5.1: Introduction to Word Senses

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In Chapter 2 we introduced the important distinction between sense and denotation. We noted that a single word may have more than one sense, a situation referred to as lexical ambiguity. We also noted that two expressions which have different senses may have the same denotation in some particular context, but two expressions which have the same sense must have the same denotation in every imaginable context. So what if a single word can be used to refer to several different kinds of things? Does that mean it has several different senses? The answer is, sometimes yes and sometimes no. This chapter is designed to help you answer this kind of question for specific cases.

We begin in §5.2 with the observation that a speaker often has a variety of ways to refer to a particular thing. The various expressions which the speaker may use reflect different construals, or ways of thinking about the thing. In §5.3 we discuss several diagnostic tests that can be used to distinguish true lexical ambiguity from other similar patterns, such as vagueness and underspecification. We then distinguish two different types of lexical ambiguity, polysemy vs. homonymy, recognizing that making this distinction is not always easy; and we discuss the role of context in enabling hearers to choose the intended sense of ambiguous word forms.

In §5.4 we discuss some ways in which new senses of words can be created, including coercion and figures of speech. In §5.5 we apply the principles developed in §5.3 to a certain pattern of variable denotation, illustrated by words like book, which can be used to name either a physical object or the text or discourse that it contains.