Page 409 - DENG504_LINGUISTICS

Gowher Ahmad Naik, Lovely Professional University Unit 32: Synonymy, Antonymy, Polysemy, Homophony and Ambiguity

Unit 32: Synonymy, Antonymy, Polysemy, Notes
Homophony and Ambiguity

CONTENTS
Objectives
Introduction
32.1 Synonymy
32.2 Qualification of Synonymy
32.3 ‘Total Synonymy’ and ‘Complete Synonymy’
32.4 ‘Cognitive’ and ‘Emotive’ Meaning
32.5 Hyponymy and Incompatibility
32.6 Antonymy, Complementarity and Converseness
32.7 Polysemy
32.8 Collocation
32.9 Sets
32.10 Componential Analysis
32.11 Summary
32.12 Key-Words
32.13 Review Questions
32.14 Further Readings

Objectives

After reading this Unit Students will be able to:
• Discuss synonymy, antonymy
• Understand polysemy, homophony of ambiguity

Introduction

Sometimes a lexical word appears to have more than one meaning. But the additional meanings
are seen as derived from the basic meaning of the word through metaphorical or figurative
extension. This situation is defined as polysemic.
Homonymy, on the other hand, occurs when two or more lexical words are represented by the
same phonological or orthographic word (i.e. same pronunciation, same spelling but entirely
different meanings.)
In short, if the same word-shape belongs to two different lexemes (i.e. has two different meanings),
it is a case of homonymy. If the meanings are related, i.e. one meaning can be derived from
another by metaphorical or figurative extension, it is a case of polysemy. Examples of homonomous
words are Bat, Bank, Port etc. They allow one-many relationship between the phonological/
orthographical word and lexical word. Examples of polysemic words are: mouth (child’s mouth or
river’s mouth).
Both polysemy and homonymy, essentially mean formation of new words without involving any
morphological change or change in grammatical category of the word.
It only involves modification (extension or narrowing) of the meaning of already existing words.
Both create new words in the sense that they create new uses from old words. Sometimes it results

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