Polysemy in english language
Дипломная работа - Иностранные языки
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e Lexical context
In lexical contexts of primary importance are the lexical groups combined with the polysemantic word under consideration. This can be shown by analysing different lexical contexts in which polysemantic words, e. g. heavy or come, are used. The adjective heavy in isolation is understood as meaning of great weight, weighty (heavy cargo, heavy book, etc.). When combined with the lexical group of words denoting natural phenomena such as wind, storm, snow, etc., it means striking, falling with force, abundant as can be seen from the contexts, e. g. heavy rain, wind, snow etc. In combination with the words industry, arms, artillery and the like, heavy has the meaning the larger kind of something as in heavy artillery, etc.word come in isolation has primarily the meaning to arrive, move toward, etc. When we join it the lexical group of prepositions we have more meanings we can imagine, even one preposition, for example in, and we have nine meanings; come in: a) to enter, b) sport to get finish, c) to become fashionable, d) to be found as useful, etc. it acquires the meaning synonymous with the meaning of the verb to be found (to be found somewhere, at finish, in fashion, as useful etc.).can be easily observed that the main factor in bringing out this or that individual meaning of the words heavy and to come is the lexical group with which the word in question is combined.meanings determined by lexical contexts are sometimes referred to as lexically bound meanings which implies that such meanings are to be found only in certain lexical contexts. / Ginsburg p.56/
2.4 Grammatical Context
In grammatical contexts it is the grammatical structure of the context that serves to determine various individual meanings of a polysemantic word. One of the meanings of the verb make, e. g. to force, is found only in the grammatical context possessing the structure to make smb to do smth or in simpler terms this particular meaning occurs only if the verb make is followed by a noun and the infinitive of some other verb (to make smb laugh, go, write, etc.). Another meaning of this verb to become, to turn out to be is observed in the contexts of a different structure, e. g. make followed by an adjective and a noun (to make a good wife, a good teacher, etc.).a number of contexts, however, we find that both the lexical and grammatical aspects should be taken into consideration. The grammatical structure of the context although indicative of the difference between the meaning of the word in this structure and the meaning of the same word in a different grammatical structure may be insufficient to indicate in which of its individual meaning of the word in question is used. If we compare the contexts of different grammatical structures, e. g. to take+noun and to take to+noun, we can safely assume that they represent different meanings of the verb to take, but it is only when we specify the lexical context, i. e. the lexical group with which the verb is combined in the structure to take+noun (to take tea; books; the bus) that we can say that the context determines the meaning. /Ginsburg p.57/
2.5 The development of new meanings of polysemantic words
The systems of meanings of polysemantic words evolve gradually. The older a word is, the better developed is its semantic structure. The normal pattern of a words semantic development is from monosemy to a simple semantic structure encompassing only two or three meanings, with a further movement to an increasingly more complex semantic structure.are two causes of development of new meanings. First is the historical one: different kinds of changes in a nations social life, in its culture, knowledge, technology, arts lead to gaps appearing in the vocabulary which beg to be filled. Newly created objects, new concepts and phenomena must be named: word-building and borrowing foreign ones. New meanings can also be developed due to linguistic factors - the second cause. Linguistically speaking, the development of new meanings, and also a complete change of meaning, may be caused through the influence of other words, mostly of synonyms.process of development of a new meaning (or a change of meaning) is traditionally termed transference. Some scholars mistakenly use the term transference of meaning" which is a serious mistake. It is very important to note that in any case of semantic change it is not the meaning but the word that is being transferred from one referent into another (from a horse-drawn vehicle into a railway car). The result of such a transference is the appearance of new meaning.are two types of transference based on resemblance and contiguity.type of transference is also referred to as linguistic metaphor. A new meaning appears as a result of associating two objects (phenomena, qualities, etc) due to their outward similarity. The noun eye, for instance, has for one of its meanings hole in the end of a needle which also developed through transference based on resemblance.meanings formed through this type of transference are frequently found in the informal strata of the vocabulary, especially in slang. A red-headed boy is almost certain to be nicknamed carrot or ginner by his schoolmates, and the one who is given to spying and sneaking gets the derogatory nickname of rat. Both these meanings are metaphorical, though, of course, the children using them are quite unconscious of this fact.type is linguistic metonymy. The association is based upon subtle psychological links between different objects and phenomena, sometimes traced and identified with much difficulty. The two objects may be associated together because they often appear in common situations, and so the image of one is easily accompanied by the image of the other; or they may be associated on the principle of cause and effect, of common function, of some material and an object which is made of it, etc. The Old English adjective glad meant bright, shining" (it was applied to the sun, to gold and precious stones, to shining armour, etc.). the later (and more modern) meaning joyful" developed on the basis of the usual association (which is reflected in most languages) of light with joy.
Conclusion
The phenomenon of polysemy exists not in the words but in the language.problem of polysemy is mainly the problem of interrelation and interdependence of the various meanings of the same word. Polysemy viewed diachronically is a historical change in the semantic structure of the word resulting in new meanings being added to the ones already existing and in the rearrangement of these meanings on its semantic structure.viewed synchronically is understood as coexistence of the various meanings of the same word at a certain historical period and the arrangement of these meanings in the semantic structure of the word.the present work there was viewed polysemy, meaning of the word, some words about the notion word, because it is really very important to know what the word is. It is impossible to speak about the role of the meaning without understanding the word, the basic unit of language that unites meaning and form. The context was observed. Attention should be paid to it.is a sentence, it must be translated, for example from English to Russian, theoretically if that who translates is not a professional translator it is not necessary to know the types of context, and in general and to professional translator too. During the whole studying a student is taught by teachers to understand the sentence and then to translate it with the contexts help. He chooses the necessary meaning intuitively. But the observing context types explains a lot, for example the choice of the necessary meaning. Sometimes you dont know all the meanings of translated word, andтАжyou guess by context. Context is the minimal stretch of words necessary to find out individual meanings. Linguistic contexts comprise lexical and grammatical contexts and are contrasted to extra-linguistic contexts. In extra-linguistic contexts the meaning of the experiment is determined not only by linguistic factor but also by the actual situation in which the word is used.most interesting moment is the development of new meanings of polysemantic words, the causes and the process.meaning incurs to alter in the course of the historical development of language. Changes of lexical meaning may be viewed by a diachronic semantic analysis of many commonly used English words.the origins of semantic altering one may distill on the factors bringing about this change and try to discover why the word altered its meaning. Analysing the nature of semantic change one may search for to clarify the process of this change and describe how diversified changes of meaning were brought about.is certainly not an anomaly. Most English words are polysemantic. It should be commented that the wealth of representative resources of a language largely depends on the extent to which polysemy has developed in the language.uninformed in linguistic people claim that a language is lacking in words if the need arises for the same word to be laid on to several different phenomena. In real fact it is exactly the opposite: if each word is found to be capable of conveying at least two concepts instead of one, the expressive potential of the whole vocabulary increases twofold. Hence, well-developed polysemy is a great advantage in a language.
Appendix to the course paper
Polysemy in the words
I n 1) разрешение, позволение 2) отпуск 3) воен.