Systematic polysemy raises a number of problems for lexicographers. The lexical semantics of english count and mass nouns. I look at the more finegrained distinction between regular and irregular polysemy and i argue for a more nuanced conclusion. Its basic task being a study and systematic description of vocabulary in respect to its origin, development and its current use.
Read the fulltext online edition of lexical semantics. As nouns the difference between lexicology and lexicography is that lexicology is contextuncountablelinguisticslangen the part of linguistics that studies words, their nature and meaning, words elements, relations between words including semantic relations, words. Obviously, homophony and polysemy are fuzzy concepts, insofar as polysemy might evolve into homophony. Polysemy is an interesting phenomenon that concerns cases in which a word or phrase enjoys multiple, related meanings. A catalogue record for this book is available from the british library. Systematic polysemy in lexicology and lexicography1 university of. Polysemy is thus distinct from homonymyor homophonywhich is an accidental similarity between two words such as bear the animal, and the verb to bear. Lexicology is the scientific investigation of the lexicon of a language, including, for example, its historical development, its social stratification, its quantitative composition, or the way in which some thematic area is encoded. The study or description of the vocabulary of a particular language, and the meaning that associates certain words to others in a dictionary, is recognized as theotrical lexicography. Numerous and frequentlyupdated resource results are available from this search. Papers from the international conference on historical lexicography and lexicology, at the university of leicester, 2002, international journal of lexicography, volume 20, issue 2, june 2007, pages 182188, s. The essential difference between them lies in the degree of systematization and.
Firstly, nouns like book, dictionary, newspaper, map, letter, film or cd have senses such. One should also mention my numerous papers in serbocroatian on these topics, e. The systematic connection between english mass and count nouns has long been known. Lexicology is the study of the lexis, the library of words which make up a language.
We consider here the process that provides for systematic conversion of count to mass nouns in english a chicken. Systematic polysemy in lexicology and lexicography1. Lexicography also studies the lexicon as lexicology does but whereas lexicology concentrates more on general properties and features that can be viewed as systematic, lexicography typically has the so to say individuality of each lexical unit in the focus of its interest. Title, systematic polysemy in lexicology and lexicography. Lexicography, the oldest subdiscipline of linguistics, deals with the compilation of dictionaries. I use this term to refer to a group of lexemes with a shared property or. In socalled systematic polysemy, the related senses of a lexeme are predictable on the basis of a general pattern of sense alternation observed for words denoting objects of the same category. In the parlances of socio and cognitive linguistics, polysemy is often used in a restrictive way to. Two uses of the same word may become more and more dissimilar, to the point that the relation is not obvious anymore to ordinary speakers. Lexicology deals not only with simple words in all their aspects but also with complex and compound words, the meaningful units of language. From hannu tommola, krista varantola, tarja salmitolonen and jrgen schopp, eds. In the sixteenth century, two developments led to lexicology and lexicography. Lexicology as a branch of linguistics has its own aims and methods of scientific research, its basic task being a study and systematic description of vocabulary in respect to its origin, development and current use. Practical lexicography is the ability of accumulating, writing and editing dictionaries.
Reliable information about the coronavirus covid19 is available from the world health organization current situation, international travel. This article distinguishes polysemy from similar phenomena and presents some tests for determining the presence of polysemy. The word polysemy comes from the greek for many signs. Systematic polysemy in lexicology and lexicography euralex. The study object of lexicology is difficult to grasp. The term first appeared in the 1820s, though there were lexicologists in essence before the term was coined. In addition, polysemy is differentiated from other phenomena that involve potential multiplicity of meaning. It ranges over philosophy of language, prototype theory, artificial intelligence, cognitive linguistics, systemic linguistics, structuralism european an. Polysemy is a term used in semantic and lexical analysis to describe a word with multiple meanings.
Not the least profit is to be gained by a theoretical semanticist who has never been exposed to apresjans. Arleta adamskasalaciak, julie coleman and anne mcdermott eds. The adjective forms of the word include polysemous or polysemic. Doc systematic polysemy in lexicology and lexicography1. Lexicology and lexicography ebooks of central institute of indian. Also in french translation in linguistique franaise, winter, 1997. Polysemy is the association of one word with two or more distinct meanings, and a polyseme is a word or phrase with multiple meanings. It is prefaced by hrinchenkos valuable survey of ukrainian lexicography. Lexicography is divided into two separate but equally important groups. Oclcs webjunction has pulled together information and resources to assist library staff as they consider how to handle.
