POLYSEMY

POLYSEMY

Polysemy is the association of one word with two or more distinct meanings. A polysemy is a word or phrase with multiple meanings. This happens when a lexeme acquires a wider range of meanings.

According to some estimates, more than 40% 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" (M. Lynne Murphy, Lexical Meaning, 2010).

Example :

1)     a. The bank raised its interest rates yesterday.

b. The store is next to the newly constructed bank.

c. The bank appeared first in Italy in the Renaissance.

2)     a. John crawled through the window.

b. The window is closed.

c. The window is made of security glass.

3)     a. The farm will fail unless the drought ends soon.

b. It is difficult to farm this land.

4)     a. The store is open.

b. The thief tried to open the door.

5)     Present

a.       right now, the current moment

b.      a gift

c.       to show or display (e.g. "Michael was next to present")

d.      to be physically somewhere (e.g. "Stephen was present at the meeting")

6)     Wood

a.       a piece of a tree

b.      a geographical area with many trees

c.       an erection

7)     Crane

a.       a bird

b.      a type of construction equipment

http://englishsemantics4eslstudents.blogspot.co.id/2011_02_01_archive.html

http://grammar.about.com/od/pq/g/polysemyterm.htm

http://amor.cms.huberlin.de/~h2816i3x/Lehre/2001_HS_LexikalischeSemantik/LexSemantik5.pdf

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Hyperbole

HYPERBOLE

 

A hyperbole is an extreme exaggeration used to make a point. It is like the opposite of “understatement”. They would not be used in nonfiction works, like medical journals or research papers; but, they are perfect for fictional works, especially to add color to a character or humor to the story. Hyperbole are comparisons, like similes and metaphors, but are extravagant and even ridiculous.

Some examples of hyperbole include:

• “I’ve told you a million times”
• “It was so cold, I saw polar bears wearing jackets”
• “She is so dumb, she thinks Taco Bell is a Mexican phone company”

Here are some common examples of hyperbole:

• I am so hungry I could eat a horse.
• I have a million things to do.
• I had to walk 15 miles to school in the snow, uphill.
• I had a ton of homework.
• If I can’t buy that new game, I will die.
• He is as skinny as a toothpick.
• This car goes faster than the speed of light.
• That new car costs a bazillion dollars.
• We are so poor; we don’t have two cents to rub together.
• That joke is so old, the last time I heard it I was riding on a dinosaur.
• They ran like greased lightning.
• He's got tons of money.
• You could have knocked me over with a feather.
• Her brain is the size of a pea.
• He is older than the hills.

Function of Hyperbole

The above arguments make clear the use of hyperbole. In our daily conversation, we use hyperbole to emphasize for an amusing effect. When one thing is described with an over-statement and the other thing is presented normally, a striking contrast is developed. This technique is employed to catch the reader’s attention. 

Related Terms

Simile

When using a simile, a writer compares two different things using the words “like” or “as.” These words mean that the items being compared are not exactly the same thing. Similarly, hyperboles can emphasize a particular characteristic. However, Simile is different from hyperbole in that it does not use exaggeration. A comparison may emphasize features, but it does not exaggerate them to the same extent as hyperbole.

For example, “She is like a rose” is a simile which compares a woman to a rose (a beautiful flower), meaning that the woman as beautiful. This emphasizes her beauty, but it does not exaggerate it. An example of hyperbole in the same situation is “She is the most beautiful woman in the entire universe!” 

Metaphor

      Metaphor and hyperbole are similar in that both devices state something literally while they mean something figuratively. What makes hyperbole different from metaphor is that it specifically exaggerates, whereas metaphor does not necessarily exaggerate.

For example, a common metaphor is “He’s the black sheep of our family.” We don’t literally mean that someone is a black sheep, but the characteristics of the black sheep can be applied to the person. A black sheep is unusual and may not be accepted by its herd. Just like the black sheep, someone who is called a black sheep tends to be different from other family members and perhaps lonely or isolated. This is not a hyperbole because no characteristics of the person are being exaggerated. An example of hyperbole in this situation would be “He has absolutely nothing in common with our family!” We know that this can’t be true– All family members share DNA and certainly there is shared ground somewhere, but we use hyperbole to emphasize just how different this one family member is from the rest of his family.

http://examples.yourdictionary.com/examples-of-hyperboles.html

http://literarydevices.net/hyperbole/
http://literaryterms.net/hyperbole/

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Collocation

Collocation

A.    Collocation

A collocation is two or more words that often go together. These combinations just sound "right" to native English speakers, who use them all the time. On the other hand, other combinations may be unnatural and just sound "wrong". Collocations are partly or fully fixed expressions that become established through repeated context-dependent use. Such terms as 'crystal clear', 'middle management', 'nuclear family', and 'cosmetic surgery' are examples of collocated pairs of words.

 There are several different types of collocation made from combinations of verb, noun, adjective etc. Some of the most common types are:

            1.      Adverb + Adjective: completely satisfied (NOT downright satisfied)

            2.      Adjective + Noun: excruciating pain (NOT excruciating joy)

            3.      Noun + Noun: a surge of anger (NOT a rush of anger)

            4.      Noun + Verb: lions roar (NOT lions shout)

           5.      Verb + Noun: commit suicide (NOT undertake suicide)

           6.      Verb + Expression With Preposition: burst into tears (NOT blow up in tears)

           7.      Verb + Adverb: wave frantically (NOT wave feverishly)

          8.      Let's + verb which directs an audience's attention + preposition + noun which describes an    idea. 
          This is a commonly used structural pattern into which you can insert a variety of words and still have commonly used patterns:

Let's move on to the next point.

Let's go back to the last chapter.

Let's move away from this paragraph

Let's look at tomorrow's homework.

Let's go on to the main point.

B.     Why should we learn collocations?

           1.      Your language will be more natural and more easily understood.

           2.      You will have alternative and richer ways of expressing yourself.

         3.      It is easier for our brains to remember and use language in chunks or blocks rather than as  single words.

C.     What are some characteristics of collocations?

            1.      Collocations can be described in a number of ways.

          2.      One way of thinking about them is in terms of "fixedness" - in other words, the degree to which you can vary the basic pattern and still have a collocation

           3.     We can only define the fixedness or unfixedness of collocations in terms of a continuum - all we can say is that some are more fixed than others but we can't make a neat dividing line between "fixed" and "unfixed".

            4.      A very fixed collocation is one in which the pattern has very few expected variations

         5.      So, for example, the phrase "kick the bucket" is an idiom, a relatively fixed collocation meaning "to die".

        

6.      Like "kick the bucket", most collocations which are very fixed form a particular expected meaning rather than a structure.

References :

http://depts.washington.edu/cidrweb/OLD/consulting/itafluency4.html

http://semantic-introduction.weebly.com/collocations-fixed-expressions-and-idioms.html

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