Questions:

1. What is a context? How is it related to meaning of polysemantic words?

2. What is free meaning?

3. What are the two general types of context?

4. What are the two type of linguistic context?

5. Give example of lexical context determining meaning.

6. Give example of grammatical context determining meaning.

7. How are grammatical and lexical context interrelated?

8. What is extralinguistic context? Give examples.

Two Processes of the Semantic Development of a Word

Zhang Yunfei,An Introduction to Modern English Lexicology [pp. 170-174]

There are two important processes in the development of word meaning: radiation and concatenation.

1

Radiation

. Radiation: Semantically, radiation is the process in which the primary or central meaning stands at the center while secondary meanings radiate from it in every direction like rays

Take the word, head, for example:

"…head has many different senses illustrated in such phrases as the head of a school, six pence per head, the head of a page, to come to a head, to lose one's head, six head of cattle. These senses have little in common, but they all derive from special applications of the central idea of head as a part of the body. The principle of radiation is simple, but it can be complicated; in various ways. There are not many words whose central idea is so easy to discern as in the above examples, ...and it is an oversimplification to regard all words as having had one primary meaning from which their other meanings may be derived. The central meaning from which secondary meanings have radiated may become obsolete, and each of the secondary meanings may become a centre of further radiations."(Brook 1958:172)

The last sentence of the above quotation leads to the other process, concatenation.

2

Concatenation

. Concatenation: Concatenation, "linking together" [from L catena 'chain'] is a semantic process in which the meaning of a word moves gradually away from its first sense by successive shifts, like the links of a chain, until there is no connection between the sense that is finally developed and the primary meaning.

The stages of semantic development of the word candidate may serve to illustrate this process. Candidate comes from the Latin wordcandidates, white-robed. The Latin word candidatus, "pertaining to a person dressed in a white robe," may be called A. From this meaning there arises the modified sense "A white-robed applicant' for office, because the Romans wore white robes when standing for office" (A+B). The next step is to reject A altogether so that B comes to mean "an applicant for office; or a person taking an examination." By this time there is no connection at all between A and B, because the middle link, A + B has vanished. The whole process may be represented graphically as follows:

1. A pertaining to a person dressed in white

2. A+B a white-robed applicant for office, because the Romans wore white robes when standing for office

3. B an applicant for office; or a person taking an examination

The modern English sense of candidate is far removed from its original meaning