Halliday is a presentation of the history of lexicology, since its origins, in different parts of the world. Computational lexicology as a related field in the same way that computational. Practical lexicography is the art or craft of compiling, writing and editing dictionaries theoretical lexicography is the scholarly discipline of analyzing and describing the semantic, syntagmatic, and paradigmatic relationships within the lexicon vocabulary of a language, developing theories of dictionary. Lexicography is an important branch of linguistics which covers the theory and practice. This new routledge major work is a sixvolume collection of nearly one hundred papers, articles, and extracts covering every aspect of lexicology. Any suggestions in this respect are much appreciated, as are recommendations for new words. Historical dictionaries and historical dictionary research. Lexicology is concerned with words, variable wordgroups, phraseological units, and with. Conventional, itembased formats provide no obvious place for listing regularities like these. Practical lexicography paperback thierry fontenelle.
The phenomenon of systematic polysemy offers a fruitful domain for examining the theoretical differences between lexicological and lexicographic approaches to description. Lexicography, semantics and lexicology in english historical linguistics. Lexicology, semantics and lexicography selected papers from the fourth g. It focusses on central issues in the field and covers topics hotly debated in lexicography circles. Systematic polysemy in lexicology and lexicography1 abstract.
Systematic or regular polysemy is characterized as the phen omenon that a noun has several distinct but related meanings whereby the same relation holds between the m. We consider here the process that provides for systematic conversion of count to mass nouns in english. A changing world of words studies in english historical. But lexicography is not always a direct application of a lexicological or a semantic theory, and to the extent that lexical semantic theory has actually played a role, the. These systematic aspects make polysemy an important field of study of synchronic and generative linguistics. Some of the difficulties are essentially structural or organizational. Lexicography and lexicology have a common object of study for they describe the vocabulary of a language.
The papers in this volume show the range and direction of current work in historical semantics and wordstudies. Brook symposium, manchester, august 1998 current issues in linguistic theory julie coleman, christian kay on. The vocabulary of any language has several principles of lexeme grouping at its disposal, of which i shall briefly discuss lexicographic types and lexicosemantic paradigms. Systematic polysemy in lexicology and lexicography. Francisco cortes rodriguez and ricardo mairal uson. New approaches to specialized english lexicology and lexicography. Esp and general english lexicology and lexicography. In contrast, a onetoone match between a word and a meaning is called monosemy. Its theoretical counterpart is lexicology, and specifically with regard to the description of meaning, lexical semantics. Lexicographers know how difficult it is to determine the number of senses of a word, to define them, to say. What is the difference between lexicology and lexicography. The definitions here are all provisional, and i am continually looking to refine and improve them.
The phenomenon of systematic polysemy a fruitful do offers main forexamlnlng the theoretical differences and between lexicological lexicographic approaches to description. A pragmatic perspective polysemy is usually described as the case where a single lexeme is associated with several related senses. Lexicology is the part of linguistics which studies words, their nature and meaning, words elements, relations between words semantical relations, word groups and the whole lexicon. Systematic polysemy in lexicology and lexicography with annie zaenen. I have also authored a book in serbocroatian in this field titled foundations of lexicology and neighboring disciplines first edition in 1998, second in 2005. Systematic polysemy in lexicology and lexicography uc.
In the canonical compartmentalization of linguistics, lexicography belongs to applied linguistics. The book is intended for english language students at pedagogical universities. A preliminary design for a syntactic dictionary of old english on semantic principles. Lexicology as a branch of linguistics has its own aims and methods of scientific research. It has been designed as a resource for students and scholars of lexicography and lexicology and to be an essential reference for professional lexicographers. Both lexicology and lexicography are derived from the greek work lexiko. In deciding between polysemy or homonymy, it might be necessary to look at the history of the word to see if the two. Including a selection of papers originally presented at the 10th international conference on english historical linguistics, the contributions to this volume aim to show the breadth and depth of late1990s studies in lexicology, semantics and lexicography. Lexicography farhangnevisi, the compiling of dictionaries, glossaries, and vocabularies of a language or a particular lexical corpus, the entry words being defined in the same language monolingual or another bilingual. Systematic or regular polysemy is characterized as the phen omenon that a noun has several distinct but related meanings whereby the same relation holds between the m eanings for a series of nouns. Polysemy is one of the major problems encountered by semanticists, who sometimes prefer to refer to it as ambiguity.
But there are also more systematic attempts, such as the catholicon, a mixture of encyclopedia and dictionary which, compiled around 1250, was the. Using ontologies to model polysemy in lexical resources. The following is an outline of the characteristics, geocultural affinities, and historical development of persian lexicography. Systematic polysemy raises a number of problems for lexicographers, particularly if dictionaries are to be modified to accommodate new types of users and new applications.
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