英语词汇学Chpter6.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)