On Monosemy: A Study in Linguistic Semantics

Birch, Barbara M.; Ruhl, Charles

doi:10.2307/414769

Cited by 49 publications

(11 citation statements)

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“…Some linguists have viewed these alternatives as idiosyncratic options to be chosen on the basis of such considerations as context, pragmatic principles, speaker intention, or recognition of that intention by the hearer (Pustejovsky, 1995;Ruhl, 1989). Cognitive semantics, in contrast, has viewed polysemy as a fundamentally conceptual phenomenon.…”

Section: Background Literature Polysemymentioning

confidence: 99%

A Cognitive Linguistics Application for Second Language Pedagogy: The English Preposition Tutor

2018

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This study investigated the effects of teaching English prepositions using schematic diagrams inspired by cognitive linguistics in a computer‐based tutorial system called the English Preposition Tutor. Training was designed based on the theoretical framework of the Competition Model and a cognitive linguistic analysis of prepositions. Sixty‐four Cantonese‐speaking intermediate learners of English were trained using a sentence–picture matching task. They received one of the three types of feedback: schematic diagram feedback, metalinguistic rule feedback, or correctness feedback. Only the schematic diagram feedback group was exposed to chaining between spatial senses and nonspatial senses. Results showed that instruction was effective in all three feedback groups, as measured by a cloze test and a translation test. In the translation test, the group receiving schematic diagram feedback outperformed the correctness feedback group. The effects of the three feedback conditions were not significantly different in the cloze test.

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Section: Background Literature Polysemymentioning

confidence: 99%

A Cognitive Linguistics Application for Second Language Pedagogy: The English Preposition Tutor

2018

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“…Similarly to Gotham (2017), Ortega‐Andrés and Vicente (2019), and Liebesman and Magidor (2017), we argue that externalist semantics is compatible with apparent polysemy, but unlike them, we do not think this argument requires technical solutions like positing property versatility, activation packages, or mereologically complex objects (see Section 5). In our skepticism about the existence of polysemy, we are building on Ruhl (1989), Fodor (1998), and Fodor and Lepore (2002), but our position is not identical to any of theirs (see Sections 3 and 5).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Polysemy does not exist, at least not in the relevant sense

Brody,

Feiman

2023

Mind & Language

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Based on the existence of polysemy (e.g., lunch can refer to both food and events), it is argued that central tenets of externalist semantics and Fodorian concept atomism, an externalist theory on which words lack semantic structure, are unsound. We evaluate the premise that these arguments rely on—that polysemous words have separate, finer‐grained senses. We survey the evidence across psychology and linguistics and argue that it shows that polysemy does not exist, at least not in this “sense”. The upshot is that if polysemy does not exist, it cannot pose a problem for atomism or externalism.

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“…Numerosas investigaciones llevadas a cabo dentro de la EC respaldan la idea de que muchos signos lingüísticos no son polisémicos sino monosémicos (para algunos análisis monosémicos, véanse Contini-Morava, 1987;Davis, 2017;Diver, 1987Reid, 2004Reid, , 2011Ruhl, 1989Ruhl, , 2002Sabar, 2018Sabar, , 2019Stern 2006Stern , 2022. Aun así, cada problema lingüístico debe analizarse en sus propios términos.…”

Section: La Distribución De Throughunclassified

“…De acuerdo con este enfoque, que se adopta tanto en la EC como en otras corrientes basados en el signo, las diferencias en la interpretación de un único significado están dadas por elementos contextuales, ya sean lingüísticos o extralingüísticos (véanse, p. ej., Reid, 2004;Ruhl, 1989Ruhl, , 2002Sabar, 2018Sabar, , 2019Stern, 2006Stern, , 2022. A modo ilustrativo, a continuación comentamos brevemente algunos ejemplos de análisis monosémicos que se han llevado a cabo en consonancia con los postulados de la EC.…”

Section: Análisis Monosémicos Y La Escuela De Columbiaunclassified

“…El "sesgo monosémico" (Ruhl, 1989, capítulo 1) que acabamos de describir es compatible con la capacidad inferencial humana, es decir, la habilidad que tienen las personas de "juntar información y saltar a las conclusiones correctas" (Huffman, 2001, p. 35), y tiene que ver con el hecho de que a la EC le interesa explicar por qué quienes se valen del lenguaje producen sonidos o marcas escritas (o señas) del modo en que lo hacen. En palabras de Diver (1995), "[e]l procedimiento general para determinar la causalidad consiste tan solo en descubrir, para cada problema individual, el tipo general de causa, y la aplicación particular de esa causa, que está produciendo el efecto que observamos" (p. 49).…”

Section: El Sesgo Monosémicounclassified

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La distribución de un signo lingüístico: Un análisis semiótico-semántico de la forma inglesa through

Novotny¹

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El objetivo de la tesis es explicar los modos de uso de la forma through en un corpus de seis novelas estadounidenses. Partiendo de los hallazgos previos realizados dentro de la Escuela de Columbia, se propone que, al igual que otras formas lingüísticas, through es una señal con un único significado invariable. Ese significado funciona como una pista que sirve para comunicar una infinidad de mensajes en contexto. La tesis parte de una hipótesis monosémica del significado de through y presenta un análisis cualitativo-cuantitativo para explicar su distribución en el corpus. Los resultados respaldan la hipótesis y permiten sostener que, cada vez que se usa through, su empleo tiene sustento en la contribución semántica invariable de la forma.

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On Monosemy: A Study in Linguistic Semantics

Cited by 49 publications

References 0 publications

A Cognitive Linguistics Application for Second Language Pedagogy: The English Preposition Tutor

A Cognitive Linguistics Application for Second Language Pedagogy: The English Preposition Tutor

Polysemy does not exist, at least not in the relevant sense

La distribución de un signo lingüístico: Un análisis semiótico-semántico de la forma inglesa <i>through</i>

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