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The problem of polysemy in Modern English
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Table of Contents
Introduction………………………………………………………………..4
1. Words as Meaningful Units…………………………………………….6
1.1 Polysemy as the Source of Ambiguities in a Language……………..6
1.2 Historical Development of the Polysemy……………………………9
1.2.1 The Diachronic Approach to Studying Polysemy……………….…11
1.2.2 The Synchronic Approach to Studying Polysemy……………..…..13
1.3 Polysemy and its Connection with the Context………………….....15
2. Practical Usage of Polysemy in Teaching English…………………….18
2.1 Polysemy in Teaching English on Intermediate Level………………..18
2.2 Polysemy in Teaching English on Advanced Level ………………….20
2.3 Lesson Plan……………………………………………………………24
Conclusions…………………………………………………………….….27
List of References………………………………………………………….29
1.1 Polysemy as the Source of Ambiguities in a Language
Polysemy is a semantic inherent in the fundamental structure of the language. All languages have polysemy on several levels. A wide-spread polysemy in English is rightly considered as one of its characteristic features conditioned by the peculiarities of its structure.
The main source of the development of regular polysemy is the metaphoric and metonymic transference, which is commonplace and appears to be fundamental in living language.
Polysemic words make up a considerable part of the English vocabulary. Potential polysemy of words is the most fertile source of ambiguities in language.
In a limited number of cases two meanings of the same English words are differentiated by certain formal means, as, for instance, by spelling: born — borne, draft — draught; by word-order: ambassador extraordinary — extraordinary ambassador; by inflexion: hanged — hang.
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1.2 Historical Development of the Polysemy
The modern term polysemy was popularized by Bréal in 1887. Most modern linguistics dealing with the topic of polysemy refer to the crucial date , but they rarely look further back into the past.
The “roots” of the concept of polysemy lie in the Greek philosophy, that is, the debate surrounding the problem of naturalness or arbitrariness of signs as debated in Plato’s (429-347B.C.) Cratylus. In his account of Plato’s contribution to linguistics, Fred Householder points out that Democritus (460-mid-4th century B.C.) offered four arguments in favour of arbitrariness:
1) homonymy or polysemy — the same sequence of phonemes may be associated with two or more unrelated meanings;
2) polyonymy or isorrophy — the existence of synonyms;
3) metonymy — the fact that words and meaning change;
4) nonymy — the non-existence of single words for simple or familiar ideas.
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1.2.1 The Diachronic Approach to Studying Polysemy
Polysemy is inherent in the very nature of words and concepts as every object and every notion has many features and a concept reflected in a word always contains a generalisation of several traits of the object.
A word which has more than one meaning is called polysemantic. Different meanings of a polysemantic word may come together due to the proximity of notions which they express e.g. the word “blanket” has the following meanings: a woolen covering used on beds, a covering for keeping a horse warm, a covering of any kind (a blanket of snow), covering all or most cases used attributively, e.g. we can say “a blanket insurance policy”. There are some words in the language which are monosemantic, such as most terms, synonym, some pronouns (this, my, both), numerals. There are two processes of the semantic development of a word: radiation and concatenation.
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1.3 Polysemy and its Connection with the Context
In modern linguistics context is defined as the minimal stretch of speech necessary to signal meaning for words. This is not to imply that polysemantic words have meanings only in context. The semantic structure of the word has an objective existence as a dialectical entity which embodies dialectical permanency and variability. The context individualises the meanings, brings them out. It is in this sense that we say that meaning is determined by the context. The meanings representative of the semantic structure of the word and least dependent on context are sometimes described as free or denominative meanings.
Against the background of linguistic thought as it has developed in modern linguistics we define context as the minimal stretch of speech necessary to signal individual meaning of words. There are several types of context: linguistic and extra-linguistic (non-verbal) contexts.
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2.1 Polysemy in Teaching English on Intermediate Level
Practicing polysemy is distinguishing between the various meaning of a single word form with several but closely related meanings (head: of a person, of a pin, of an organization). In my opinion the most important aspect of vocabulary teaching for intermediate learners is to foster learner independence so that learners will be able to deal with new lexis and expand their vocabulary beyond the end of the course. Therefore guided discovery, contextual guesswork and using dictionaries should be the main ways to deal with discovering meaning. Teachers can help students with specific techniques and practice in contextual guesswork, for example, the understanding of discourse markers and identifying the function of the word in the sentence .
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2.2 Polysemy in Teaching English on Advanced Level
This stage includes 11th — 12th forms. Pupils can realize the importance of studying language more thoroughly. However, their attitude to foreign language depends on the achievements they have attained during the previous years of studying the subject. While explaining the material, teacher should take into account everything: pupils age, the material they deal with, their previous knowledge, etc.
So, the exercise should be of various kinds, they have to be creative and develop pupils critical thinking and memory. Teacher should encourage his/her pupils, get them interested in learning the language on deeper level [1]. Below, there are exercise, which are suitable for this level of language learning. They will help pupils to adopt more material, to be able to differentiate polysemantic meanings of the words through the context of the sentences.
Exercise 1
Comment on the meaning of the following adjectives in the given phrases.
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Conclusions
Language tends to change in time and space. These universal characteristics of language are permanent interest of scholarship. The most important function of any language is to carry the meaning. But as we know not only the sound-form but also the meaning of the word is changed in the course of historical development of a language. It happened under the influence of many factors. Change of meaning is affected through association between the existing meaning and the new one. This association is generally based on the similarity or the contiguity of meanings. Due to numeral changes of meaning such a phenomenon as multiplicity of word meanings or polysemy appeared.
In my investigation I touched upon the problem of polysemy in diachronic and synchronic dimensions.
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List of References
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2. Мoстoвий М.І. Лeксикoлoгія aнглійськoї мoви. — Х.: Oснoвa, 1993. — 256с.
3. Arnold I.V. The English word. — M.: High School, 1979. — 302p.
4. Barskaya D.J. Words and how to use them. A text reference book of word meaning and combinations. — L.: Lviv University Press, 1972. — 256p.
5. Bunskuy D. I. Common difficulties for students of English. — M.: High School, 1976. — 224p.
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13. Lyons J. Linguistic Semantics. — Cambridge University Press, 1995. — 376p.
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16. Minayeva L.V. English lexicology and lexicography. — M.: High school, 2003. — 224p.
17. Palmer F.R. Semantics: A new outline. — M.: High school, 1982. — 110p.
18. Ravin Y. Leacock C. Polysemy: Theoretical and computational approaches. — Oxford University Press, 2000. — 105p.
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