POLYSEMY – ONE LEXICAL ITEM, HOMONYMY – TWO LEXICAL

F. Plank, Morphology II, WS 07/08
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POLYSEMY – ONE LEXICAL ITEM, HOMONYMY – TWO LEXICAL ITEMS
[???]
This is THE QUESTION
(to be anwered for each item on the following pages):
Is this ONE lexical item or TWO (or of course more)?
given these circumstances (differing across the items):
(a) given one form (pronunciation or abstract form) and more than one
meaning (with different kinds of meaning-relatedness: polysemy, itself of
different kinds; homonymy);
(b) with the inherent morphosyntactic categorisation (word class, gender,
transitivity) different or the same;
(c) with the exponents of inflectional categories (i.e., infl class: oblique
case, plural number, past tense, resultative participle) different or the same.
Some META-QUESTIONS:
(1) On which linguistic grounds do we decide between assuming (for the
mental lexicon, or also the printed dictionary) one lexical item or two (or more)
in cases such as those collected below?
possible answers:
• One lexical item if polysemy; two if homonymy (regardless of anything else).
• Two lexical items if polysemy and if different inherent morphosyntactic
categorisations and/or different inflectional exponents.
Whichever answer you'd go for, why do you go for it?
(2) Any relevant references?
(You'll be amazed to see the extent to which lexicographic practice varies.)
(3) Do such decisions about lexical-item-hood matter, and if so, what for?
(4) Is there experimental evidence to justify such decisions about lexical-item-hood?
(Well, priming, obviously. Should/could we do more?)
F. Plank, Morphology II, WS 07/08
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EXAMPLES
English
nouns
brother
(a) yes: 'male sibling', 'monk' (=polysemy)
(b) irrelevant
(c) different: PL bother-s, brethr-en
book
(a) yes: 'sheets of paper fastened together in a cover, for writing/printing or
reading', 'to write down in a notebook, esp. to record a charge against sb; to
give/receive an order for' (=polysemy, with the latter predictable from the
former, sort of)
(b) diff: NOUN, VERB
(c) diff or irrelev (following from N/V difference)
verbs
shine
(a) yes: 'to give out/reflect light', 'to polish' (=polysemy)
(b) diff: INTRANS, TRANS
(c) diff: PAST shone (strong), shine-d (weak)
spill
(a) yes?: durative/imperfective vs. punctual/perfective aspect or aktionsart
(=polysemy)
(b) same
(c) diff: PAST and PARTICIPLE spill-/d/, spill-/t/
[It has been claimed that verbs in this class – spill, burn, dream, ... – have
exponence alternations /d/ (expected, given the regular phonological
conditioning) vs. /t/ (with possible stem-vowel alternation) for both the PAST
tense and the resultative PARTICIPLE, and that /d/ is generally preferred over
/t/ for the PAST, which is typically durative/imperfective/dynamic, while /t/
is generally preferred over /d/ for the PARTICIPLE, which is typically
punctual/perfective/static.]
F. Plank, Morphology II, WS 07/08
The rest is German
nouns
Stift
(a) yes: 'pen', 'apprentice boy' (=polysemy?), 'monastery' (=homonymy)
(b) same: MASC; diff: MASC, NEUT
(c) same: PL Stift-e (for all three meanings)
Wort
(a) yes: 'linguistic unit', 'pronouncement' (=polysemy)
(b) same: NEUT
(c) diff: PL Wört-er, Wort-e
Land
(a) yes: 'country', 'stretch of land' (=polysemy)
(b) same: NEUT
(c) diff: PL Länd-er, Land-e
Gesicht
(a) yes: 'face', 'vision' (=polysemy)
(b) same: NEUT
(c) diff: PL Gesicht-er, Gesicht-e
Mutter
(a) yes: 'female parent', 'female screw' (Schraubenmutter) (=polysemy?)
(b) same: FEM
(c) diff: PL Mütter, Mutter-n
Typ
(a) yes: 'kind, type', 'guy' (=polysemy?)
