2.3 Polysemy and homonymy
3 min read•july 19, 2024
Words can be tricky. They often have multiple meanings, which can lead to confusion. This is where and come into play, two linguistic concepts that help us understand how words can mean different things.
Polysemy refers to related meanings of a single word, while homonymy involves unrelated meanings of words that sound or look the same. Context is key in figuring out which meaning is intended, but this can be challenging for language processing systems.
Polysemy and Homonymy
Polysemy vs homonymy
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- Polysemy refers to a single word or phrase having multiple related meanings derived from Greek "poly" (many) and "semy" (to signify)
- "Head" can refer to a body part, leader of a group or organization (head of state), or the top or front of an object (head of the line)
- Homonymy involves words that share the same spelling and/or pronunciation but have unrelated meanings
- are words with the same pronunciation but different spellings and meanings (to, too, two)
- are words with the same spelling but different pronunciations and meanings (lead as in "to guide" vs lead the metal)
- Key differences between polysemy and homonymy lie in the relatedness of meanings and etymology
- have related meanings often with a common etymological origin
- have unrelated meanings typically with different etymological origins
Instances of lexical ambiguity
- Identifying polysemy involves looking for words with multiple related meanings
- "Run" can mean to move quickly on foot, operate or function (run a machine), campaign for office (run for president), or extend or spread (colors running in the wash)
- Identifying homonymy requires finding words with the same spelling and/or pronunciation but unrelated meanings
- "Bank" can refer to a financial institution or the edge of a river or stream
- "Rose" can be a flower or the past tense of "rise"
Context in word disambiguation
- Context helps determine the intended meaning of polysemous and homonymous words through linguistic context (surrounding words, phrases, sentences) and situational context (setting, participants, purpose of communication)
- Strategies for disambiguation include considering the part of speech and syntactic role, examining with surrounding context, and using world knowledge and common sense to infer the most likely meaning
- In the sentence "I need to go to the bank to deposit my paycheck," the context suggests the financial institution meaning of "bank"
- In the sentence "The fisherman sat on the bank of the river," the context indicates the edge of a river or stream meaning of "bank"
Challenges for language processing
- (WSD) involves automatically determining the appropriate meaning of a word in a given context, which is essential for various natural language processing tasks (machine translation, information retrieval)
- Challenges in WSD include developing comprehensive lexical resources (WordNet) that capture the range of meanings, creating large annotated corpora for training and evaluation, handling context-dependent and domain-specific meanings, and dealing with figurative language (metaphors, idioms)
- Approaches to WSD encompass knowledge-based methods utilizing lexical resources and ontologies, supervised machine learning methods training classifiers on annotated corpora, and unsupervised methods clustering word occurrences based on context
Key Terms to Review (18)
Antonymy: Antonymy refers to the semantic relationship between words that have opposite meanings. This relationship is essential for understanding language and meaning, as antonyms help to clarify and differentiate concepts. Recognizing antonymy can enhance vocabulary and comprehension, connecting it to various lexical relations, including synonymy and hyponymy, as well as complexities like polysemy and homonymy.
Contextualism: Contextualism is a philosophical approach in semantics and pragmatics that emphasizes the role of context in understanding meaning. It suggests that the meaning of expressions can vary based on the circumstances surrounding their use, such as speaker intentions, cultural background, and the specific situation. This perspective is essential for interpreting polysemy, reference, propositional attitudes, and the nuanced implications of conversation.
Figurative meaning: Figurative meaning refers to the non-literal interpretation of words and phrases, where the intended meaning goes beyond the direct, dictionary definitions. This type of meaning often relies on context, culture, and shared understanding to convey ideas in a more imaginative or symbolic way. Figurative language can enrich communication by evoking imagery, emotion, and deeper understanding of concepts.
Homographs: Homographs are words that are spelled the same but have different meanings and may or may not be pronounced differently. This characteristic leads to potential confusion in communication, especially when context is not clear. Understanding homographs is crucial for grasping the nuances of language, as they highlight the complexity of meaning based on usage and pronunciation.
Homonyms: Homonyms are words that sound alike or are spelled alike but have different meanings. They can create confusion in language, especially in spoken communication, because the same word can refer to different concepts based on context. Understanding homonyms is essential for clear communication, as they highlight the complexities of word meanings and usage in everyday language.
