Polysemy Definition and Examples

Polysemy is the association of one word with two or more distinct meanings, and a polyseme is a word or phrase with multiple meanings. The word polysemy comes from the Greek for many signs. The adjective forms of the word include  polysemous or polysemic. In contrast, a one-to-one match between a word and a meaning is called monosemy. In The Handbook of Linguistics, William Croft notes: Monosemy is probably most clearly found in specialized vocabulary dealing with technical topics. According to some estimates, more than 40 percent of English words have more than one meaning. The fact that so many words (or lexemes) are polysemous shows that semantic changes often add meanings to the language without subtracting any, says M. Lynne Murphy, in Lexical Meaning. Examples and Observations The word good has many meanings. For example, if a man were to shoot his grandmother at a range of five hundred yards, I should call him a good shot, but not necessarily a good man. – G.K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy, 1909 Have You Met Life Today? – Advertising slogan of Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, 2001 Now, the kitchen was the room in which we were sitting, the room where Mama did hair and washed clothes, and where each of us bathed in a galvanized tub. But the word has another meaning, and the kitchen Im speaking of now is the very kinky bit of hair at the back of the head, where the neck meets the shirt collar. If there ever was one part of our African past that resisted assimilation, it was the kitchen. – Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Colored People. Alfred A. Knopf, 1994 Polysemy in Language Sports Illustrated can be bought for 1 dollar or 35 million dollars; the first is something you can read and later start a fire with, the second is a particular company that produces the magazine you just read. Such polysemy can give rise to a special ambiguity (He left the bank five minutes ago, He left the bank five years ago). Sometimes dictionaries use history to decide whether a particular entry is a case of one word with two related meanings, or two separate words, but this can be tricky. Even though pupil (eye) and pupil (student) are historically linked, they are intuitively as unrelated as bat (implement) and bat (animal). – Adrian Akmajian, et al., Linguistics: An Introduction to Language and Communication. MIT Press, 2001 The simplest form of this verb is when it signifies movement forward: The advance of the army was rapid. The  word can also mean the state of being in a forward position: We were in advance of the rest of the army. More figuratively, the word can be used to signify promotion in rank or position or salary: His advance to stardom was remarkable. It is also possible to advance an argument in the sense of putting forward reasons for supporting a particular view or course of action: I would like to advance the argument that being in debt is a desirable state while interest rates are so low. – David Rothwell, Dictionary of Homonyms. Wordsworth, 2007 Polysemy in Advertising Common polysemic puns involve words like bright, naturally, clearly, where the advertiser will want both meanings. This headline ran above a picture of a sheep: Take it from the manufacturer. Wool. Its worth more. Naturally. (American Wool Council, 1980) Here the pun is a way of attributing wool, not to a manufacturing industry, but to nature – Greg Myers, Words in Ads. Routledge, 1994 As a Graded Phenomenon We adopt as a working hypothesis the view that almost every word is more or less  polysemous, with senses linked to a prototype by a set of relational semantic principles which incorporate a greater or lesser amount of flexibility. We follow the now common practice in polysemy research and regard polysemy as a graded phenomenon...where contrastive polysemy deals with homonyms such as match (a small stick with a tip which ignites when scraped on a rough surface) and match (contest in a game or sport), whereas complementary polysemy deals with interrelated semantic aspects of a word, such as, in the case of record, for example, the physical object and the music. – Brigitte Nerlich and David D. Clarke, Polysemy and Flexibility. Polysemy: Flexible Patterns of Meaning in Mind and Language. Walter de Gruyter, 2003 The Lighter Side of Polysemy Leave it to Americans to think that no means yes, pissed means angry, and curse word means something other than a word thats cursed! – Excalibur employee in It Hits the Fan. South Park, 2001 Lt. Abbie Mills: You sure you want to stay in this old cabin? Its a bit of a fixer-upper. Ichabod Crane: You and I have very different definitions of old. Seems if a building stays upright for more than a decade, people declare it a national landmark. – Nicole Beharie and Tom Mison in John Doe an episode of the television show Sleepy Hollow, 2013

