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Criteria for polysemous word identification and classification of their extended meanings

  • Korean Semantics
  • 2009, 28(), pp.193-226
  • Publisher : The Society Of Korean Semantics
  • Research Area : Humanities > Korean Language and Literature

LIM JI Ryong 1

1경북대학교

Accredited

ABSTRACT

Lim Ji-ryong. 2009. Criteria for polysemous word identification and classification of their extended meanings. Korean Semantics, 28. This paper suggests and discusses criteria for the identification and classification of polysemous words and meaning extensions, which are an important but unsolved issue of lexical semantics. The criteria are discussed in this paper in terms of prototype theory and the usage-based model of Cognitive Linguistics. Conclusions arrived at in this paper fall into two categories. In the first category, two criteria are established for polysemous words. First, they can be identified by the imposition of two or more core meanings in the usage and in the process of meaning chains. The second criterion concerns faceted words which are on the boundary between polysemous words and those with only one sense. These have to be distinguished from polysemous words in terms of autonomy. In the second category, four criteria for the classification of polysemous meaning extensions are suggested. First, so-called categorial metaphors are needed to take into consideration the amplification of human experience. Second, the typical extension route is from the concrete to the abstract. Third, the frequency of use helps in grasping the degree of activation of specific meaning extensions, though this is not always consistent with the first and second criteria. Fourth, in terms of grammatical information, some particular verbals are classified as polysemous adjectives and verbs, according to the weight of their prototypical meaning. Verbs and auxiliary verbs, on the other hand, are classified as polysemous meaning extensions, while polysemous uses and meaning extensions can also be classified on the basis of arguments, though too much schematization may obscure the nature of polysemous meaning extensions.

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This paper was written with support from the National Research Foundation of Korea.