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A polysemy is a word or symbol that has more than one meaning. In order to be considered a polysemy, a word has to have separate meanings that can be different, but related to one another. The meanings and the words must have the same spelling and pronunciation and they must have the same origin.

The term polysemy is used in linguistics as a means of categorizing and studying various aspects of languages. Like many words used to categorize languages, polysemy is a mixture of Latin and Greek and means literally ‘many meanings.’ The opposite of a polysemy is a heterosemy, which means the word has only a single meaning.

Perhaps the word in English with the most meanings is ‘set.’ Dictionaries give ‘set’ around 120 meanings. English is filled with polysemic words with two, three or more meanings, including ‘wood,’ which means both part of a tree and a group of trees.

In order to be considered a polysemy, the word has to retain the same sound and the same spelling, but with distinct meanings. The difference between a polysemy and a homonym is difficult to determine. Homonyms also have the same spelling and the same pronunciation with different meanings. While the differences between homonyms and polysemes are subjective at best, however, it appears homonyms are words where the meanings have separate origins from one another.

A synonym – is a word of similar or identical meaning to one or more words in the same language. All languages contain synonyms but in English they exist in superabundance.

They’re no two absolutely identical words because connotations, ways of usage, frequency of an occurrence are different.

Senses of synonyms are identical in respect of central semantic trades but differ in respect of minor semantic trades.

Classification

1. Total synonyms

an extremely rare occurence

Ulman: “a luxury that language can hardly afford.”

M. Breal spoke about a law of distribution in the language (words should be synonyms, were synonyms in the past usually acquire different meanings and are no longer interchangeable).

Ex.: бегемот – гиппопотам

2. Ideographic synonyms.

They bear the same idea but not identical in their referential content.

Ex.: to ascent – to mount – to climb

3. Dialectical synonyms.

Ex.: lift – elevator

4. Contextual synonyms.

Context can emphasize some certain semantic trades & suppress other semantic trades; words with different meaning can become synonyms in a certain context.

Ex.: tasteless – dull

Synonyms can reflect social conventions.

Ex.:

clever

bright

brainy

Only speaking about younger people by older people

Is not used by the higher educated people

Positive connotation

Stylistically remarked

5. Stylistic synonyms.

Belong to different styles.

child

Infant

Kid

Synonymic condensation is typical of the English language.

It refers to situations when writers or speakers bring together several words with one & the same meaning to add more conviction, to description more vivid.

Ex.:

Safe & sound

Lord & master

It is deeply rooted in the history of English language

It was customary to use French borrowings together with their native synonyms. They are very often characterized by alliteration, rhymes, idioms, etc.

Synonymy – the coincidence in the essential meanings of linguistic elements which (at the same time) usually preserve their differences in connotations and stylistic characteristics.

Synonyms – two or more words belonging to the same part of speech and possessing one or more identical or nearly identical denotational meanings, interchangeable in some contexts. Their distinctive features can be connotations, stylistic features, distributional or depending on valency. The difference between some synonyms can be marked for register subject-field, mode, and style (tenor) or their combinations.

Typology of synonyms:

- cognitive synonyms – s. which differ in respect of the varieties of discourse in which they appear; the distinction between such items lies not so much in their inner lexical meaning, but in the sphere of their actual application or usage, as besides the referential basis (referential meaning – q.v.) the actual meanings of the words as found in utterances reflect relations which hold between lexical items within the communicative space, i.e. the functional differentiation of discourse.

- contextual/context-dependent synonyms – similar in meaning only under some specific distributional conditions, when the difference between the meanings of two words is contextually neutralized: e.g. buy and get;

- dialectal synonyms – pertaining to different variant of language from dialectal stratification point of view;

- functional synonyms – the term is not lexicological proper as it refers to different syntactic units capable of performing one and the same syntactic function (e.g. Subordinate Object Clause and Complex Object constructions are functional synonyms;

- ideographic synonyms – differ in shades of meaning, i.e. between which a semantic different is statable;

- stylistic synonyms– are distinguished stylistically, i.e. in all kinds of emotional, expressive and evaluative overtones without explicitly displaying semantic difference;

- referential synonyms – a vague term, concerns coreferential expressions, when one denotatum can be defined differently from different points of view and in different aspects: e.g. names Walter Scott and the author of 'Ivanhoe' are coreferential because they refer to one and the same denotatum – Sir Walter Scott;

- terminological synonyms – two existing terms for one denotatum: e.g. borrowing and loan-word; concept and notion (the difference between them is not discriminated by some linguists);

- total synonyms - can replace each other in any given context, without the slightest alteration in denotative or emotional meaning and connotations (e.g. noun and substantive, functional affix, flection and inflection); is a rare occasion.

Antonymy.

Antonyms – words of opposite meaning.

