Title of article :
Two horns of a dilemma: Polysemy or homonymy?
Author/Authors :
ACAR, ÖMER Ankara Üniversitesi - ILAHIYAT FAKÜLTESI, Turkey
Abstract :
Polysemy is a general phenomenon in most of languages in the world. This phenomenonis termed in Arabic as ( الاشتراك اللفظي/تعدد المعنى ). In turkish and some other languagesthere are different terms to refer to the phenomenon of polysemy and the phenomenonof homography/homonymy ( الاشتراك اللفظي ). The difference between both terms is as: When there is relationship between the different meanings of the word, this is called polysemy. On the other hand, if there are not any relationship between the different meanings of the word this is called homonymy. Such a distinction between the two terms are found in many languages such as English and French. For example, both of these terms -homography and homonymy- is often called «eşseslilik/eşadlılık» in the Turkish language. And polysemy is the term which used in English to denote the words having many meanings. We do not see such a distinction between the terms polysemy and homonymy in the Arabic language. Seems that the views of earlier linguists on the terms of the ( الاشتراك اللفظي ), are fitting with the phenomenon of homonymy in English and “eşadlılık” inTurkish. As we have seen that the more appropriate solution in this matter is the use of different terms to two different phenomena.
Keywords :
Polysemy , homonymy , homography , linguistics , Arabic Language
Journal title :
Journal Of The Faculty Of Divinity Of Ankara University
Journal title :
Journal Of The Faculty Of Divinity Of Ankara University