This study investigated the development of knowledge of vocabulary including multiple meanings of words during the school years. Twenty children from each of Grades 2, 5, 8, and 11 were tested for their knowledge of all the meanings of a large random sample of words from an unabridged dictionary (Webster's Third, 1981). Approximately 47% of the words had more than one meaning. Total average estimated vocabulary increased from 17,970 words in Grade 2 to 83,871 words in Grade 11. The estimated number of known derived words increased at the greatest rate throughout the school years. There was evidence that participants may have used morphological problem solving to figure out at least one meaning for 45% of their total vocabulary. Not only did the number of words known increase dramatically through the school years but the total average estimated number of different word meanings known increased also from 28,797 word meanings in Grade 2 to 185,990 word meanings in Grade 11. Three types of meanings were identified according to their relation to their principal meaning (known by the most children): homonyms (share no semantic relationship); conversions (different grammatical part of speech); and metaphorical extensions (share some other semantic relationship). When children demonstrated knowledge of more than one meaning, they were asked to attempt to explain the relation between those two meanings. Even the youngest children in Grade 2 knew a large number of multiple meanings but the ability to express knowledge of a relation between those meanings was uncommon until the later school years. This developing ability can be explained in part by the children???s increasing metalinguistic awareness and general linguistic expressiveness but also by an increasing ability to understand and express metaphorical similarities between lexical concepts, which are common to the metaphorically extended meanings.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, Santa Cruz, 1992. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 80-85).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, Santa Cruz, 1995. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 69-75).

No description available.

This study investigated the development of knowledge of vocabulary including multiple meanings of words during the school years. Twenty children from each of Grades 2, 5, 8, and 11 were tested for their knowledge of all the meanings of a large random sample of words from an unabridged dictionary (Webster's Third, 1981). Approximately 47% of the words had more than one meaning. Total average estimated vocabulary increased from 17,970 words in Grade 2 to 83,871 words in Grade 11. The estimated number of known derived words increased at the greatest rate throughout the school years. There was evidence that participants may have used morphological problem solving to figure out at least one meaning for 45% of their total vocabulary. Not only did the number of words known increase dramatically through the school years but the total average estimated number of different word meanings known increased also from 28,797 word meanings in Grade 2 to 185,990 word meanings in Grade 11. Three types of meanings were identified according to their relation to their principal meaning (known by the most children): homonyms (share no semantic relationship); conversions (different grammatical part of speech); and metaphorical extensions (share some other semantic relationship). When children demonstrated knowledge of more than one meaning, they were asked to attempt to explain the relation between those two meanings. Even the youngest children in Grade 2 knew a large number of multiple meanings but the ability to express knowledge of a relation between those meanings was uncommon until the later school years. This developing ability can be explained in part by the children’s increasing metalinguistic awareness and general linguistic expressiveness but also by an increasing ability to understand and express metaphorical similarities between lexical concepts, which are common to the metaphorically extended meanings.

本論文藉由系統性地闡述情態語意詮釋與情態動詞連用結構之間的關係來解釋限制漢語多義情態動詞(應該、要、會、可以、能)連用詞序的機制。首先本文作者指出以Lyons (1977)及Palmer (2001)為首的描述性導向分析方法無法全面性地解釋所有漢語多義情態動詞連用的可能性，於是本文採用Klinge (1993)的語意與語用互動分析方法並認為所有情態動詞本身只含有單一核心語意而且共享「潛在性」(POTENTIALITY)語意來預測未證實的情狀描述(SITUATION REPRESENTATION)是否說明實際語境形勢(WORLD SITUATION)的可能性，而此未證實的情狀描述所身處的語境主要分為兩大情狀類型：事件型情狀描述(WORLD-EVENT)和主語型情狀描述(AGENT-EVENT)。此外，經由逐一定義每個多義情態動詞的核心語意之後作者發現情態動詞說明未證實的情狀描述與實際語境形勢之間關係的預測強度是影響漢語多義情態動詞連用結構中詞序限制的主要因素；作者也舉出英語方言中的情態助動詞連用情形來證明本研究中所採用的語意與語用互動分析方法之下的概括性結論在跨語言間可以獲得普遍性支持。 / The purpose of this study is to formulate a schematic representation of modal form-meaning correspondence to explicate what mechanism governs the ordering constraint of Chinese polysemous modal verbs – YINGGAI應該, YAO要, HUI會, KEYI可以, NENG能– in one utterance. We first point out the traditional descriptive-oriented approach argued by Lyons (1977) and Palmer (2001) cannot comprehensively explain all possible Chinese modal co-occurrence. Hence, the alternative semantics-pragmatics approach suggested by Klinge (1993) in this study argues that various modal interpretations are not encoded in modal lexemes but induced by the following inference process: the modal verbs which share the same semantic field of POTENTIALITY specify the correspondence between the unverified SITUATION REPRESENTATION of two major situation types, i.e. WORLD-EVENT and ANGENT-EVENT, and the referential situation in real world, i.e. WORLD SITUATION. Besides, according to the systematic account for different core meanings of each Chinese polysemous modal verb, we also claim that the STRENGTH of prediction represented by each polysemous modal verb to the POTENTIAL correspondence between SITUATION REPRESENTATION and WORLD SITUATION governs the ordering restriction in Chinese multiple-modal construction. This generalization of our alternative methodology in this study is also supported by the English double-modal construction in several English dialects, in which it implies our present framework is universal across languages.

