英语词汇学Chapter6.pptVIP

Chapter 6 Polysemy and Homonymy Contents of today’s lecture: Polysemy Homonymy The Stylistic Value of Polysemy and Homonymy 1.Polysemy（一词多义） Definition It is a term used in semantic analysis to refer to a lexical item which has a range of different meanings. Most words are polysemous. “Polysemy is a rule and monosemy（单义词） is the exception”. The commoner a word, the more meanings it has. One example: fair (of attitude, behavior) just and honest; impartial; (of results) average, quite good; (of the weather) clear and sunny; (of amount) satisfactory, abundant; (of the skin, hair) pale; light in color; clean, clear; without blemish (page 109) It is interesting to note that some polysemic words have different affective and stylistic meanings for their individual senses. e.g. Proud is appreciative when it means “having the quality of self-respect and showing this in one’s standards of behavior,” yet it is emotionally neutral or negative in its other senses. Bread is a slang word when its meaning is “money”, yet it is stylistically neutral in other senses. Think: Why are there many polysemic words in English? 1) Necessity：an essential feature of a language’s economy and efficiency 2) Possibility: arbitrary assignment of form and meaning 3) Result: Most words are polysemous. “Polysemy is a rule and monosemy is the exception”. The commoner a word, the more meanings it has. 2) Synchronic approach(共时角度) Synchronically, we are interested in the comparative value of individual meanings and the interrelation between the central meaning and secondary meanings. Note: One criterion of the comparative value of individual meanings is the frequency of their occurrence in speech. Central meaning: the most frequently occurring meaning. Relationship between  the primary and the central meaning: The two may coincide, e.g. hand: terminal part of the human arm beyond the wrist both p