In an antonym pair only one member is marked (the use of marked member is more restricted)

Three conditions for two features to be opposite:

1. чтобы были несовместимы в вещах (incompatible in things)

(underage – unmarried)

≠ they are not antonyms

2. чтобы признаки были однородны (similar, homogeneous features)

Ex.:

красный – зеленый

(red – green)

≠ not antonyms

Белый – все цвета < = antonyms => Черный – нет цвета

3. чтобы 2 признака покрывали признаковое пространство (2 features must cover associative area)

Ex.:

живой = мертвый - antonyms

Живой ≠ полумертвый - not antonyms

(alive – half dead – dead)

Холодный - горячий

Холодный – прохладный – теплый – горячий

(cold – chilly – cool – warm – hot)

Признаковое пространство должно быть упорядочено. (Associative area must be regulated and put in order)

Противоположные признаки – симметричны друг другу.(Opposite features-symmetrical to each other)

Nikitin:

- qualitative & quantitative (качественные – количественные)

трусливый – храбрый

легкий – тяжелый

apprehensive – brave

light – heavy

Quantitative antonyms

легкий => тяжелый (нарастание признака) feature increase

Qualitative antonyms

хороший <=> плохой (нет нарастания признака) no feature increase

- one-root & different roots (according to their morphological structure)

хороший – нехороший хороший – плохой

- logical classification

- Intentional & extensional

Ex.: mother

- stable, invariable features – intension

(родитель, женского пола)

a female parent - intension

Intension is some notion formed by class distinctions, always stable & invariable.

Extensions in this case are:

biological mother

step-mother

mother-in-law

motherland

surrogate mother

godmother

It is the range of applicability (применимость), always variable & individual.

ship

- intension: a vehicle used for moving on water

- extension:

passenger ship

sailing ship

battle ship (военный корабль) man of war

cargo ship

Antonyms are words which have in their meaning a qualitative feature & can, therefore, be regarded as semantically opposite.

Unlike synonyms, antonyms do not differ stylistically. – some scholars

- moot (дискуссионный, спорный) question, controversial

Conversives (or conversive pairs), which are not antonyms but are semantically opposed.

Conversives denote one & the same situation, but viewed from different points of view.

In most cases, conversives are verbs.

Завещать – наследовать

Давать – брать

Жениться – выходить замуж

Продавать – покупать

Gradual opposition is characterized by the gradability of some qualitative feature.

Binary opposition is characterized by lack of any gradability, because the words express contradictory notions.

Privative is based on the idea of markedness, the unmarked member – more widely used.

Ex.: old – young How old are you?

marked unmarked Not: How young are you?

Not all antonyms show this marked/unmarked distinction.

Equipollent (equal) – both members are logically equal, each of them has a feature opposite to the feature of the other member of the opposition.

Никитин: one-root – derivational antonyms

different roots – absolute antonyms.

Homonymy.

Homonyms can be of 3 kinds:

1. Homonyms proper (the sound & the spelling are identical)

2. Homophones (the same sound form but different spelling)

3. Homographs (the same spelling)

Ex.:

1. bat – bat - flying animal (летучая мышь)

- cricket bat (бита)

2. flower – flour

sole – soul

rain – reign

3. tear [iə] – tear [εə]

lead [i:] – lead [e]

One of the sources is its development from polysemy.

At a certain point, variation within a word may bring to a stage when its semantic core is no longer elastic. It can’t be stretched any further & as a result a new word comes into being.

Homonymy differs from polysemy because there is no semantic bond (связь) between homonyms; it has been lost & doesn’t exist.

Homonyms appear as a result of:

1. The phonetic convergence of 2 words of different pronunciation & meaning.

Ex.: race → a) people derives from Old Norwegian “ras”

b) running, from French “race”

2. The semantic divergence or loss of semantic bond between 2 words polysemantically related before.

Ex.: pupil→ a) scholar

b) apple of an eye (зрачок)

To distinguish between polysemy & homonymy 3 factors should be taken into account:

1. The semantic proximity of them

2. The derivation capacity

3. The range of collocability

1. The semantic proximity.

The 1st way to establish polysemy or homonymy is to look for a central core meaning.

It’s easier when we have examples of metaphor or transfer meanings.

(adj-s are particularly interesting in this respect because they often develop polysemy by adding new nominative-derivative meanings to their semantic structure).

Ex.: sour – кислый

- disagreeable (new meaning)

juicy – сочный

- scandalous

The media were delighted to have a juicy news story.

Board – a piece of wool

- a company or council (комиссия)

- meals (пансион)

Whether it is a case of polysemy or homonymy?

Set up – to establish (basic meaning)

It has a number of nominative & nom.-derivative meanings.

a) the derivative meaning

- to arrange

We need to set up emergency procedures to deal with this problem.

- to equip

The next band was already setting up on the other stage.

- to build

The army has set up roads round the city.

They are related to the core meaning.

b) the nominative meanings.

- to cause, to begin

The reactor car set up a chain reaction.

- to make smb seem guilty, to deceive smb

We sent our money but it turned out that the company didn’t exist and we

were just set up.

- to make smb healthy, full of energy

Full breakfast will set you up for the day.

Nominative meanings are more isolated & may give rise to homonyms.

2. Derivation capacity

Potential homonyms typically develop their own sets of derivatives.

Ex.: custom – 1. обычай, 2. клиентура, 3. (мн.ч.) таможня.

1. custom – customary

It is customary for the most important person to sit at the end of the table.

2. We don’t want to lose our customers.

3. Customs officer, customs shed

“custom” 1,2,3 are potential homonyms because they have different derivatives.

3. The range of collacability.

The word’s collacability is the functioning of the word in speech & the company it keeps with other items.

Potential homonyms have quite different range of phraseology.

Ex.: charge 1. price

free of charge

of no extra charge

2. (when smb is guilty)

responsibility

to bring charges

to press charges

to drop the charges

“charge” 1,2 are potential homonyms.