Thesis (Ed.D.)--University of Central Florida, 2008. / Advisers: Stephen Sivo, Keith Folse. Includes bibliographical references (p. 172-182).

This study investigates the polysemy of the preposition מִן (min) in Biblical Hebrew. The complexity relating to the senses of this preposition has long been recognised, but existing sources differ about the primary sense of מִן (min), as well as the delimitation of the derived senses. In order to provide a more systematic account of the senses of מִן (min) the principled polysemy approach, which was developed by Tyler and Evans (2003), was employed. This methodology is grounded in the theoretical framework of cognitive semantics. The criteria provided for determining the primary sense point to a sense in which מִן (min) indicates both locational source and separation. These two elements are both present in the primary sense. By applying criteria for determining distinct senses, ten additional usages of מִן (min) were identified, namely, material source, partitive, cause, agent, origin, position, exception, comparison, negative consequence, and time. It was shown that all these senses are related to the primary sense in a substantiated way. A semantic network for the preposition מִן (min) was proposed in which it was shown that half of the senses are more related to the source element in the primary sense and the other half to the separation element of the primary sense. / MA (Semitic Languages), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

This study investigates the polysemy of the preposition מִן (min) in Biblical Hebrew. The complexity relating to the senses of this preposition has long been recognised, but existing sources differ about the primary sense of מִן (min), as well as the delimitation of the derived senses. In order to provide a more systematic account of the senses of מִן (min) the principled polysemy approach, which was developed by Tyler and Evans (2003), was employed. This methodology is grounded in the theoretical framework of cognitive semantics. The criteria provided for determining the primary sense point to a sense in which מִן (min) indicates both locational source and separation. These two elements are both present in the primary sense. By applying criteria for determining distinct senses, ten additional usages of מִן (min) were identified, namely, material source, partitive, cause, agent, origin, position, exception, comparison, negative consequence, and time. It was shown that all these senses are related to the primary sense in a substantiated way. A semantic network for the preposition מִן (min) was proposed in which it was shown that half of the senses are more related to the source element in the primary sense and the other half to the separation element of the primary sense. / MA (Semitic Languages), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

In this thesis, the phenomenon of intercategorial polysemy is approached from two related but previously unconnected perspectives, namely that of linguistic creativity and mental representation. It is argued that the creativity that is part and parcel of the linguistic abilities of each and every human being, has been neglected in the study of linguistics, and should, in fact, form the basis of studies such as these in cognitive lexical creativity. It is argued that structural productivity (the generative view of linguistic creativity) and conceptual creativity lie on a continuum, the middle ground of which is covered by phenomena which are both productive and creative and which have both a formal and a semantic aspect to them. One such a phenomenon is intercategorial polysemy. Explaining the way in which speakers of a language such as English can systematically and productively produce and interpret words that belong to more than one syntactic category (for example, hammerN - hammerV, tableN - tableV, skyN - skyV), which may range from the conventionalised to the completely innovative, has long been a problem for linguists. Traditional morphological accounts involving theoretical notions such as zero derivation have always been found to be inadequate, mostly because zero derivation does not account for the variation in meaning and the background knowledge that is needed to produce and interpret novel instances. The main problem addressed in this thesis then is the question as to the nature of the lexical knowledge of speakers and its mental representation, so that it can form the basis for the cognitive processes that will enable language users to be linguistically creative. Various theoretical models that have been proposed to account for intercategorial polysemy, namely the representationalderivational model, the network-activation model, as well as the theory of conceptual integration (also called blending), are presented and evaluated in the light of a representative sample of completely novel instances of intercategorial polysemy. / Linguistics / D. Litt. et Phi. (Linguistics)