Course : Introduction to Linguistics II (Εαρ. 2024-'25) - Sections Α-Καρ & Π-Ω

In this class, we first discussed your homework on semantic features and semantic roles.

Next, we shifted our focus to polysemy, namely words that have two (or more) meanings that are different but related. Specifically, we distinguished polysemous words from homonyms, which have identical forms but their meanings are different and unrelated, as well as from homophones, which overlap phonologically although they differ in terms of spelling and meaning.

In order to analyze polysemy, we introduced the notion of prototypicality that helps us explain how polysemous words have one central meaning, which we call "prototypical". From this prototypical meaning all other senses of polysemous words are derived; these are the so-called "extended senses". Two mechanisms are involved in semantic extension, namely metonymy and metaphor. 

Please study the lecture slides and the relevant pages from Yule's chapter on Semantics. For our next class, please prepare Exercises 5, 6 and 7 from the Handout on polysemy.