(b) same: MASC
(c) diff: GEN.SG Typ-s, Typ-en; same: PL Typ-en
Bank
(a) yes: 'money place', 'sitting place' (now homonymy, originally – if perhaps
only in the donor language, Italian – polysemy)
(b) same: FEM
(c) diff: PL Bank-en, Bänk-e
Ton
(a) yes: 'clay', 'sound' (=homonymy)
(b) same: MASC
(c) diff: PL –, Tön-e
Block
(a) yes: 'cube', 'housing estate' (polysemy), 'writing pad' (homonymy)
(b) same: MASC
(c) diff: PL Blöck-e, Block-s, Block-s
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F. Plank, Morphology II, WS 07/08
Bauer
(a) yes: 'farmer', 'bird cage' (=homonymy)
(b) same: MASC (or diff: MASC, NEUT)
(c) diff: PL Bauer-n, Bauer-Ø
Mensch
(a) yes: 'human being', 'term of abuse, esp. for women' (=polysemy)
(b) diff: MASC, NEUT
(c) diff: PL Mensch-en, Mensch-er
Band
(a) yes: 'bond', 'ribbon' (polysemy), 'volume' (now homonymy?)
(b) diff: NEUT, NEUT, MASC
(c) diff: PL Band-e, Bänd-er, Bänd-e
Tor
(a) yes: 'entry, goal', 'fool' (=homonymy)
(b) diff: NEUT, MASC
(c) diff: PL Tor-e, Tor-en
Kiefer
(a) yes: 'jaw', 'pine tree' (=homonymy)
(b) diff: MASC, FEM
(c) diff: PL Kiefer, Kiefer-n
Steuer
(a) yes: 'steering wheel or other implement', 'tax' (=homonymy)
(b) diff: NEUT, FEM
(c) diff: PL Steuer-Ø, Steuer-n
See
(a) yes: 'lake', 'sea' (=polysemy?)
(b) diff: MASC, FEM
(c) same: PL See-n
Lama
(a) yes: animal, Tibetan political-religious leader (=homonymy)
(b) diff: NEUT, MASC
(c) same: PL Lama-s
Tau
(a) yes: 'rope', 'dew' (=homonymy)
(b) diff: NEUT, MASC
(c) same?: PL Tau-e, Tau-e?
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F. Plank, Morphology II, WS 07/08
verbs
schaffen
(a) yes: 'create', 'work' (=polysemy)
(b) same: TRANS
(c) diff: strong schuf, geschaffen; weak schaffte, geschafft
bewegen
(a) yes: 'cause', 'move' (=polysemy)
(b) same: TRANS
(c) diff: strong bewog, bewogen; weak bewegte, bewegt
bleichen
(a) yes: inchoative, causative (=polysemy)
(b) diff: INTRANS, TRANS
(c) diff: strong blich, geblichen; weak bleichte, gebleicht
hängen
(a) yes: inchoative, causative (=polysemy)
(b) diff: INTRANS, TRANS
(c) diff: strong hing, gehangen; weak hängte, gehängt
schmelzen
(a) yes: inchoative, causative (=polysemy)
(b) diff: INTRANS, TRANS
(c) diff: strong schmolz, geschmolzen; weak schmelzte, geschmelzt
(er-)schrecken
(a) yes: inchoative, causative (=polysemy)
(b) diff: INTRANS, TRANS
(c) diff: strong (er-)schrak, (er-)schrocken; weak (er-)schreckte, (er-) schreckt
schwellen
(a) yes: inchoative, causative (=polysemy)
(b) diff: INTRANS, TRANS
(c) diff: strong schwoll, geschwollen; weak schwellte, geschwellt
stecken
(a) yes: stative, factitive (=polysemy)
(b) diff: INTRANS, TRANS
(c) diff: strong stak, gestocken (? rather: weak gesteckt); weak steckte, gesteckt
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