polysemy (n.)

A term used in SEMANTIC analysis to refer to a LEXICAL ITEM which has a range of different MEANINGS, e.g. plain = ‘clear’, ‘unadorned’, ‘obvious’ . . . ; also called polysemia; opposed to monosemy (or univocality). A large proportion of a language’s vocabulary is polysemic (or polysemous). The theoretical problem for the LINGUIST is how to distinguish polysemy (one FORM – several meanings) from HOMONYMY (two lexical items which happen to have the same PHONOLOGICAL form). Several criteria have been suggested, such as ETYMOLOGY (the antecedents of homonymous items would be formally distinct) and the closeness of the relationship between the meanings in question (the meanings of homonymous items would be further apart, or unrelated – cf. the related sense of plain above with the homonyms plane = ‘carpenter’s tool’ and plane = ‘aeroplane’). But all such criteria involve analytic problems, and the distinction between polysemy and homonymy thus remains a source of theoretical discussion in LINGUISTICS.