现代英语词汇学概论chapter6

POLYSEMYANDHOMONYMYChapterVI* Amanwhowasinvolvedinaseriousmotorcycleaccidentwasunabletospeakwhenhefirstregainedconsciousness. Wishingtoknowhowlonghehadbeenunconscious,hetookapieceofpaperandapencilfromthebedsideand,afterwriting“date”?onit,gaveittohisnurse. Shehandeditbacktohimaftershehadwrittentheword“Married”onit.* Asmostwordsarearbitraryandconventionalsymbolswithoutanyintrinsicconnectionwithwhattheyreferto,itmaysometimeshappenthatmorethanonemeaningisattachedtoaword,ortwoormorewordsmayhavethesameformbutbedifferentinmeaning.Theformerisknownaspolysemy,andthelatter,homonymy.*Polysemy Alexicalitemhasarangeofdifferentmeanings,thatis,onesinglewordhastwoormoresensesatthesametime. blanket:羊毛毯；给……盖羊毛毯 get:150meanings cut:120meanings Asignofthesuperiorityofthatlanguage. “Themoremeaningsawordhasaccumulated,themorediverseaspectsofintellectualandsocialactivityitislikelytorepresent.”* Inordertoexpressnewideas,newprocesses,newproducts,andsoforth,languagecandothreethings:formanewword,borrowawordfromotherlanguages,oraddnewmeaningstoestablishedwords.Ofthethreeways,thesimplestoneistohaveoldwordstakeonadditionalmeaning.Thatiswhypolysemicwordsoflongstandingaresignsofanadvancedculture.*Twoapproaches1)Diachronicapproach(历时的) Fromthediachronicpointofview,polysemyisthoughttobetheresultofgrowthanddevelopmentofthesemanticstructureofaword. Thisfirstmeaningistheprimarymeaning(原始意义).Theselatermeaningsarecalledderivedmeanings(派生意义). *AnExampleFace:12meanings(1)thefrontofthehead(2)asurfaceofathing(3)theappearance(4)thefunctionalsurface(5)effrontery(6)thetopography… (1)istheprimarymeaningandalltherestarederivedlateronfromtheprimarymeaning.Allderivedmeanings(2-12)arerelatedtotheprimaryoneinonewayoranother.**2)synchronicapproach(共时的) Synchronically,polysemyisthoughtasthecoexistenceofvariousmeaningsofthesamewordinahistoricalperiodoftime. Thebasicmeaningofawordisconsideredtobethecoreofwordmeaning,calledthecentralmeaning(中心意义).Thederivedmeanings,nomatterhownumerous,aresecondarymeanings(次要意义). Theinterrelationorcomparisonbetweenthecentralmeaningandsecondarymeanings.* Insomecases,theprimarymeaning(diachronically)andthecentralmeaning(synchronically)coincide. However,insomecases,ameaningthatappearedaftertheoriginalmeaningcanbecomethecentralmeaning. Thetwoapproachesaresupplementarytoeachotherintheanalysisofapolysemousword.*Twoprocessesof(leadingto)polysemy radiation concantenation* Radiation(语义辐射) Semantically,radiationistheprocessinwhichtheprimaryorcentralmeaningstandsatthecenterwhilesecondarymeaningsradiatefromitineverydirectionlikeray. Allthemeaningsareindependentofoneanother,butcanallbetracedbacktothecentralmeaning.*headtheheadoftheschoolsixpenceperheadtheheadofapagetoloseone’sheadsixheadofcattleaheadofcabbageattheheadofalistTwoheadsarebetterthanone.todiscussaquestionunderfiveheadsuseyouhead* Concantenation(连锁型) Concatenation,“linkingtogether”isasemanticprocessinwhichthemeaningofawordmovesgraduallyawayfromitsfirstsensebysuccessiveshifts,likethelinksofachain,untilthereisnoconnectionbetweenthesensethatisfinallydevelopedandtheprimarymeaning.board→木板→餐桌→会议桌→董事会* Concatenationdescribesaprocesswhereeachofthelatermeaningisrelatedonlytotheprecedingonelikechains. 1 2 3 4 5 Radiationdescribesaprocesswhereeachofthederivedmeaningsisdirectlyconnectedtotheprimarymeaning.**Homonymy Greekhomonumos(homo:thesame,onoma:name) refertotwoormorewords,whichhavethesameform,butdifferinmeaning.Theyarepronouncedalike,orspelledalike,orboth. E.g.: light（光）light（轻的） bark（吠）bark（树皮） tear（眼泪）tear（撕） lead（率领）lead（铅）* Typesofhomonyms Perfect/absolutehomonyms（完全同音同形异义词） Wordsidenticalinsoundandspellingbutdifferentinmeaning bear/beə/（熊）bear/beə/（忍耐） Don’ttroubletroubleuntiltroubletroublesyou. Homophones（同音异义词） Wordsidenticalinsoundbutdifferentinspellingandmeaning meet/mi:t/（遇见）mete/mi:t/（边界）meat/mi:t/（肉） Homographs(同形异义词) Wordsidenticalinspellingbutdifferentinsoundandmeaning tear/tɪə/（眼泪）tear/teə/（撕裂） Ofthethreetypes,homophonesconstitutethelargestnumberandaremostcommon.* Sourcesofhomonyms A.Phoneticconvergence:sea/see steal/steel B.Semanticdivergence:Whentwoormoremeaningsofthesameworddriftaparttosuchanextentthattherewillbenoobviousconnectionbetweenthem,polysemywillgiveplacetohomonymy C.Foreigninfluence D.Shortening*Differentiationofhomonymfrompolysemys☆Polysemy:onewordhavingseveralmeaningsthatderivefromthesamehistoricalsourceandbetweenwhichthereisahistoricalorrealisticrelation.Indictionary,allmeaningsarelistedunderthesamesinglepolysemy..☆Homonym:wordsonlyidenticalinsoundorspellingorbothbuthavingnoconnectioninmeaningandnotderivingfromthesamehistoricalsource.Indictionary,Homonymsarelistedindependently..*TheStylisticValueofPolysemyandHomonymyAchievinghumour,ironyandheighteneddramaticpower 1)“waiter!” “Yes,sir.” “What’sthis?” “It’sbeansoup,sir” “Nomatterwhatit’sbeen.Whatisitnow?” 2)WhyistheMiddleAgesalsocalledtheDarkAges? Becausethereweresomanyknights. 3)Whyshouldamannevertellhissecretsinacornfield? Becauseithassomanyears. *（赵辛楣在追求苏小姐，他把方鸿渐视为情敌。) 赵：……方先生在外国学的是什么啊？ 方（没好气）：没学什么。 苏：鸿渐，你学过哲学，是不是？ 赵：从我们干实际工作的人的眼光看来，学哲学跟什么都不学没两样。 方：那么得赶快找个眼科医生，把眼光验一下；会这样看东西的眼睛，一定有毛病。 钱钟书《围城》 *