polysemyandhomonymy.doc

Sense relations Words are arbitrary symbols and are independent identities so far as their outer facet-spelling and pronunciation, is concerned. But semantically, all words are related in one way or another. A word which is related to other words is related to them in sense, hence sense relations. We can even say that the senses of the word are prominent only when they are related in the system The subjects that have long held the interest and attention of semanticists are polysemy, homonymy, synonymy, antonymy and hyponymy and taxonomy. These will be discussed in this chapter. Moreover, the discussion will also cover semantic field, which is commonly felt to be an integral part of sense relations. The main sense relations in English vocabulary are shown as follows: polysemy On Sunday they pray for you, but on Monday they prey on you. Homonymy Give me a hand please. He is a new hand. Synonymy he comes in panting. He sits on a chair, breathless. Sense relation He said: I’m puffed. I’m puffed. Antonymy my only love sprung from my only hate. Hyponymy A family usually includes a father, mother and child. Taxonomy X is a type of Y. I. Polysemy 1.1 definiton polyseny is a universal feature of all natural languages. It is a term used in semantic analysis to refer to a lexical item which has a range of different meanings. The co-existence of several meanings in a word is called polysemy. Polysemy can be used to achieve humor, irony, a dramatic effect. English like all other languages, is full of polysemic words. e.g. The word “flight” may mean “passing through the air”, “power of flying”, “air of journey”, hand: that part of human body beyond the wrist. But: give me a hand, please. ( help) He is a new hand. ( a performer)\ We need some extra hands. (Workerman) He writes a good hand.