Chapter12 Polysemy and Homonymy

This chapter covers 3 parts, and is planned to becompleted in 4 hours.

Teaching Aims:

1. To help students know two approaches to polysemy.

2. To help students know the two processes ofpolysemy.

3. To let students know the types of homonyms.

4. To help students know the stylistic value of

polysemy and homonymy.

Teaching Procedures:

Step one: Introduction

Words are arbitrary

symbols and are independent identities so far as their outer facet—spelling and pronunciationis concerned. But semantically, all words are related in one way or another. Aword which is related to other words is related to them in sense, hence senserelations. The subjects that have long held the interest and attention ofsemanticists are polysemy, homonymy, synonymy, antonymy, and hyponymy. Thesewill be discusses in this chapter.

Pre-reading Questions

◆to discuss the meanings of “face”, and tell us the primarymeaning and derived meanings.

◆To tell us the polysemy of some words.

Key points

Two approaches to polysemy

The problem ofinterrelation of the various meanings of the same word can be dealt with fromtwo different angles: diachronic approach and synchronic approach.

Diachronic approach: from the diachronic point of view,polysemy is assumed to be the result of growth and development of the semanticstructure of one and same word. At the time when the word was created, it wasendowed with only one meaning. This first meaning is theprimary meaning. With the development of language, it took on moreand more meanings. These later meanings are calledderived meaningsas they are all derived from the primary meanings.Take the word “face” as the example.

Synchronic

approach: Synchronically, polysemy is viewed as the coexistence of variousmeanings of the same word in a certain historical period of time. In this ways,the basic meaning of a word is the core of word—meaning called thecentral meaning.

Two processes of development

The development of word—meaningfrom monosemy to polysemy follows two courses, traditionally known as radiationand concatenation.

Radiationis a semantic process in which the primary meaning stands atthe centre and the secondary meanings proceed out of it in every direction likerays. The meanings are independent of one another, but can all be traced backto the central meaning.

Concatenation, meaning “linking together”, is the semantic processin which the meaning of a word moves gradually away from its first sense bysuccessive shifts until, in many cases, there is not a sign of connectionbetween the sense that is finally developed and that which the term had at thebeginning.

Radiation andconcatenation are closely related, being different stages of the developmentleading to polysemy. Generally, radiation precedes concatenation. In manycases, the two processes work together, complementing each other.

Types of homonyms

Based on the degree ofsimilarity, homonyms fall into three classes: perfect homonyms, homographs andhomophones.

Perfect homonyms are wordsidentical both in sound and spelling, but different in meaning.

Homographs are wordsidentical only in spelling but different in sound and meaning.

Homophones are wordsidentical only in sound but different in spelling and meaning.

Sources of homonyms

The sources of homonyms are as follows: 1. phoneticconvergence (converging sound development is the most common cause of homonymy,or to be more exact, of homophones). 2. semantic divergence; 3. foreigninfluence. 4. shortening.

The stylistic value of polysemy and homonymy

Context plays a veryimportant role in the hearer’s interpretation of words of two special types:different words of like form (homonymy) and words of several meanings(polysemy). Such words in the proper context normally cause no confusion. Whenambiguity arises, it is usually intentional, for polysemy and homonymy areoften employed for stylistic purposes. The possibility of ambiguity leads toplaying on words. One of the most common verbal devices is “punning”. Thepunster often makes use of both polysemy and homonymy to achieve humour.

Perfect homonyms andpolysemants are dully identical with regard to spelling and pronunciation. Thiscreates the problem of differentiation. Polysemic and homonymous words arestylistically useful to achieve humour or irony, or to heighten dramaticeffect.

Step three:Conclusion

Polysemy means a singleword having several or many meanings. Radiation and concatenation are the twomain processes leading to polysemy. Polysemy words of long standing are signsof an advanced culture. Polysemy is also an essential feature of a language’seconomy and efficiency.

Homonyms are wordsdifferent in meaning, but identical both in sound and spelling or identicalonly in spelling or sound. Phonetic convergence, semantic divergence andforeign influence are the three main sources of homonymy.

Polysemic and homonymouswords are stylistically useful to achieve humour or irony, or to heightendramatic effect.

Step four: Exercises/assignment:

1. to give a conclusion of this chapter

2. to finish the exercises

3. to ask students to prepare the next chapter.