Chaptr 6 polysemy一词多意 and homonymy同音异义或同形异意

 

Monosemy(单义性):Monosemic word（单义词） refers to the word which have one meaning only. e.g oxygen, hepatitis, pneumonia, pediatrics etc.

Polysemy(一词多义关系):It refers to the fact that one word have more than one meaning(Polysemy means a single word having severial or many meaning).

a.     definition

b.     two approached to polysemy: diachronic and Synchronic

c.      two processes leading to polysemy: radiation and concatenation

radiation: radiation is the process in which the primary or central meaning stands at the center while secondary meaning radiate from it in every direction like rays.Take the word power for example;  it has thirteen senses listed in COD. The simple meaning “ability to do act” stands at the center. And all the secondary meanings might easily have developed from the central meaning without regard to any of the others.

From the diachronic point of view,polysemy is assumed to be the result of growth and development of the semantic structure of one and same word.

Synchronically,polysemy is viewed as the coexistence of various meanings of the same word in a certain historical period of time,say,Modern English.

1.          What is meant by polysemy? Why is polysemy an essential condition for language efficiency?

It refers to the fact that one word have more them one meaning. The word

polysemy is of Greek origin(Polysemy means a single word having severial or many meaning).

just imagine what a heavy burden it would be on the learner’s memory if it were not possible for one word to possess several sense. One would be obliged to learn a tremendous number of separate words for every subject one might wish to talk about.

2.          Two approaches to polysemy

1）diachronic approach（历时角度）:It refers to the study of the growth or change in the semantic structure of a word,or how the semantic structure of a word has developed from a primary meaning to the present polysemic state,i.e. with derived meanings springing from the orginal meaning.

2）synchronic approach（共时角度）:It refers to the comparative value of individual meaning and the interrealation between the central meaning and secondary meanings.

 

3.          What sort of process is radiation? What is concatenation?

Two process leading to polysemy

Radiation（辐射型）: It's the process in which the primary or central meaning stands at the center while secondary meanings proceed out of it in very direction like rays.There are 13 secondary meanings

     Concatenation（连结型）: It's a process where each of the later meaning is related only to the preceding(领先) one like chains.

 

Homonymy同音异义或同形异意

4.          Define:the english language , there are many pairs or groups of words, which,though different in meaning, are pronounced alike,or spelled alike, or both. Such words are called homonyms(homonyms are words different in meaning, but identical both in sound and spelling or identical only in spelling or sound)

5.          what do we mean by perfect homonyms?, what is difference between homophones and homographs?illustrate your point.

types of homonyms(同音异义或同形异意)

1）Perfect homonyms（完全同音同形异义词）:It refers to the words indetical in sound and spelling but different in meaning. e.g. meet  vt.  to come upon or encounter; meet  n.  a meeting,gatering or assembling as for a sporting event.

2）Homophones（同音异义词）:Words identical in sound but different in spelling and meaning. e.g.  air,heir; bear,bare; dear,deer; pair,pear etc.

3)Homographs（同形异义词）:Words identical in spelling but different in sound and meaning.   e.g. lead/li:/ :v. guide or take; lead/led/: n. easily melted metal of a dull bluish-grey colour.

 

6.          What are the sources of homonyms?

1）Phonetic convergence(音变的汇合):Converging sound development is the most common cause of homonymy,or to be more exact,of homophones.e.g.  bean originally pronounced /be：/,but now developed to pronounced /bi：/ and just like been,so bean and been are completely homophones.

2）Semantic divergence(词义分化):When two or more meanings of the same word drift apart to such an extent that there will be no obvious connection between them, polysemy will give place to homonymy,thus polysemys developed to homonyms. e.g. flower and flour were origianlly in one word '' flour'', but '' flour'' developed into two words as flower and flour.

3）Foreign influence(外来影响):Words introduced from abroad have increased the number of homonyms in English.e.g. host from Latin hostpitis means one who enterains guests,from army hostile force means an army.

4）Shortening(缩略):Homonyms may also be created by the word-formation process of clipping. e.g. rock --  rock' n' roll,a kind of popular music,rock -- stone.

 

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