解析英語中的一詞多義
摘要
隨著社會的發展，科技的突飛猛進以及電腦資訊的普及，一詞多義現象在英語語言中已經十分普遍。英語語言中許多新詞新義層出不窮,意思在增加，用途也在擴大。而這些詞語的`意義有何特徵，為何一個詞會出現這麼多意義？一詞多義現象在英語使用中產生了怎樣的影響？我們又該如何去做，才能更好地掌握一詞多義呢？
本文首先簡要概述一詞多義現象的歷史背景，然後分析一詞多義的特徵及其形成原因，並通過舉例說明一詞多義對英語學習和日常交際的影響。本文主要目的是幫助英語學習者瞭解更多關於一詞多義的資訊，更好地瞭解一詞多義的形成並掌握一詞多義的方法，以避免在與他人的交流中產生歧義。
關鍵字：一詞多義，特徵，原因，影響，方法
Analysis of Polysemy in English
Abstract
With the development of the society, science, technology and the popularization of internet information, polysemy has become more and more common in English. Apart from the special terms, even the words commonly used in our daily lives, most of which are polysemy. What is polysemy? What features does polysemy have? Why do these words have so many meanings? What influences are brought by polysemy? And what can we do to master Polysemy better? …
Keywords：polysemy, features, causes, impacts, methods
Introduction
Polysemy has a universal feature to all natural languages(1). This is particularly true of a highly developed language like English. Generally speaking, a word has only a single meaning at its first appearance. With the development of people’s needs of recognizing and explaining the world, the problem of shortage of already-existed words arises. And as a common phenomenon of language, it has always been attracting many linguists’ attention.
Polysemy, “ the association of two of more related senses with a single linguistic form” (Taylor 1995:99)，is one of the most important issues of present linguistic semantics, since the analysis of polysemy and polysemization processes is indispensable for accurate reading, language acquisition, computational linguistics and similar tasks. Although its importance was already recognized in many historical-philological traditions in the beginning of the twentieth century and was emphasized again by Ullmann（1951）, it is not until recently that polysemy has become a central issue again in linguistic semantics.
Notes: (1) Natural languages here refer to the languages different people use in daily life.
1. Features of Polysemy
Polysemy has been defined as “A term used in semantic analysis to refer to a lexical item which has a range of different meanings.” (Crystal, 1980:274) As we all know that polysemy is a common phenomenon in English, in which an overwhelming majority of words are polysemous.
Variety
According to different linguists, the meanings of a polysemous word can have varieties
of classifications and names. Cheng Yuming (1999), a Chinese linguist, points out that “To understanding the meanings of a word, we should not only pay attention to the specific meanings
Hierarchy
As far as Leech’s seven types of meaning are concerned, the relation between these types is not parallel, but there is hierarchy between them. Conceptual meaning is the primary meaning, which is the central meaning; while the other meanings, which are derived from the central
Changeability
The meanings of polysemous words are not unchanged. As the development of the society, the meanings are changing, which mainly performs as the sense shift and the emergence of a new meaning. Some original meanings may lose as the emergence of the new meaning or be placed by the other derived meanings or preserved with other meanings in the modern English. The
2. Causes of Polysemization
Ullmann(1951)⑧ states “polysemy is a fundamental feature of human speech, which can arise in multiplicity of ways” and puts forward five sources of polysemization, in which some sources can be illustrated as the main causes of polysemization.
2.1 Shifts in application
Shifts in application is the main cause of polysemization. Words have a number of different aspects according to the context in which they are used. Though some aspects are transitory, other aspects are conventionalized and develop into independent meanings of the same term. Further
2.2 Specialization in a social milieu
Word senses vary with social milieus, such as profession, region and age. For mathematicians, operation means ‘calculation’, while it is naturally understood as ‘military action’ for soldiers. And for zoologists, mouse means ‘a kind of animal’ but it is means ‘joystick’ for someone who learns
2.3 Usage of figurative language
The next cause is the usage of figurative language. Rhetorical use of a word (metaphor and metonymy) gives the word additional senses without losing the original meaning. Ullmann notes that “old sense will live on side by side as long as there is no possibility of confusion between
3. The Impacts of Polysemy in English
As a common phenomenon in English, polysemy has brought a lot of impacts to the English learners. They will definitely meet a lot of problems caused by polysemy no matter they are learning the English language or communicating with those who speak English as their native language.
3.1 Mistranslations in English-Chinese (EC) translation
Mistranslation in EC translation is mainly caused by polysemy. For new learners who learn the translation, when they encounter a polysemous word, it is very easy for them to take the word too literally and translate it without real understanding. Especially when they meet some
4. The Ways of Mastering Polysemy
Actually, no matter how many senses a word has, these senses always maintain a certain relationship. Kunihiro (1981) has listed eleven items as the relationship between multiple meanings of a polysemous word. In this chapter, some items listed by Kunihiro can be used to
4.1 Memorization of the meanings of polysemous word.
4.1.1 By inference
4.1.2 By metaphorical and metonymic transformation
Conclusion
This paper is divided into four parts: the introduction part firstly states a brief overview on the historical background of polysemy. As a common phenomenon in English, the study of polysemy has been attracted by lots of linguists home and abroad for a long history. From the complex relations between meanings and words were first noted by the Stoics, to a new starting
Acknowledgements
There are a great number of people who need to be acknowledged for their efforts in bringing this project to completion. First, I would like to acknowledge the college and all the
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