Homonymy: Homonymy refers to the phenomenon where two or more words share the same spelling or pronunciation but have different meanings. This can create ambiguity in language, as the context is often needed to discern which meaning is intended. Understanding homonymy is essential in semantics and pragmatics, as it highlights the complexity of word meanings and how they can overlap in communication.
Homophones: Homophones are words that sound the same but have different meanings and often different spellings. They create interesting dynamics in language, especially in poetry, puns, and everyday communication, as the context usually helps clarify their meanings. Understanding homophones is crucial for grasping nuances in meaning and is closely related to concepts like polysemy and homonymy.
J.L. Austin: J.L. Austin was a British philosopher known for his work in the philosophy of language, particularly in analyzing how language is used in context. He introduced the concept of performative utterances, which are statements that perform an action rather than merely describing a state of affairs. This idea links to how we understand meaning, including distinguishing between different meanings and uses of words, as well as exploring the intentions behind our speech.
Lexical Ambiguity: Lexical ambiguity occurs when a word or phrase has multiple meanings or interpretations, leading to confusion or misunderstanding in communication. This phenomenon can arise from polysemy, where a single word has related meanings, or homonymy, where a word has distinct and unrelated meanings. Understanding lexical ambiguity is essential for analyzing how meaning is derived in natural language and for creating formal semantic analyses of sentences.
Literal meaning: Literal meaning refers to the explicit, dictionary definition of a word or phrase, without any figurative or metaphorical implications. It forms the foundation for understanding language, connecting directly to how words combine to create meaning in context and how different interpretations may arise based on usage.
Metaphor: A metaphor is a figure of speech that implies a comparison between two unrelated things by stating that one thing is another, highlighting similarities between them. This concept plays a crucial role in understanding how we derive meaning from language, as it allows for more expressive and creative forms of communication. Metaphors can also relate to how words can have multiple meanings and shift depending on context, revealing layers of understanding beyond literal interpretation.
Metonymy: Metonymy is a figure of speech in which one word or phrase is substituted for another with which it is closely associated. This technique relies on the relationship between the terms involved, allowing for a more nuanced meaning that often reflects a particular context or characteristic. It differs from polysemy and homonymy as it emphasizes the conceptual relationship rather than simply shared sounds or multiple meanings.
Noam Chomsky: Noam Chomsky is a renowned linguist, philosopher, and cognitive scientist, often regarded as the father of modern linguistics. His theories on the nature of language and its innate structures have significantly influenced the fields of semantics and pragmatics, particularly through his concepts of generative grammar and the distinction between competence and performance.
Polysemous Words: Polysemous words are words that have multiple meanings that are related by extension. This means that a single word can have various interpretations based on context, yet all these meanings share a common theme or concept. Understanding polysemy is important as it highlights how language evolves and how meanings can shift or expand based on usage in different situations.
Polysemy: Polysemy refers to a single word that has multiple meanings or senses, which are related by extension. This phenomenon is common in language and plays a crucial role in how we understand and categorize concepts, as it allows words to convey different ideas depending on their context. Polysemy interacts with related concepts such as homonymy, prototype theory, and Frege's distinction between sense and reference, shaping how meaning is constructed and understood in communication.
Semantic Relationships: Semantic relationships refer to the connections between meanings of words and how they relate to each other within a language. These relationships help us understand how different words can convey similar, opposite, or related meanings, influencing the way we interpret language and context. Recognizing these relationships is essential for analyzing language at a deeper level, especially when it comes to distinguishing between subtle differences in meaning and use.
Synonymy: Synonymy refers to the relationship between words that have similar meanings. This relationship highlights how different words can express the same or nearly the same idea, allowing for nuance and variation in language. Understanding synonymy is essential for grasping how words relate to one another and is connected to componential analysis, where semantic features are identified to differentiate meaning, as well as exploring other lexical relations such as antonymy and hyponymy, and recognizing challenges posed by polysemy and homonymy.
Word Sense Disambiguation: Word sense disambiguation (WSD) is the process of determining which meaning of a word is being used in a given context, especially when the word has multiple meanings or interpretations. This is crucial for understanding language accurately, as many words can be polysemous (having multiple related meanings) or homonymous (having multiple unrelated meanings). By resolving these ambiguities, WSD enhances clarity in both natural language processing and linguistic analysis.