Principal researchers

The aims of this project have dealt with a central issue in lexicography: the meanings of the lexicographic article which register the polysemy of the lexical units. To carry out this analysis we have studied on the one hand the solutions given to polysemy in diachronic and synchronic dictionaries, and in the proposals of some computer dictionaries in Castillian, Catalan and English. On the other hand, we have analysed in depth the variation of meaning from a theoretical perspective which approaches the lexical unit as a matrix in which the diverse meanings and their grammatical realizations are interrelated (its principal exponent is Pustejovsky 1995, who dates back to Weinreich 1972 and Apresian 1982). This theoretical approach has resulted in the questioning of the following concepts: a) nuclear or primordial meaning, which allows to understand the relationships of logical polysemy; b) extension and intension, which explain the metonymic phenomena derived from the "qualia" (extension) and the predicative value (of the use in intension), and c) the change of domain, which justifies the shifts from the physical to the mental, moral, sentimental domain.

Project results:

1. Distinction in the way of organizing polysemy depending on the grammatical category. As already noted, the polysemy of nouns has particularities which do not coincide with the polysemy presented by verbs and adjectives as treated by dictionaries. This has been the most worthwhile working line of the project, based on the concepts of extension and intension as formulated by Moravsick (1990).
2. Analysis and systematization of the different types of polysemy taken into account:
   • Contrastive polysemy, including different-etymology and common-etymology homonymy, but with very remote semantic relationship which requires double lexicographic entry.
   • Systematic or logical polysemy, organized around a nuclear meaning, the closest to intension: i) polysemy that responds to relatively commonly used different extensions of meaning, dealing with either the expansion of extension towards imprecision or with the decrease of extension towards precision in extension (Battaner-De Cesaris); ii) polysemy that responds to the activation of 'qualia' which may, in a way, be considered logical or regular (Battaner); iii) polysemy that results from changes in domain (scope) through the superposition of two cognitive axes, generally known as figurative sense, mainly from a physical domain to a conceptual one (Battaner-Torner).
3. Lexicographic treatment offer to compose a monolingual general dictionary, taking into account the uses that have been documented (quotes, corpus concordances) and considering the possibilities of a creative use of the unit which has been described or represented. This treatment does not consider the temporal dimension, but focuses on the intension and extension of the described unit.