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