ENGLISH LEXICOLOGY

7.5 Related Senses

 

A traditional distinction is made in lexicology between homonymy and polysemy. Both deal with multiple senses of the same phonological word, but polysemy is invoked if the senses are judged to be related. Lexicographers should keep this in their mind when they design their dictionaries “because polysemous senses are listed under the same lexical entry, while homonymous senses are given separate entries” (Saeed, 2009).

Polysemy is a semantic process whereby a lexeme assumes two or more related meanings (Greek poly = ‘ many’, semy = ‘ meanings’). For example, the lexeme “finger” does not only denote ‘a digit of the hand’ but also ‘the part of a glove, covering one of the fingers’; ‘a hand of a clock’; ‘an index’; and ‘a part in various machines.’ Body parts are often polysemous. we use leg to refer to the leg of a chair and the leg of a table; arm to refer to the arm of a chair; and eye to refer to the eye of a storm. A lexeme that has more than one meaning in the language is polysemous. It is very important to distinguish between the lexical meaning of a lexeme in speech and its semantic structure in the language. The meaning of a lexeme in speech is contextual; therefore, polysemy can exist only in the language, not in speech. The semantic structure of a polysemous word may be defined as a structured set of interrelated meanings. These meanings belong to the same set because they are expressed by a single form. The set is called structured because its elements are interrelated and can be explained by means of one another.