Chapter-VI--Polysemy-and-Homonymy

WangChengshanHebeiNormalUniversityforNationalitiesOctober29,2013ChapterVIPolysemyandHomonymyEnglishLexicologyLead-inAmanwhowasinvolvedinaseriousmotorcycleaccidentwasunabletospeakwhenhefirstregainedconsciousness.Wishingtoknowhowlonghehadbeenunconscious,hetookapieceofpaperandapencilfromthebedsideand,afterwriting“date?”onit,gaveittohisnurse.Shehandeditbacktohimaftershehadwrittentheword“Married”onit.TeachingaimsToknowthedefinitionofPolysemyandHomonymyTodistinguishthetwotermsTounderstandtheambiguityandvaguenessTeachingContentsI.PolysemyII.HomonymyIII.Howtodistinguishthetwoforms?IV.ContextV.AmbiguityandvaguenessSenserelationsWordsarearbitrarysymbolsandareindependentidentitiessofarastheirouterfacet---spellingandpronunciation,isconcerned.Butsemantically,allwordsarerelatedinonewayoranother.Awordwhichisrelatedtootherwordsisrelatedtotheminsense,hencesenserelations.WecanevensaythatthesensesofthewordsareprominentonlywhentheyarerelatedinthesystemThesubjectsthathavelongheldtheinterestandattentionofsemanticistsarepolysemy,homonymy,synonymy,antonymyandhyponymyandtaxonomy.SenserelationpolysemyHomonymySynonymyTaxonomyHyponymyAntonymyPolysemyGivemeahandplease.Heisanewhand.HomonymyOnSundaytheyprayforyou,butonMondaytheypreyonyou.SynonymyHecomesinpanting.Hesitsonachair,breathless.Hesaid:“I’mpuffed.I’mpuffed.”AntonymyMyonlylovesprungfrommyonlyhate.HyponymyAfamilyusuallyincludesafather,motherandchild.TaxonomyXisatypeofY.I.Polysemy一词多义6.1polysemy6.1.1Definition6.1.2Twoapproachestopolysemy6.1.3Twoprocessesofdevelopment6.2senserelationsofpolysemy6.2.1originalmeaningvs.extendedmeaning6.2.2universalmeaningvs.particularmeaning6.2.3abstractmeaningvs.concretemeaning6.2.4literalmeaningvs.figurativemeaning“深”的五个义项：（1）这口井很深。（从水面到水底的距离大）（2）这本书很深。（深奥）（3）我们的友谊很深。（深厚）（4）夜已经很深了。（时间长）（5）这种布的颜色很深。（浓重）6.1.1definitonpolysenyisauniversalfeatureofallnaturallanguages.Itisatermusedinsemanticanalysistorefertoalexicalitemwhichhasarangeofdifferentmeanings.Theco-existenceofseveralmeaningsinawordiscalledpolysemy.Polysemycanbeusedtoachievehumor,irony,adramaticeffect.Englishlikeallotherlanguages,isfullofpolysemicwords.e.g.Theword“flight”maymean“passingthroughtheair”,“powerofflying”,“airofjourney”•hand:thatpartofhumanbodybeyondthewrist.•But:givemeahand,please.(help)•Heisanewhand.(aperformer)\•Weneedsomeextrahands.(Workerman)•Hewritesagoodhand.(Handwriting)•Allhandsondeck!(sailor)•Theclockhasonehandonly.(pointer)Eg.government:治理国家；政府blanket:羊毛毯；给……盖羊毛毯“get”:150meanings“cut”:120meanings6.1.2Twoapproachestopolysemy•1）diachronicapproach（历时角度）:Itreferstothestudyofthegrowthorchangeinthesemanticstructureofaword,orhowthesemanticstructureofawordhasdevelopedfromaprimarymeaningtothepresentpolysemicstate,i.e.withderived(second)meaningsspringingfromtheoriginal(primary)meaning.Fromthediachronicpointofview,polysemyisassumedtobetheresultofgrowthanddevelopmentofthesemanticstructureofoneandsameword.Theprimarymeaninggavebirthtonewmeaning.•Theprimarymeaningbecomeeitherabsoluteordisappearedaltogether•2）synchronicapproach（共时角度）:Itreferstothecomparativevalueofindividualmeaningandtheinterrelationbetweenthecentralmeaningandsecondarymeanings.Synchronically,polysemyisviewedasthecoexistenceofvariousmeaningsofthesamewordinacertainhistoricalperiodoftime,say,ModernEnglish.Thebasicmeaningofawordisthecoreofwordmeaning.Thecoreofwordmeaningcalledthecentralmeaning（secondarymeaning）.•Thecentralmeaninghasgraduallydiminishedincurrencywiththechangesandoneofthederivedmeaningshasbecomedominant.E.g.gaya)Radiation辐射型：Itisthesemanticprocessinwhichtheprimarymeaningstandsatthecentreandthesecondarymeaningradiatesoutofit.Thoughallthesecondarymeaningsareindependentofoneanother,theycanallbetracedbacktotheprimarymeaning.Twoprocessesofdevelopmentheadtheheadoftheschoolsixpenceperheadtheheadofapagetoloseone’sheadsixheadofcattleaheadofcabbageattheheadofalistTwoheadsarebetterthanone.todiscussaquestionunderfiveheadsuseyouheadfaceb)Concatenation连锁型:Itisthesemanticprocessinwhichthemeaningofawordmovesgraduallyawayfromitsprimarymeaninginsuccessionsothatthepresentmeaningseemstohavenoconnectiontotheprimarymeaning.Twoprocessesofdevelopment•E.g.•candidate：–1)white-roped–2)officeseekerinwhitegowns–3)apersonwhoseeksanoffice–4)apersonproposedforaplace,award,etc.–1)2)3)4)Howtomasterthedifferentmeaningsofapolysemicword?relationsbetweensenses6.2senserelationsofpolysemy6.2.1originalmeaningvs.extendedmeaning原始意义vs.引申意义6.2.2universalmeaningvs.particularmeaning普遍意义vs.特殊意义6.2.3abstractmeaningvs.concretemeaning抽象意义vs.具体意义6.2.4literalmeaningvs.figurativemeaning字面意义vs.比喻意义6.2.1originalmeaningvs.extendedmeaningEtymologyoriginalmeaning:nopracticaluseextendedmeaning:inuseE.g.OriginalextendedCandidate穿白衣服的人候选人，申请人Pen羽毛钢笔Moreexamples:climate原始意义引申意义Greek“klimax”=slopeTheGreeksthoughtthattheearthslopedtowardthenorthandthatthisaffectedtheweather.6.2.2universalmeaningvs.specificmeaningE.g.“disease”a)Thebusinessofdoctorsistopreventandcuredisease.b)Measlesandfluarecommondiseases.a)泛指“疾病”b)特指“某种疾