Boris Iomdin
Russian Language Institute,
Russian Academy of Sciences
iomdin@ruslang.ru
Lecture 10. Plan
 Speech polysemy and language polysemy
 Polysemy and homonymy
 Types of polysemy: chaining, radial
 Types of meaning shifts: metaphor, metonymy
 Types of semantic unity
 Principles of dividing words into lexemes
 A lexeme and its use
 Types of regular polysemy
One word, many meanings?
 Speech polysemy
 Different referents
 Different backgrounds of the hearer
 Different attitudes of the speaker
…
 Language polysemy
Noah and the snakes
 All the animals are leaving the ark after the
flood subsides and Noah is wishing them
well as they walk down, saying “Go forth and
multiply”.
 Two snakes come slithering by and Noah
says the same thing but they reply, “We
can't, we are adders”.
 Instantly, Noah quips back: “In your case do
it by logs”.
Polysemy and homonymy
Proposed criteria for establishing homonymy:
 different grammatical features: to arm 1 – an arm 2
 different derivates:
to type 1 – typist, typesetting, typography
a type 2 – typical, typology
 different transformations
He lies skillfully = He is a skillful liar
He lies on the bed sleeping ≠ He is a sleeping liar
 unique combination of senses
ball 1: ‘a round object used in games’
ball 2 : ‘a large gathering for dances’
Polysemy: a definition
 Word A is polysemous if for each two of its
senses ai and aj it has senses a1, a2, …, ak-1, ak
such that ai is similar to a1, a1 is similar to a2,
…, ak-1 is similar to ak and ak is similar to aj
 Senses are similar if their explications share
a non-trivial part (semantic component)
which plays the same role in the explication
 A trivial shared component: bank 1 ‘shore’
and bank 2 ‘financial institution’ are objects
Types of polysemy
•Chain
a1
a2
a3
a2
•Radial
a5
a1
a4
a3
Chaining polysemy
 chair 1 ‘a seat for one person’: table and chairs
 chair 2 ‘an authority’: chair of linguistics
 chair 3 ‘head of an authority’: chair of jury
chair 1
chair 2
chair 3
Radial polysemy
 cup 1 ‘a drinking vessel’: cup and saucer
 cup 2 ‘contents of a drinking vessel’: one cup of tea
 cup 3 ‘a prize’: golden cup
 cup 4 ‘the symbol ∪’
cup 1
cup 2
∪
cup 4
cup 3
Main types of meaning shifts
 Metaphor
 Metonymy
Metaphor
 Denoting an object A using the name of an object B,
if A and B are to a certain extent similar, transferring
some semantic properties from one domain into
another
 current 1 ‘moving water’
 current 2 ‘electric flow’
shared component: ‘constant movement’
 mouse 1 ‘a small grey rodent’
 mouse 2 ‘a small peripheral device for a computer’
shared components: ‘small’, ‘long tail’, ‘moving fast’
Metonymy
 Denoting an object A using the name of an object B,
if B is part of A (synecdoche) or is somehow contiguous
to A, shifting some semantic properties within the same
domain
 press 1 ‘action of pressing’
 press 2 ‘an apparatus for printing’
 press 3 ‘journalism’
press 1 is performed by press 2, press 3 is product of press 2
 Prague is a very beautiful city
 Prague finally signed the Lisbon treaty
Metaphor and metonymy in
radial shifts
Metaphor and metonymy in
chaining shifts
Main questions of polysemy
 What is the base for the semantic unity of a
polysemous word?
 How should a polysemous word be divided
into different senses (=lexemes)?
Types of semantic unity
 The explications of both lexemes contain identical
semantic components
 The explications of both lexemes contain elements
that appear to have identical semantic components if
reduced to a lower level of description
 The explications of both lexemes have two different
components that regularly come up in two lexemes of
polysemous words
 The structure of the situations described by both
lexemes is identical or similar
Principles of dividing lexemes
 Two uses of a word are two different lexemes, if
(1) one or more of their features are different and
(2) none of these different features can be obtained
from another feature by a simple rule
 Features of lexemes to be compared:
 semantic
 pragmatic
 communicative
 syntactic
 morphological
 etc.
Two lexemes or one? A test
 He carried a light and the responsibility for his men.
 You held your breath and the door for me.
 You are free to execute your laws or your citizens.
