英语词汇学chapter6-Polysemy-and-Hyponymy

POLYSEMYANDHOMONYMYChapterVI1•Amanwhowasinvolvedinaseriousmotorcycleaccidentwasunabletospeakwhenhefirstregainedconsciousness.•Wishingtoknowhowlonghehadbeenunconscious,hetookapieceofpaperandapencilfromthebedsideand,afterwriting“date”?onit,gaveittohisnurse.•Shehandeditbacktohimaftershehadwrittentheword“Married”onit.2•Asmostwordsarearbitraryandconventionalsymbolswithoutanyintrinsicconnectionwithwhattheyreferto,itmaysometimeshappenthatmorethanonemeaningisattachedtoaword,ortwoormorewordsmayhavethesameformbutbedifferentinmeaning.Theformerisknownaspolysemy,andthelatter,homonymy.3Polysemy•Alexicalitemhasarangeofdifferentmeanings,thatis,onesinglewordhastwoormoresensesatthesametime.•blanket:羊毛毯；给……盖羊毛毯•get:150meanings•cut:120meanings•Asignofthesuperiorityofthatlanguage.–“Themoremeaningsawordhasaccumulated,themorediverseaspectsofintellectualandsocialactivityitislikelytorepresent.”4•Inordertoexpressnewideas,newprocesses,newproducts,andsoforth,languagecandothreethings:formanewword,borrowawordfromotherlanguages,oraddnewmeaningstoestablishedwords.Ofthethreeways,thesimplestoneistohaveoldwordstakeonadditionalmeaning.Thatiswhypolysemicwordsoflongstandingaresignsofanadvancedculture.5Twoapproaches1)Diachronicapproach(历时的)•Fromthediachronicpointofview,polysemyisthoughttobetheresultofgrowthanddevelopmentofthesemanticstructureofaword.–Thisfirstmeaningistheprimarymeaning(原始意义).Theselatermeaningsarecalledderivedmeanings(派生意义).6AnExampleFace:12meanings(1)thefrontofthehead(2)asurfaceofathing(3)theappearance(4)thefunctionalsurface(5)effrontery(6)thetopography…•(1)istheprimarymeaningandalltherestarederivedlateronfromtheprimarymeaning.Allderivedmeanings(2-12)arerelatedtotheprimaryoneinonewayoranother.72020/11/262)synchronicapproach(共时的)•Synchronically,polysemyisthoughtasthecoexistenceofvariousmeaningsofthesamewordinahistoricalperiodoftime.–Thebasicmeaningofawordisconsideredtobethecoreofwordmeaning,calledthecentralmeaning(中心意义).Thederivedmeanings,nomatterhownumerous,aresecondarymeanings(次要意义).•Theinterrelationorcomparisonbetweenthecentralmeaningandsecondarymeanings.8•Insomecases,theprimarymeaning(diachronically)andthecentralmeaning(synchronically)coincide.•However,insomecases,ameaningthatappearedaftertheoriginalmeaningcanbecomethecentralmeaning.•Thetwoapproachesaresupplementarytoeachotherintheanalysisofapolysemousword.9Twoprocessesof(leadingto)polysemy•radiation•concantenation10•Radiation(语义辐射)–Semantically,radiationistheprocessinwhichtheprimaryorcentralmeaningstandsatthecenterwhilesecondarymeaningsradiatefromitineverydirectionlikeray.–Allthemeaningsareindependentofoneanother,butcanallbetracedbacktothecentralmeaning.11headtheheadoftheschoolsixpenceperheadtheheadofapagetoloseone’sheadsixheadofcattleaheadofcabbageattheheadofalistTwoheadsarebetterthanone.todiscussaquestionunderfiveheadsuseyouhead12•Concantenation(连锁型)–Concatenation,“linkingtogether”isasemanticprocessinwhichthemeaningofawordmovesgraduallyawayfromitsfirstsensebysuccessiveshifts,likethelinksofachain,untilthereisnoconnectionbetweenthesensethatisfinallydevelopedandtheprimarymeaning.Apieceoftimbertablediningtablecounciltableboard→木板→餐桌→会议桌→董事会13•Concatenationdescribesaprocesswhereeachofthelatermeaningisrelatedonlytotheprecedingonelikechains.12345•Radiationdescribesaprocesswhereeachofthederivedmeaningsisdirectlyconnectedtotheprimarymeaning.142020/11/26Homonymy•Greekhomonumos(homo:thesame,onoma:name)•refertotwoormorewords,whichhavethesameform,butdifferinmeaning.Theyarepronouncedalike,orspelledalike,orboth.•E.g.:–light（光）light（轻的）–bark（吠）bark（树皮）–tear（眼泪）tear（撕）–lead（率领）lead（铅）15•Typesofhomonyms–Perfect/absolutehomonyms（完全同音同形异义词）•Wordsidenticalinsoundandspellingbutdifferentinmeaning•bear/beə/（熊）bear/beə/（忍耐）•Don’ttroubletroubleuntiltroubletroublesyou.–Homophones（同音异义词）•Wordsidenticalinsoundbutdifferentinspellingandmeaning•meet/mi:t/（遇见）mete/mi:t/（边界）meat/mi:t/（肉）–Homographs(同形异义词)•Wordsidenticalinspellingbutdifferentinsoundandmeaning•tear/tɪə/（眼泪）tear/teə/（撕裂）Ofthethreetypes,homophonesconstitutethelargestnumberandaremostcommon.16•Sourcesofhomonyms–A.Phoneticconvergence:sea/seesteal/steel–B.Semanticdivergence:Whentwoormoremeaningsofthesameworddriftaparttosuchanextentthattherewillbenoobviousconnectionbetweenthem,polysemywillgiveplacetohomonymy–C.Foreigninfluence–D.Shortening17Differentiationofhomonymfrompolysemys☆Polysemy:onewordhavingseveralmeaningsthatderivefromthesamehistoricalsourceandbetweenwhichthereisahistoricalorrealisticrelation.Indictionary,allmeaningsarelistedunderthesamesinglepolysemy..☆Homonym:wordsonlyidenticalinsoundorspellingorbothbuthavingnoconnectioninmeaningandnotderivingfromthesamehistoricalsource.Indictionary,Homonymsarelistedindependently..18TheStylisticValueofPolysemyandHomonymyAchievinghumour,ironyandheighteneddramaticpower1)“waiter!”“Yes,sir.”“What’sthis?”“It’sbeansoup,sir”“Nomatterwhatit’sbeen.Whatisitnow?”2)WhyistheMiddleAgesalsocalledtheDarkAges?Becausethereweresomanyknights.3)Whyshouldamannevertellhissecretsinacornfield?Becauseithassomanyears.191)（赵辛楣在追求苏