| Abstract [eng] |
Traditionally, main and subsidiary meanings, which in turn are subdivided into direct and figurative meaning, are distinguished in the polysemous world. such approach when the meaning is viewed as a defined element of the language system that is perceived by a speech addressee can be called static. From the speaker's viewpoint, the meaning is a dynamic phenomenon because it emerges as a result of word usage to name a certain thing (cf. figurative meaning as a result of transfer of a name). The function of the word is naming a certain class of objects, phenomena, etc. (or its representative). This way the polysemous world is related to different classes of denotation. According to the links between classes of denotations named by the word we propose to distinguish four semantic zones of the polysemous word: 1) actualisation of the prototypical class, 2) expansion/narrowing of the class, 3) actualisation of another aspect of the class, 4) naming a new class. There is a presumption to maintain that such conception of the polysemous word more adequately reflects mental processes that take place in the speaker's consciousness during a speech act when naming of a certain thing, phenomenon is preceded by its perception. However, traditional static conception of polysemy is perhaps more suitable for practice of lexicography when the focus is on the addressee of the speech act and the meanings of the word are listed according to their functional significance. |
