Re: Logical?

Jan van Steenbergen:
>  --- And Rosta wrote:
> > > In other words, whether or not two words can be considered
> > > homonyms, is culturally determined.
> > >
> > > I'm wondering how loglangers handle this problem. Or don't
> > > they consider this a problem at all?
> >
> > I don't understand your point. Are you confusing homonyms
> > (words with same sound & different meaning) with synonyms
> > (words with different sound & same meaning)?
>
> I really meant homonyms, in the sense of one word with several
> (related) meanings.
'homonymy' = same sound, different *unrelated* meanings.
Same sound, different related meanings = polysemy

> Although I admit that my sentence was not
> the apogeum of linguistic beauty...
though maybe the phrase "the apogeum of linguistic beauty"
itself is...

> For example: a hypothetical language has one word for red, that
> covers not only the different shades of red we know, but also
> colours we don't consider red at all, like orange, pink, or
> purple.
Okay, but in such a language the 'red' word would not be
polysemous; it would have a single meaning that is broader than
'red'.

--And.