If two uses, when combined, form a pun, then
they belong to two different lexemes
Two lexemes or two uses?
 A use of a lexeme is its shifted usage
different from the prototypical one in at
least two correlated features which can be
obtained from the prototypical usage using
a productive rule
Uses of wait
 Prototypical usage: X is waiting for Y in Z at T =
‘Knowing or believing that an event Y concerning X
must or may happen in a place Z, at a time period T
X is ready for Y; usually X is in T and wants Y to
happen’: I am waiting for the lecture in room S8
 Shifted use: I am waiting for the New Year
 Correlated features:
 Y is a time moment
 X does not have to be in a certain place
Holistic uses
 John loaded boxes onto the wagon
 John loaded the wagon with boxes
 Jessica sprayed paint onto the wall
 Jessica sprayed the wall with paint
 Prototypical usage: ‘to put objects Y or substance Y
into a container Z’
 Shifted use: ‘to put objects Y or substance Y into a
container Z, so that Z is full with Y’
 Correlated features:
 Z is the object, Y is used with preposition with
 component Z is full with Y is added
Criteria for ordering lexemes
 Completeness of grammatical patterns
 Number of paradigmatic semantic links (synonyms,
antonyms, analogues, derivates, …)
 Number of metaphorical and metonymical derivates
 Place in the semantic structure of the language
(number of related semantic classes)
 Place in the formal classification of predicates
 Pragmatic value
 Number of idioms
Regular polysemy types. Nouns
 ‘Action’ – ‘Subject of action’:
to ensure security – the security caught a burglar
 ‘Action’ – ‘Object of action’:
the choice of a present was difficult – what’s your choice?
 ‘Action’ – ‘Instrument of action’:
she took a long shower – the shower fell and broke
 ‘Action’ – ‘Place of action’:
exit of troops – stop at the next exit
 ‘Action’ – ‘Moment of action’:
a long friendly lunch – he came at lunch
Regular polysemy types. Nouns
 ‘Property’ – ‘Subject of property’:
he has a talent for music – your son is a real talent
 ‘State’ – ‘Cause of state’:
he felt delight – the performance was a delight
 ‘Plant’ – ‘Fruit of plant’:
I planted strawberry – ice cream with strawberry
 ‘Tree’ – ‘Wood’:
an oak near the house – an oak table
 ‘Material’ – ‘Product’:
glass is very fragile – exhibition of Czech glass
Regular polysemy types. Nouns
 ‘Body part’ – ‘Detail of clothing’:
she has a thin waist – the waist of the dress
 ‘Container’ – ‘Content’:
a crystal glass – he drank a glass of beer
 ‘Dance’ – ‘Music’:
everyone danced tango – a tango composer
 ‘Organization’ – ‘Building’:
university founded in 1755 – the roof of the university
 ‘Science’ – ‘School subject’:
math theories – math is the second lesson today
Regular polysemy types. Verbs
 ‘To do’ – ‘To cause’:
water boils – to boil water
 ‘To move’ – ‘To cause movement’:
a car drives – to drive a car
 ‘To deform’ – ‘To cause’:
to dig soil – to dig a hole
 ‘To process’ – ‘To cause’:
to bake potatoes – to bake a cake
 ‘To process’ – ‘To eliminate’:
to correct an essay – to correct misprints
Regular polysemy types. Verbs
 ‘To use as object for depicting’ – ‘To cause’:
to draw a young woman – to draw a portrait
 ‘To close’ – ‘To bar access to’:
to shut a door – to shut a room
 ‘To act’ – ‘To be able’:
to read a book – my son reads already
 ‘To move by means of transport’ – ‘To move by itself’:
my friend flew to Norway – his plane flew to Norway
 ‘To move’ – ‘To pass’:
birds fly – time flies
Regular polysemy types.
Adjectives
 ‘having property X’ – ‘causing property X’:
a peaceful old woman – a peaceful hotel
 ‘X’ – ‘characteristic for person X’:
a courageous man – a courageous act
 ‘exceeding norm’ – ‘of high degree’:
deep river – deep knowledge
 ‘exceeding norm’ – ‘positively valued’:
a rich farmer – rich knowledge
 ‘less than norm’ – ‘negatively valued’:
narrow street – narrow views
Next lecture
 Semantics and pragmatics. Linguistic and
extralinguistic knowledge. Gricean maxims.
Speech acts theory.