Polysemy, Homonymy and Sense Modulation in Sm'algyax

• Published in: International Journal of Lexicography
• Main Author: Stebbins, Tonya
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford University Press 2004
• Subjects: Articles; Pacific; Tsimshian*
• Online Access: http://ijl.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/short/17/1/1; https://doi.org/10.1093/ijl/17.1.1

This paper sets out criteria for dealing with homonymous and polysemous lexemes in the Sm’algyax Learners’ Dictionary . (Sm’algyax, is a member of the Tsimshianic language family located in the Pacific Northwest). Using these criteria it is possible to identify a number of one-to-many relationships between forms, grammatical classes and/or meanings. This paper identifies a number of different degrees of relatedness along the ‘polysemy continuum’; ranging from homonymy at one extreme to sense modulation at the other. Semantic relatedness and word class membership are key criteria for distinguishing between homonymy and polysemy in Sm’algyax. Sense modulation is a frequent strategy for lexical expansion in Sm’algyax; made possible by the high frequency of stems with broad semantic scope in the lexicon.