LEXICAL SEMANTICS

Word meanings
 Polysemy and Homonymy
Homonymy – the case when different words (homonyms) happen
accidentally to have the same form
o absolute homonyms – can of beans – yes, I can

o homophones – sameness of phonetic form – know – no

o homographs – sameness of graphic form – lead – lead

Polysemy – the existence of several distinct-but-related meanings of the

same word

He shook his head The head of the committee resigned.

 Tasks
1) Consider the following pairs of sentences and decide in each case whether it is
an example of homonymy or polysemy. In cases of polysemy, explain what the
relationship between the meanings is.

a. Lend me your pen. They put the pigs in the pen.

b. I got a cut lip. The lip of the cup was chipped.
c. Don’t patronise me! I always patronise this place.
d. I can’t see the reason for it. What did you see?
e. She chose a red and black dress. The dancers all wore national dress.

2) Consider the following words. Use them in sentences so as to illustrate at least

two of their possible meanings. Decide whether these are examples of
homonymy or polysemy.
mail, bank, neck, sink, rest, lead, foot, jam
 Associative Meanings
Denonative meaning (semantic nucleus) vs semantic environment

Connotative Reflects the ‘real world’ experience associated with the

word which may vary according to time, culture and
social context
Stylistic Signals the social circumstances of language use and
reflects stylistic variation
Affective Reflects the emotions and attitudes of the speaker/writer
Reflected Results from association with another sense of the
expression
Collocative Results from association with words with which the
lexical item tends to collocate
 Connotative meaning
Reflects the ‘real world’ experience associated with the word which may vary
according to time, culture and social context.

Task – Look at the examples and discuss the denotation and denotation of all
words in the table.

Lexical item Denotation Connotation

needle thin, sharp, steel instrument pain

low-fat containing or having less fat than usual good

green
death
rose
pig
 Stylistic meaning
Signals the social circumstances of language use and reflects stylistic variation
o formality commence begin
o jargon dose sponge radiology worker
fighting Darwin patients refusing essential treatment
through stubborness or stupidity

Task – Identify the stylistic meaning of the pairs of words below

father daddy
continue go on
convey carry
abdomen belly
bug error
 Affective meaning
Reflects the emotions and attitudes of the speaker/writer
lanky thin + suggests awkwardness and loose-jointedness
skinny thin + lacking usual or desirable bulk, quantity, qualities
slim thin + thin in an attractive way
slender thin + thin especially in an attractive or graceful way

Task – Consider the words below and identify their associative meaning. Mark
which of them have little or no associative meaning (N), pleasant meaning (P) or
unpleasant meaning (U).
aromatic P/ N /U odorous P/ N /U smelly P/ N /U
animal P/ N /U creature P/ N /U beast P/ N /U
ladylike P/ N /U feminine P/ N /U matronly P/ N /U
dominate P/ N /U control P/ N /U govern P/ N /U
fame P/ N /U notoriety P/ N /U reputation P/ N /U
Textbook activity
 Collocative meaning
Results from association with words with which the lexical item tends to collocate.
It is connected with the notion of semantic prosody – the way in which certain
seemingly neutral words can be perceived with positive or negative associations
through frequent occurrences with particular collocations.

handsome + man, building beautiful / pretty + girl, picture

Task – Consider the collocative meaning/semantic prosody of the words below

cause (v.)
problem (n.)
pass (v.)
tremendous (adj.)
promptly (adv.)
 Reflected meaning
Results from association with another sense of the expression leading to ambiguity
and possible misinterpretations. Often used to produce humorous effect.
Disaster tabker adrift in a sea of baffling questions
Sir Humphrey: Dear lady.
Dorothy: Not as dear as a Cabinet Secretary, Humphrey.

Task – Identify the word with reflected meaning in the puns below

Iʼm reading a book about anti-gravity. Itʼs impossible to put down.

I wasnʼt originally planning to get a brain trasplant, but then I changed my mind.
I was struggling to figure out how lightning works then it struck me.
I didnʼt understand the math, so the teacher summed it up for me.