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Re: Polysemy

From:Dirk Elzinga <dirk.elzinga@...>
Date:Tuesday, June 12, 2007, 22:17
On 6/12/07, Sai Emrys <sai@...> wrote:
> A couplethree* questions for you all: > > 1. What are the most polysemous** words in English?
It would seem to me that an easy way to answer this question is to consult a good dictionary and count how many senses are included under a given headword. This would mean leaving the distinction between polysemy and homonymy up to the given dictionary (which may or may not be a desirable thing), since homonyms would presumably be given under different head words.
> 2. Where can I find a list of the average polysemy per word of the > most common (i.e. non technical/jargon) words across many languages?
I would be surprised if such a thing exists. But if you have access to electronic dictionaries, you could construct your own database ...
> 3. What is the average polysemy in YOUR languages? Any comments on why > etc etc open question?
I don't know that I have any polysemy in Miapimoquitch. I'm not purposely avoiding it--I'm just not that far along in vocabulary development. I'm still working on writing up the grammatical sketch after 5+ years (ouch!). Dirk