Definition ап4 sources of uolysemyl

the course of language development the original word sense may become archaic,

сГЪ1Ф i i. Ai / e Ъс нЪР lsnm л о snmian~ c~ret~m а11лпеФЬег tn theet 1псФлпгес the! torru

'change of meaning' is adequate for taking into account the relation of the former and а, new senses of the word.

But in the majority of cases the original meaning of а lexeme and а new one derived in th, course of lexical-semantic naming (they are usually referred to as different 'senses' pf а lexeme) happily coexist, making the word polysemantic.

Thus, the word is polysemantic when it refers to тоге than one conceptual category (cf. warm water and и «гт reception) and it has two or more interconnected senses.

Whatever the source of polysemy, it registers the results of people' s cognitive activity |а classifying and lexicalizing concepts.

One of the sources of polysemy which is called convergence of homonyms.Convergence of homonyms takes place when two words that had different origins and were developing independently begin to converge, to be perceived by people as semantically related Lexicographers who do not compile dictionaries on historical principles тау place such words in one entry with their homonyms as their derived meanings. For example, the word /геяй in Webster'к New Collegiate Dictionary includes the meaning 'disposed to take liberties: IMPUDENT' which is not etymologically related to its primary meaning 'not salty' but is the result of borrowing [fr. G весЬ] and folk etymology. The same situation occurs in cttt as 'animal' that adopted the unrelated meaning '[short for CATAMARAN]'.

But the major source for polysemy is derived meanings that appear as а result of secondary use of the word form in the process оЛехка1-semantic naining.

l2. The use of I ехка1-semantic iiaming in Eaalishl

Lexical-semantic naming of concepts related by similarity or contiguity is used to create both figurative and direct патер.

It is widely used to give ®итаке (usually derogatory) патер to а thing, action or quality but mainly to а person (tail 'one, as а detective, who follows or keeps watch on someone', ntonkey '(fig.) а person resembling а monkey; а ludicrous figure; DUPE').

Lexical semantic naming is also used for creating direct names. Thus, in nouns it is oIIea used for lexicalizing concepts of:

— instruments (hand 'an indicator on а dial', head 'the striking part of а weapon юопв 'the thread of а crew, а short revolving crew');

— parts о~ апу structure including body (leg 'а pole or а Ьаг serving as а support ' foot 'а piece of а sawing machine that presses the cloth', lid 'EYELID', bag 'UDDER')'

— actions,

events and йе,'т results (bed 'sleep; marital relationship', с"а'г 'employment, а position of employment');

рие рвэц оЯле[ е цл[сл вл[цвц [etttnroou рие Лолс[ [о рл[с[ в ло эшвп эцл t[2 лод 'лполоц[р эц Лвш Лоцл вэЯепЯие[ [иолоу[р ш эвпвож[ 'Яшшеп о[ fiq рэшви ож stoa(qo ло в[иэлэ 'sortt[enb ололоиоо лецсл ижо[ р[поцз o[d

'(рэвп оле/эау рив голос(вошли ро»оллоц цвоу л[эцл о[опор ол ' [eturue, ло лсоо рив ЮЫо[п[сл,цвоц srt, pue,[вшпж, ло[ иаеалср ло овп оцл: р) sotue 1пэлэщр элвц Лвш srdkouoo fiueru овпеооц в[эрош овод ш вс[вЯ [во[хо[ с 'оЯепЗие[ e ur pozt[eot st o[qrssod ЯисцлЛлоло rou tet[[ sr uoseoi оц~ 3urz е зрээп uorrtstnboe вл[ рив оЗвпЗпе[ эпо лол иэлэ ио[лоел[вце пе sr ЛшовЛ[с

'воц[[епЬ [euosud олпеЯои ло[ рэвп лэлэи оле 'o[dtuexo лол 'в[и воЯепЯие[ rmott[y Йжш п[ '[евлэлшп rou элв в[орош эвэцл tet[[ олелм ж[ os

.ЛЯо[оо[хо ~ t[st[3ug uropo[ [[поЩ[р лвош эцл ло эпо ц[[в я врло» ло зс[полЯ це ло[ fituosfi[od ш; [[а» se зэ[1[ле[пЗол ure[dxo рив [st[ or rng qooods ut овп ор[сл рие 'поц[иЗс 'иоо[хо[ [елиош шолл вэшеи оциешэв-[eotxo[ ло Яи[ло[л[ол рие Яи[ло[в [иэ Лоцд„о[цело[рэлс[ рлолл е ло лпэшс[о[олэр orruetuos эл[вш ЛшэвЛ[ос[ ло

'(.лои[~[ зпжд ло ло Гере яиц suotre[[orsuoo оц[ [о tot[rro, йод) av! poz а

рвэцсео ot[[ ол юцопе ие [в[оц ot рэвп ор[оел Зподв в, gva) aouvgddv.со лиэ '.(,иешос» snotot[eur в, — gva) uos~ad vy '(,хо[ [о эрвш леоо

or) sarpoq луассл /о srwvd/о эрссш sraalqo ю '(лщуч 'авооЗ 'uagorqa rva or)

'(,reo ролео[лвэшор e 'uor[ в 'лс в Зшрпрш в[вшшв [о вэ[оэсЬ е 'g '[eturtm рэлеоивэшор 'л, — gva) [vruruv.:олопэр or (fi[tiore3t[qo rou цЯпоцл) рэвп Лрв[пЗэл э.

