Polysemous words can cause difficulty in contexts where the meaning is other than the primary* meaning of the word.
What is a wordbook?
wordbook. / (ˈwɜːdˌbʊk) / noun. a book containing words, usually with their meanings. a libretto for an opera.
What is polysemy in translation?
Polysemy (/pəˈlɪsɪmi/ or /ˈpɒlɪsiːmi/; from Greek: πολύ-, polý-, “many” and σῆμα, sêma, “sign”) is the capacity for a word or phrase to have multiple related meanings. Dictionary writers often list polysemes under the same entry; homonyms are defined separately.
Can polysemy cause ambiguity?
Ambiguity, polysemy and vagueness are terms used in cognitive semantics referring to different instances of plurality of meaning. 327) (ambiguity). Therefore, polysemy is a case somewhere in between these two extremes. The borders between the categories of ambiguity, polysemy and vagueness are fuzzy.
What is the meaning of polysemy in Greek?
Polysemy ( / pəˈlɪsɪmi / or / ˈpɒlɪsiːmi /; from Greek: πολύ-, polý-, “many” and σῆμα, sêma, “sign”) is the capacity for a word or phrase to have multiple meanings, usually related by contiguity of meaning within a semantic field. Polysemy is thus distinct from homonymy —or homophony —which is an accidental similarity between two words
Is the test for polysemy difficult to make?
Since the test for polysemy is the vague concept of the relatedness, judgments of polysemy can be difficult to make.
How is vertical polysemy related to vertical metonymy?
In vertical polysemy a word refers to a member of a subcategory (e.g., ‘dog’ for ‘male dog’). A closely related idea is metonymy, in which a word with one original meaning is used to refer to something else connected to it.
When are two senses of the same word polysemous?
If the two senses of the same word do not seem to fit, yet seem related, then it is likely 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.
