Polysemy: Pragmatics and sense conventions. (31st December 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Carston, Robyn
• Is Part Of: Mind & language. Volume 36:Number 1(2021)
• Page Start: 108
• Page End: 133
• Publication Date: 2020-12-31
• Subjects: core meaning -- homonymy -- metonymy -- polysemy -- pragmatics -- semantics; Psycholinguistics -- Periodicals; Thought and thinking -- Periodicals; Language and languages -- Philosophy -- Periodicals; 153.42
• DOI: 10.1111/mila.12329
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0268-1064

Abstract

Abstract : Polysemy, understood as instances of a single linguistic expression having multiple related senses, is not a homogenous phenomenon. There are regular (apparently, rule‐based) cases and irregular (resemblance‐based) cases, which have different processing profiles. Although a primary source of polysemy is pragmatic inference, at least some cases become conventionalised and linguistically encoded. Three main issues are discussed: (a) the key differences between regular and irregular cases and the role, if any, of a "core meaning"; (b) the distinction between pragmatic polysemy and semantic polysemy; and (c) the role of syntactic meaning in both generating and constraining polysemy.