reqr sor[durr [вш[ие ие Зш1опэр зрлосл цв[[Яи".[ ло[ ЛшэвЛ[ос[ ло [эрош в

шоцл лол ЛшэвЛ[ос[ [о [эрош в в Леш вЯшиеэш [е[[[ш ле[пп[в цл[» врлос» [ец[ вЯипжош ролиор ле[пЯол [о

firtuntutuoo эЯвпЯив Яипиви ло suuou рив srdoouoo ло вэс[Лл ше[лоо иэолцоц вио[[в[эл.ж[п: я rt эвпеооц Зшпжи [о sueour о[шешов-[eotxo[ Зшвп ш во[л[лв[пЗол uretr

рэвп Л[эрс» fi[[eroadso оле влэцло эшов рив 'элщилэс(шэл 'azrs 'advqs 'лссо[о 'эассалвсха 'лссэшэлош 'касслор 'влиэшпслаш 'sguv[d 'иршшо 'sg~vd Apoq э шеллос[ш[ рие mr[ttuey [зош «ло sorueu [псл Зпппвп Ллериооов ло[ рэвп эс[ Лв

'(ЛЭЬ[дЗЯд, auvq ',щЯ[[иоош, uoc Ж[ПЭ МЪМ.[.БЯс[, ру) влс1ээссоа rovzsqv лссэ.атэс

'(,Лс[ливпЬ ~Зле[, лалсл ',,»оцэЛ doop, руиЗ) sarrr[,

eyes, а short hooked bill (Е owl, Russ сова, It civetta) may be used to characterize person in all these three languages, the correlated names stand for difFerent Ьцд~ qualities: in Russian it denotes 'clever', 'sleeping late in the morning but not late @ night'while in Italian it characterizes 'а woman that attracts the attention of men'.

l3. Ways of meaning differentiatioal

Among the major notional classes of words the most polysemous are verbs, followed by adjectives and nouns, though the data obtained may be connected, to а large extent, with different methods of sense differentiation for these classes of words.

It is extremely difficult to say Ьоч many meanings а given word has. Different dictionaries state different numbers of meanings for the same word because it is ивпа11у matter of the dictionary compilers' policy to decide the degree of detail they will use to present the semantics of а word. However lexicologists use specific criteria to determine how many meanings а word has.

The major criterion is semantic — referring the word to more than one conceptual category. Scholars also use many other criteria to determine the number of meanings in а word such as different syntactic distribution of potentially ambiguous items (the adjective!И, for example, has different senses when used attributively in ill deeds or predicatively as in is ill); their different morphological characteristics, as in the case of the noun glass that may be countable (give те а glass of чatеr) and uncountable (it is made of а!ая). their diferent derivational potential (the lexical-semantilc variant glass as 'а container' has а derivative glassful, while the lexical-semantic variant glass as 'substance' does not have it).

Зобе scholars and lexicographers use the criterion of translation to determine the number of meanings in а word: if for the target word has more than one equivalent names in а foreign language. For example, the English word /асе is believed to have at least 6 meanings as there are 6 its equivalents in Russian: '1. лицо, 2. выражение лица, 3. гримаса, 4. внешний вид, 5. передняя, лицевая сторона, лицо, б. циферблат' и др.

This criterion, however, should be handled with caution. Very often it merely signals different volume of word categories rather than polysemy. Thus, the conceptual красе of the English nounflask presented as one meaning in Webster 's New Collegiate Dictionary 'а container somewha

t narrowed toward the outlet and often fitted with а closure; esp, a broad flattened necked vessel used esp. to cany alcoholic beverages on the person', is presented in English-Russian Dictionary by V.К. Muller by several Russian words: flask 'фляжка; фляга; бутыль; колба, флакон; склянка', yet we can hardly call the English wordflask being polysemantic on this ground.

The meanings of а polysemantic word are usually mutually exclusive, and ambiguity, or uncertainty, caused by polysemy easily vanishes when а person interpretes the context.

ешу is one of the trickiest and so far unresolved problems for machine

(ог high polysemy ia Rnitlisg

is а language universal. It takes place in аll human languages, yet degrees of in different languages are different.

spoken Chinese, for example, are much more polysemous than in English 91:187/. But the degree of polysemy of words in English is higher, for example, assian: the usual number of meanings in an English word ranges &om 3 to 8, 'лвяап it is 2 to 5.

ns for relatively high polysemy of English words are not clear yet. However, we, the factors that contribute to polysemy, and all these factors take place in

8 to George К. Zipf's principle of least effort (1948) there is а direct n between the length of а word and its frequency, and between the frequency of l the degree of polysemy. G.Х.Zipf even described the number of meanings in а hematically: m = ~l F Readings... 1969:40/.

iunicatively the most important words are usually short, shorter words are more у used ш speech, and the more frequently the word is used in speech the greater

meanings it has.

vords, being s/iort, provide the ideal material for their pequent usage and hence iI-semantic naming leading to polysemy. The average number of meanings of the [uentIy used English words is 25.

of lexical-semantic naming in а language leading to polysemy is determined by cans of lexicalization like affixation, composition, and conversion. Lexical- naming is especially important for languages with а limited system of nal affixes, like Pidgin English or Chinese. The loss of many native шепча/юпй и Middle English could have contributed to the increase of lexical-semantic

md а higher degree оГро1узету in Modern English, too.

Still ройег factor stimulating polysemy is its period о/ existence. The longer the word in а language the greater number of meanings it usually acquires. So, native щей

in gДylish are usually the most polysemantic.

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