•Broadens the study of polysemy within the cognitive linguistics tradition.•Considers three types of distinct polysemy phenomena.•Provides a joined-up account of these phenomena using LCCM Theory.
...Within the cognitive linguistics tradition, polysemy has often been viewed as a function of underlying entries in semantic memory: word forms have distinct, albeit related, lexical entries, which thereby give rise to polysemous word senses in language use (e.g., Evans, 2004; Tyler and Evans, 2001, 2003). In this paper, I seek to broaden out the study of polysemy within this tradition by tackling it from three slightly different angles. I argue that polysemy can also arise from the non-linguistic knowledge to which words facilitate access. This phenomenon I refer to as conceptual polysemy. I illustrate this with an analysis of the lexical item book. Moreover, polysemy also arises from distinct, albeit related, conventionalised sense-units associated with the same linguistic form: the phenomenon I refer to as lexical polysemy. I illustrate with an analysis of the polysemy exhibited by the form in. And finally, semantic relatedness can be discerned as arising from different word forms which, at least on first blush, appear to share a common semantic representation. This phenomenon I refer to as inter-lexical polysemy. I illustrate with a case study involving an analysis of the prepositional forms in and on. In presenting my account of these three types of polysemous phenomena, I introduce a contemporary account of lexical representation: the Theory of Lexical Concepts and Cognitive Models, or LCCM Theory for short (Evans, 2006, 2009, 2010b, 2013). This provides a common theoretical architecture which facilitates a joined-up account of these specific phenomena, and of polysemy more generally. Finally, the paper introduces a new construct within the theory—the notion of a meaning spectrum—which facilitates analysis of aspects of lexical and inter-lexical polysemy.
There are two competing approaches to the change of lexical meaning: the
approach, which focuses on the emergence of each particular meaning in a vocable, and the
one, which aims to account for the ...fluctuations, i.e. the expansion, stabilization and contraction of the range of its meanings. The individualizing approach remains dominant until today, although Arsène Darmesteter paved the way for the holistic approach as early as 1887. The purpose of this article is to extract part of the content of the TLF(i)’s historical records in order to build a diachronic semasiological database that can be converted into a series of trees symbolizing the fluctuations of the polysemy of an item century by century. The study is illustrated by exploring the evolutionary polysemy of the verb
and the nouns
and
and results in highlighting the period of “coincidence” between the respective polysemies of these two nouns.
This study examines the conceptual semantics of human locomotion verbs in two languages – English and German – using the Natural Semantic Metalanguage approach. Based on linguistic evidence, it ...proposes semantic explications for English walk and run, and their nearest counterparts in German, i.e. laufen (in two senses, roughly, ‘run’ and ‘go by walking’), rennen (roughly, ‘run quickly’), gehen (roughly, ‘go/walk’), and the expression zu Fuß gehen (roughly, ‘go on foot’). Somewhat surprisingly for such closely related languages, the conceptual semantics turns out to be significantly different in the two languages, particularly in relation to manner-of-motion. On the other hand, it is shown that the same four-part semantic template (with sections Lexicosyntactic Frame, Prototypical Scenario, Manner, and Potential Outcome) applies in both languages. We consider the implications for systematic contrastive semantics and for lexical typology.
En este trabajo partimos de la controvertida distinción entre variantes e invariantes de contenido -en el marco del estructuralismo funcional europeo-, distinción no resuelta en muchos casos en los ...análisis sobre el fenómeno de la polisemia léxica, para conectar esta problemática, en el ámbito de la interrelación entre léxico y sintaxis, con el análisis: i) de ciertas construcciones con el verbo hacer para comprobar si se ha producido o no una recategorización de este verbo y 2) de ciertas pruebas de comportamiento sintáctico-semántico con verbos de estado y de logro que nos conducirían a la posibilidad de que también aceptaran otras lecturas. En ambos tipos de estudios la pregunta esencial que habría que resolver no es, pues, la de si estamos ante variantes o invariantes de contenido, aunque el fenómeno de la polisemia léxica siempre está presente. Partiendo de los presupuestos teóricos del estructuralismo funcional europeo, incorporaremos otros de semántica composicional y de algunas orientaciones cognitivistas.
En el presente trabajo analizamos, desde una perspectiva metalexicográfica, el tratamiento de la polisemia léxica regular y de las facetas en un conjunto de ocho diccionarios generales monolingües y ...semasiológicos de español. El análisis se realiza sobre la base de una muestra de 82 sustantivos del español general que manifiestan los fenómenos semánticos en cuestión, tratados en 656 artículos lexicográficos. El objetivo es plantear fundamentos para elaborar un método de tratamiento lexicográfico de los fenómenos en cuestión que sintetice los aspectos rescatables de las prácticas lexicográficas hispánicas y, al mismo tiempo, supere los problemas que estas manifiestan. El análisis de los datos relevados muestra que los diccionarios del corpus, en general, presentan, en mayor o menor grado, deficiencias considerables en cuanto al tratamiento de las unidades léxicas que manifiestan polisemia regular o facetas. Planteamos que el subsanamiento de estas dificultades puede implementarse sobre la base de cinco principios específicos para el tratamiento de estos tipos de unidades léxicas.In this paper we analyse the treatment of regular lexical polysemy and facets from a metalexicographic perspective in a sample of eight monolingual, general-purpose and semasiological dictionaries of Spanish. We analyse 82 nouns, belonging to general Spanish, which present the semantic phenomena in question, as they appear in 656 lexicographical articles. Our main goal is to set foundations for the elaboration of a lexicographical treatment that synthesizes the good practices of the Hispanic lexicographical tradition and, at the same time, overcomes its problems. Our investigation reveals that these dictionaries show, to a larger or smaller extent, considerable defects in the treatment of lexical units showing regular lexical polysemy or facets. We propose that these defects can be rectified through five specific principles for the treatment of these kinds of lexical units.
Slovarsko večpomenskost, ki se uresničuje kot specifična jezikovnosistemska danost posameznega jezika, je predvidoma mogoče pokazati s tipologijo znotrajleksemskih medpomenskih povezav, obstoječih v ...danem jeziku. Slovensko leksikalno pomenoslovje A. Vidovič Muha s prvo teoretično zasnovano predstavitvijo slovarske večpomenskosti slovenskega jezika prinaša merila tipologiziranja slovarske večpomenskosti, utemeljena v tipih sprememb pomenskosestavinske zgradbe. Preizkus ugotovljenih tipologizirajočih meril na obsežnejšem gradivu kaže njihovo učinkovitost pri izključevalnem razločevanju prepoznavnih tipov slovarske večpomenskosti slovenskih samostanikov in nakazuje možnosti novih tipoloških meril.
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