The Great Gatsby And The Roaring Twenties - 1131 Words

â€Å"In a decade that roared with social amends† it was often referred to as the Roaring Twenties. Two famous literature pieces are very similar connecting key events and issues from this time period. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby and Ken Allen’s â€Å"Roaring Twenties† both utilize conflict, foil and symbolism to help the readers acknowledge the influence of class and money over the characters during the Roaring Twenties. Conflict is a recurring struggle throughout The Great Gatsby and Ken Allen’s â€Å"Roaring Twenties†. In Fitzgerald’s nonfiction novel, class was one of the main conflicts and reasoning’s behind many of the actions from the characters. A major social issue was class socialization. Class socialization refers to the rich socializing with the rich and the poor socializing with the poor. Classes of people were divided by wealth. In The Great Gatsby, Daisy would not be with Gatsby due to his lack of money. Since Gatsby descended from a poor family, Daisy would not accept him as a lover although she was indeed in love with him. Gatsby’s lack of wealth led to many other conflicts sustaining from his drive to earn money to prove his worth of her affection. Another conflict in The Great Gatsby was the stock market crash. The stock market crash was a major event during the Roaring Twenties. When the market crashed, prices on goods soared due to the low quan tity of products resulting with millions of people becoming poor. In Allen’s poem â€Å"Roaring Twenties†, socialismShow MoreRelatedThe Roaring Twenties And The Great Gatsby1284 Words   |  6 PagesThe Roaring Twenties Eng III I-Hui Chen Period3 1920 is a really important time in America, it starts after the World War One until the Great Depression. People start to enjoy their life and having parties, alcohol, everything is about money and goods. We can see people’s amazing and colorful life from the,†The Great Gatsby†. But was The life at Twenties really this wonderful? Or actually there’s a lot of hard things behind the amazing life? This era is after the World War One, there’s notRead MoreThe Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald1389 Words   |  6 PagesRoaring Twenties of America The Roaring Twenties era was a time of not only of crime, changing action and roles of women, but also of many other different social and cultural trends. The 1920s was the Progressive era that was a response to the Gilded Age. The Progressive era was filled with many reformers that aimed to reform the social issues like the women’s movement who had started a temperance movement to prohibit people from drinking. The 1920s was also a time of a social gap where the wealthyRead MoreEssay on Class Conflict in the Great Gatsby1261 Words   |  6 Pagesnovel, The Great Gatsby, is the theme of society and class. Three separate social classes are portrayed in the novel: â€Å"old money,† â€Å"new money,† and the lowest class known as â€Å"no money.† The â€Å"old money† class refers to those who come from families that have fortunes. â€Å"New money† families are those who made their money in the Roaring Twenties and often lavishly display their wealth. In the novel, the growing tension between the â€Å"old† and the â€Å"new† money classes are shown through Gatsby and Tom’s struggleRead MoreThe Great Gatsby891 Words   |  4 PagesRolling Twenties Brother The era known as the Roaring Twenties was a time of immense joy, opportunity and prosperity. Unfortunately, the 1920’s was also a period where greed, corruption and organized crime took a firm foothold. The exuberant happiness of the time was only trumped by its gap between the rich and the poor. The novel shows the true face of the so-called Age of Wonderful Nonsense with the writer’s own personal conflict. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s groundbreaking novel The Great Gatsby has stoodRead More Great Gatsby by Scott Fitzgerald Essay1122 Words   |  5 Pages Great Gatsby by Scott Fitzgerald The 1920s is the decade in American history known as the â€Å"roaring twenties.† Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby is a reflection of life in the 1920s. Booming parties, prominence, fresh fashion trends, and the excess of alcohol are all aspects of life in the â€Å"roaring twenties.†   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The booming parties in Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby reflect life in America during the 1920s. Gatsby displays his prominent fortune by throwing grand parties. FromRead MoreExamples Of The American Dream In The Great Gatsby903 Words   |  4 Pages Scott Fitzgeralds â€Å"The Great Gatsby†, depicts the lavish and privileged lives of an affluent cast of characters living in East and West Egg (Long Island), during the height of the Roaring Twenties. Fitzgerald illustrates an â€Å"up for grabs† world where anyone can make it to the top. No one better embodies this than Jay Gatsby, a midwest farm boy turned self-made millionaire. While many such as Gatsby were able to amass a large amount of wealth during the Roaring Twenties, it was a futile endeavourRead MoreThe Great Gatsby And Harlem By Langston Hughes1089 Words   |  5 PagesThe roaring 20’s was an astounding time in the history of the United States of America. Many authors p ublished novels, poems, and other works of literature to show their readers what it would be like to experience this time frame. Some examples of these works include The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald and â€Å"Harlem† by Langston Hughes. Both of these pieces of literature include literary elements to appeal to the reader’s senses and imagination. A prevalent theme that has been found in works ofRead MoreThe Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald992 Words   |  4 PagesThe Jazz Age was a period of great economic, social, and political change happening in the 1920’s. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, however, sees in this a time of boundaryless death, and urban decimation. The Great Gatsby is modeled towards the death of the American dream during the 1920’s. Based on the happening of the 1920’s, this model is certainly reasonable. F. Scott Fitzgerald and The Great Gatsby use the motifs of materialism, carelessness, and decay seen in the 1920’s in order toRead MoreLifestyles of the Rich and Famous in the Roaring Twenties Essay1015 Words   |  5 PagesFamous in the Roaring 20’s The Roaring Twenties†, The Era of Wonderful Nonsense, The Decade of the Dollar , The Period of the Psyche, Dry Decade and the age of Alcohol and Al Capone†, these slogans are all ways to describe the 1920’s in just a few words. (The 1920s: Lifestyles and Social Trends: Overview) The 1920’s were a decade of parties, money, and extravagant lifestyles. The decade portrayed the American Dream of women, money, alcohol, music, and partying. In the twenties dresses wereRead MoreNew York Of The Twenties956 Words   |  4 PagesNew York in the twenties â€Å"marked significant changes in lifestyle and culture† (Boundless). The twenties were booming with new technology and ways of life. They were also in prohibition, which led to corruption and organized crime groups like the mafia. New York in the 1920’s is authentically portrayed in the The Great Gatsby as the epicenter of wealth, crime, and good times. First of all, the culture in New York City and Long Island in the 1920’s was roaring with many good and bad opportunities

