Polysemy in Modern English

Polysemy
Is the plurality of meanings
A word that has more than one meaning is called polysemantic

Polysemy
Monosemantic words (words having only one meaning) are few in number (mainly, scientific terms)
The majority of English words are polysemantic (the number of meanings ranging from 5 to over 100)
The commoner the word, the more meanings it has

Polysemy is typical of English
due to the monosyllabic character of the English vocabulary
due to the predominance of root words

Polysemy
Exists in the language, not in speech
Any word used actually has only one meaning which is referred to as contextual

Polysemy
The sum total of many contexts in which the word may occur permits to observe and record cases of identical meaning and cases that differ in meaning
The analysis of the word’s recurrent meanings enables to make up its semantic structure

Semantic structure
Is a structured set of interrelated meanings which come together due to the proximity of notions they express

Table
a piece of furniture
the persons seated at a table
the food put on a table, meals
a thin flat piece of stone, metal, wood, etc.
an orderly arrangement of facts, figures, etc.
Etc.

Semantic structure
In every language the combination of meanings is specific and often depends on the grammatical categories characteristic of the part of speech to which the word belongs:
English nouns combine individual and collective, countable and uncountable variants
English verbs – transitive and intransitive lexico-semantic variants,
Etc.

Semantic structure
An organized set of recurrent variants and shades of meaning a given sound complex can assume in different contexts together with their emotional colouring, stylistic peculiarities and other typical connotations

Polysemy
Is inherent in the very nature of words and notions as they always contain a generalization of several traits of the object
Some of the traits prove to be common with other objects
There is a possibility of identical names for objects possessing common features

Approaches to the Study of Polysemy
Diachronic
Synchronic

Diachronically
Polysemy is the growth and development (change, in general) of the word’s semantic structure
A word may retain its previous meaning(s) and acquire one or several new meanings at the same time

Diachronically
The primary meaning is the source (often etymological) meaning of the word which gave rise to the secondary meanings
The secondary meaning is the meaning derived from the primary meaning, dependent on it and somehow subordinate to it

Table
Primary (Etymological, Old English): a flat slab of stone or wood
Secondary: all the rest

Semantic development of a word
Radiation (радиальное развитие, расхождение)
Concatenation (последовательное соединение, сцепление, каскад)

Radiation
The primary meaning stands in the centre and the secondary meanings proceed out of it like rays (each secondary meaning may be traced to the primary meaning)

Radiation
Face, n
Primary: the front part of the human head
Secondary:
the front part of a building,
the front part of a watch,
the front part of a playing card, etc.

Concatenation
Secondary meanings of a word develop like a chain, which makes it difficult to trace some of the meanings to the primary one

Concatenation
Crust, n
Primary: hard outer part of bread
Secondary:
Hard part of anything (a pie, a cake, etc.)
Harder layer over soft snow
A sullen gloomy person
Impudence (дерзость, наглость, нахальство, бесстыдство, etc.)

Polysemy
In most cases both ways of semantic development are combined
When the word meanings diverge so much that the logical link is lost, there develops the so called split polysemy which gives rise to homonymy in the language

Polysemy: the Synchronic Approach
Synchronically polysemy is defined as the coexistence of various meanings of the same word at a certain historical period of the development of the language

Synchronically
The basic (central) meaning (criteria of differentiation):
occurs in various and widely different contexts
is frequent in speech
is stylistically neutral
Table: a piece of furniture

Synchronically
Minor (marginal) meanings (criteria of differentiation):
occur in only a few contexts
are infrequent in speech
may have a stylistic colouring
Table: a group of people seated at a table (to keep the table amused)
Table: an orderly arrangement of facts, figures, etc. (table of contents)

Polysemy
The problem of interrelation and interdependence of various meanings of the same word
The semantic structure of a polysemantic word is not homogeneous: some of the word meanings are recognized in isolation, others are perceived only in certain contexts
The semantic structure of correlated polysemantic words of different languages is never identical: the basic meanings coincide, while the marginal meanings diverge

Homonymy in Modern English

Homonyms
Words different in meaning but identical in sound and spelling

Sources of Homonymy
Split polysemy (divergence of word meanings so that the logical link is lost)
Leveling of grammar inflexions (different parts of speech become identical in their outer aspect : care, n from «caru» and care, v from «carian»)
Conversion (slim – to slim, water – to water, etc.)

Sources of Homonymy
Affixation (the same affix is added to the same stem twice to form two different words: read-er – a person who reads vs read-er – a book for reading)
Shortening (abbreviation):
bio- (a combining form with the meaning of «life») in «biology», «biometrics» vs bio (a shortening from «biography»)
cab (a shortening from «cabriolet», «cabbage», «cabin»)
COD («Concise Oxford Dictionary» and «cash on delivery»)

Sources of Homonymy
By accident (two words coincide in their development):
bear (from OE beran, to carry) vs bear (from OE bera, an animal)
fair (from Latin feria) vs fair (from OE fager, blond)
base (from French base, Latin basis) vs base (from Italian basso, Latin bas)

Classification of Homonyms:
according to the spelling and sound form
Perfect homonyms
Homophones
Homographs
(classified by Walter Skeat)

Perfect homonyms
Words identical both in sound and spelling
School – школа vs school – косяк рыбы
Flounder – камбала vs flounder – затруднительное положение

Homophones
Words identical in their phonetics but different in their spelling
Night vs knight
Nose vs knows
I vs eye

Homographs
Words identical in their spelling but different in their phonetics
Bow [bau] – поклон vs bow [bou] – лук
Tear [tia] – слеза vs tear [tea] – рвать на части

Classification of homonyms: according to the grammatical meaning
Perfect (absolute)
Homoforms
(classified by A. Smirnitsky)

Perfect (absolute) homonyms
Words which are identical in spelling, pronunciation and grammar form (such homonyms always belong to the same part of speech)
Spring (the season of the year) vs spring (a leap) and spring (a source)

Homoforms
Words coinciding in their spelling and phonetics but having different grammatical meaning (such words always belong to different parts of speech or different categories of the same part)
Reading (Participle 1, gerund, verbal noun)
Lobby (v) vs lobby (n)
Etc.

Classification of perfect homonyms by I. Arnold
Criteria:
Lexical meaning
Grammatical meaning
Basic forms
Paradigms

Group 1
Homonyms identical in their grammatical meanings, basic forms and paradigms but different in their lexical meanings:
Board (council) vs board (a piece of wood sawn thin)

Group 2
Homonyms identical in their grammatical meanings and basic forms but different in their lexical meanings and paradigms :
Lie – lied – lied vs lie – lay – lain

Group 3
Homonyms identical in their basic forms but different in their lexical meanings, grammatical meanings and paradigms:
Light, n (lights) vs light, adj (lighter, lightest)

Group 4
Homonyms different in their basic forms, their lexical meanings, grammatical meanings and paradigms but identical in on of the forms of their paradigms:
Bit, n vs bit, v (from bite)

Patterned homonyms
Homonymous words having a common component in their lexical meanings (homonyms formed by conversion or leveling of grammar inflexions)
Such homonyms are different in their grammatical meanings and paradigms but identical in their basic forms: warm – to warm