SCHEMATIC NETWORKS

Ronald Langacker & David Tuggy

Polysemy

Derived from the Greek poly – ‘many’ and sem – ‘sense’ or ‘meaning’

Aristotle was against polysemy: “words of ambiguous meanings are chiefly useful to enable the
sophist to mislead his learners”

Many philosophers considered it as “a defect of language and a handicap to communication”

However, this negative views against polysemy changed

Ullmann /1959:118): “polysemy is an indispensable resource of language economy. It would be

altogether impracticable to have separate terms for every referent”

Several linguists explored polysemy focusing on the differences between polysemy and
homonymy

POLYSEMY
When a word is written and read the same
way but it is used to express different
related meanings
e.g. NEWSPAPER
A. The newspaper got wet in the rain
B. The newspaper fired some of its
editing staff
HOMONYMY
When words sound and /or have the same
spelling, or both, but do not have related
meanings
e.g. DOWN
A. Sarah climbed down the ladder
B. Sarah bought a down carpet

Polysemy in cognitive linguistics

1980’s: new approaches to polysemy

The senses of a word are related to one other by means of general cognitive principles like:

 Metaphor
 Metonymy
 Generalization
 Specialization
 Image schema transformations

Studies showed that:

o Speakers: aware that meanings of polysemous words are related to one another
o Some senses are central and others more peripheral – PROTOTYPE THEORY
o Contextually unrelated senses remain active for quite some time after the word has
been encountered

“Speakers might be activating a network of relating senses when they hear polysemous words,
part of which remain active even when the contextually appropriate sense of a word has been
determined” (Williams, 1992 in Gibbs & Matlock, 2001).
 Ambiguity – Fuzzy area – Vagueness

Ambiguity (homonymy) – involve two lexemes – two different words & senses

Fuzzy Area (polysemy) – single lexeme with different distinct senses

Vagueness (monosomy) – one lexeme with a single but nonspecific meaning

“Polysemy seems somehow to straddle the border between identity and distinctness” (Deane
1988: 327 – 345)

Ambiguity Inbetween Vagueness

FORM FORM FORM

meaning meaning meaning meaning meaning meaning

Two different words One word One word

Unrelated meanings Related meanings Highly similar

meanings

Tests for ambiguity

1. The ‘logical’ tests 2. The ‘definition’ test:

This is an X but not an X Is there a common meaning?
*This is an apple, not an apple – not If yes – not ambiguous
ambiguous If no – ambiguous
This is a bank, not a bank – ambiguous

3. The ‘linguistic’ tests: 4. Puns

‘Do so’ test: X did Y and so did Z If it works – ambiguous
I have a bat (animal) and so does Bill (object)
‘Gapping’ test: A did B and C D
I lost my wallet and Argentina the world cup
final
Problems with the tests

Clear yes or no answers only in clear cases:

o I painted a portrait and bob the living room

Sometimes in mutual conflict

o I am a painter, but not, you know, a painter

o Logical suggests ambiguity
o Common meaning suggests vagueness, not ambiguity