Singapore’s Political, Economic, and Social Free Essays

I will be conducting my research paper Singapore Political, Economic, and Social Organization. The method that I will use to gather my information will be ethnology. Ethnology is Comparative study of cultures with the aim of presenting analytical generalizations within the context of that society. We will write a custom essay sample on Singapore’s Political, Economic, and Social or any similar topic only for you Order Now Singapore is a postindustrial society that has a parliamentary republic with a Westminster system of unicameral parliamentary government representing Constitution. Singapore officially gaining sovereignty in 1965, its politics has been dominated by the People’s Action Party (PAP). Singapore, under the leadership of the PAP, possesses a distinct political culture: authoritarian, pragmatic, rational and legalistic. PAP leadership consisted of English lawyers and Chinese pro-communist trade union leaders. Unlike the western country (United States) that is run by politicians, Singapore is not run by politicians, but by a social system that where power is gained through skills, performances, and loyalty to the nation and not by politician’s policies. Singapore as has supremacy of government-controlled companies not like their western country counterparts. The reason why PAP stayed in power is due to popular support won by economic growth. Singapore raised public awareness, and stimulates public interest and debate, in economic issues is a factor of economic growth. Economic performance of Singapore depends on its mode of economic organization, natural resources, climate, and history. Singapore witnessed the unexpected economic development of vast potential for tin, rubber, oil palm, and tobacco, for Singapore is one of the largest ports in the world. Singapore is a postindustrial society where the government has invested billions in infrastructure and aims to recruit the best researchers in all modern fields of technological endeavor (Nowak Laird, 2010). This brought immigrate from the Philippines, Indonesia, and Southeast Asia to Singapore for work. By 2006, there were approximately 580,000 lower–skilled foreign workers and 90,000 skilled foreign workers in Singapore (Yeoh, 2007). In addition, 60 percent of Singapore’s factory workers are Malaysian citizens, who cross the shared border daily (Nowak Laird, 2010). Unlike the westerner country, Singapore required that workers must take a pregnancy test and STD test regularly. Again Singapore isn’t like their westerner counterparts when it comes to unemployment. Unemployed workers must return to their home country after a short period of job hunting. How to cite Singapore’s Political, Economic, and Social, Papers

Drama piece Essay Example For Students

Drama piece Essay In my drama piece I have been creating during lesson times, I have played several characters to experiment with different ideas for the play. The characters I have played have ranged in personality and how they act; for example, the vicar I portray in the first scene is completely different to how I act as a Bully for the remaining scenes. I think that having the ability to multi-role in my performances show that I can be two totally diverse characters, showing personality traits that are nothing like me in real life. At the beginning of the year, when I had just started the drama course, I thought of some interesting personalities and habits for my characters as soon as we thought of some ideas. Although I had some good ideas to start with, those ideas have changed as the piece has progressed.  Originally, I decided that the Bully I portray throughout the performance was going to be loud and boisterous, and she didnt care if she was caught because she would be more than happy with being excluded for a few days. This seemed like a good idea to start with. When my group created more scenes of the play, I decided my character would be different than I first planned. Now, the Bully is still mean to people she doesnt like but she is less upfront about it, and feels almost ashamed when she is caught by the teachers or other students who witnessed her bullying other people. I took a while to think about what her background could be, what was going on at home when she wasnt in school and I finally decided that her parents have split up, and that in itself has affected the way she behaves in school. She lives with her mum at home but her mum is out every night, and is almost never at home for her daughter, which also affects my character in many ways. When she is bullying people, although she loves doing it for the fun, she still tries to back down and not go too far so she doesnt hurt people. However, because she used to bully people a lot more when the problems at home just started, people still seem to blame everything on her which makes her defensive. While the character of the bully has changed quite a lot over the last few weeks, my other character, the vicar, has more or less stayed the same throughout. She isnt really quiet and sad about having to control the funeral because she has a lot of experience, so her tone of voice is clear that she is used to the sad atmosphere. While she is saying her speech at each funeral, she stands tall and superior against the mourners stood around her. I change my accent a little when I am playing the vicar; she sounds more calm and caring with a softer accent than mine to show that she cares about and has empathy for the family around her who have just lost a loved one.  I find it easy to change my character in each scene by changing my attitude and voice; I think it is just something that comes naturally to me.