A Study of Polysemy in English Vocabulary 英语课程论文1.doc

a study of polysemy in english vocabulary abstract: polysemy is very common in english vocabulary. it is essential to analyze the structure, features and language context of polysemy for language learner. for the four different reasons：shift of application in different fields；mutual transformation between common words and specialized words；ellipsis in language use and the reason explained in cognitive theory, polysemy comes into being.keywords: english, polysemy, causes, language context. 一、causes of polysemy: polysemy is the common feature in the whole natural language, especially in english. with the development peoples needs of recognizing and explaining the world，the problem of shortage of already-existed words arises。polysemy is come into being。there are four different reasons：shift of application in different fields；mutual transformation between common words and specialized words；ellipsis in language use and the reason explained in cognitive theory. （一）shift of application in different fields this is the main cause of polysemy .words have many meanings in different language context. some are temporary, while some are permanent。such as “mouth”，the original meaning is the mouth of animal, now it not only can refer to humans mouth but also can means the export of river and the entrance to the cave. （二）mutual transformation between common words andspecialized words in some sense, this is one of the shifts of application. “mouse” becomes the mouse locator in computer terminology while the original meaning is “a kind of animal”. word meanings vary with social environment in different field. for mathematicians, operation means “calculation”, while it is naturally understood as “military action” for soldiers. （三）ellipsis in language usethe use of the word is limited by language context, so it is not random.that is to say, they are always used with collocation of certain words.in the process of the use of collocations ,their meanings are shifted in some ways, then the two words have the same meaning. capital city, capital funds and capital letter. because the three phrases commonly appear and used frequently, the last word is omitted and its meaning shifted to capital (city, fund, and letter). （四）the reason explained in cognitive theory it is more acceptable to explain it in the usage of figurative languages (metaphor and metonymy) .it gives the additional meanings without losing the original meaning. prototype theory was proposed by eleanor roach, an american psychologist in the middle of 1970s.this theory has great influence on the study of polysemy. in terms of polysemy, cognitive linguistics theory think that there are multiple meanings under each key word. and these meanings are associated.二、the classification of meaning in polysemy the meaning of english words have been formed in a historical changing process, which are composed of conceptual and associative meaning.to understand and grasp the meaning of polysemy，we must consider the relationship between the senses of polysemy. there are mainly four types： （一）the original meaning and extended meaning the first meaning be found by etymology research is the original meaning, the rest of them are extended meaning. the original meaning of some words may not have practical value. for example, the original meaning of candidate is the people who wear white clothes and the original meaning of pen is feather. they have left no track in todays meaning. （二）the ordinary meaning and special meaning the primitive meaning may be narrowed，broadened or completely altered in the process of being use. the relationship between the original meaning and special meaning in polysemy suggest that it not only can present one collection of objection or action but also can express one or several objection or action of this kind. for example,“call me a bad doctor if you like. call me what you like, but dont call me at midnight for a headache that you have had for two weeks”.the first two meaning is “be known as”,and the meaning of the last one is “call up someone”.the former is the original meaning, while the latter is the special meaning. （三）the abstract meaning and detailed meaning the abstract meaning and detailed meaning are also the result of the change of word meaning. it is very common in word meaning of english. in general，the abstract nouns can refer to specific things. such as grasp, which the detailed meaning is hold something tightly .later the abstract meaning of it was connected with comprehend. （四）the literal meaning and figurative meaning the literal meaning and figurative meaning is another relationship in polysemy. “a mirror reflects light.” and “their actions reflects their thoughts.”the first reflects means give back in literal meaning，and the second reflects means mirroredin figurative meaning. to know the classification of meaning in polysemy, we can avoid memorizing words mechanically so as to help us to master the english words and learn english efficiency. 三、linguistic context （一）linguistic context the english word “context” is a polysemy in itself. it has two meanings as follows: circumstance and the relationship between two sentences or paragraphs in the article .we usually use the second meaning of it. thats exactly the linguistic context in a narrow meaning. in a broader sense, time places, scenes, even the whole cultural background. we call them ex-tra-linguistic context or situational context. as mentioned both in zhang weiyou and zhang junpeis article. （二） the influence of broad context on words the word meaning is very much influenced by what circumstances we used a word. for example, “its a difficult operation”. how can we understand the meaning of operation in different circumstances? it can all dependent on where we say it. when we say it in the hospital, it means surgery; when we say it in the factory, it means handle. it can all dependent on where we say it. ambition has no derogatory sense in western country, but it is a derogatory word in chinese meaning. while peasant has derogatory sense in american, it only means farmer in china. there are endless examples. （三）the influence of narrow context on words the excusive context also called language context. the language context is the situation in which the source test is produced, and the source texts are located. it can be further divided into lexicon-context and grammatical-context. the emergency of vocabulary in context is not arbitrary, but always in a certain structure, restricted by the grammatical structures and vocabulary structure.grammatical-text, namely the grammatical context of the vocabulary refers to the word framework of grammar.lexical-text is the vocabulary context of the vocabulary. and its the embodiment of grammatical structure.for example, we can say: have a dinner, have a rest, have a party, have a baby and so on. the word have has different meanings in different context. in the phrases get to do something and get someone to do something. the word get has different meanings because of the grammatical context. 四、the impacts of polysemy in english as a common phenomenon in english, polysemy has brought lots of impacts to the english learners. there is no doubt that they will meet a lot of problems caused by polysemy. no matter they are learning the english or communicating with those who speak english as their native language. they will make mistakes in english-chinese translation. especially for the new learners who learn the translation. when they encounter a polysemous word, it is very easy for them to translate it literally without real understandingcontext plays a crucial role for the elimination of polysemy ambiguities in the course of usage. learners should focus on cultivating the ability to understand polysemy in english learning.in order to improve the efficiency of english teaching，and master polysemy in a simply way.to achieve good teaching effect, we should combine the new words and grammatical context in a way which is suitable for learners level.at the same time, we should pay attention to polysemy in the real meaning of life.english vocabulary system is a complex system of expression,and polysemy is particularly complicated.the founder of the english language school firth once said: each word when used in a new context is a new word. it is really complicated. it will have a huge boost for language teaching and language use if you master as well as understand its exact meaning in the article. 参考文献1段满福,谈英语一词多义现象j.内蒙古大学学报,2004，（3）.2林承璋，英语词汇学引论m.武汉大学出版社，2001.3汪榕培，英语词汇学教程m.上海:上海教育出版社.1997.