Cognitive Approaches To Polysemy

This paper reviews some existing researches on the phenomenon of polysemy. According to a generally accepted definition, polysemy is the association of two or more related senses with a single phonological form. Based on traditional research into polysemy, this paper argues that polysemy is not just a phenomenon of the dictionary, but also a cognitive phenomenon and has its important communicational and pragmatic functions in everyday discourse.Taking a cognitive perspective, this paper holds that polysemy is the result of the diachronic process of word meanings. The derived meanings of a polyseme and the meaning from which they are derived are in the relation of motivation. However, the form and the meanings of a polyseme are in an arbitrary relation, which does not deny Saussure's arbitrariness between the signifier and the signified of a sign. Polysemy is the result of the diachronic process of word meanings, in which the cognitive abilities of categorization, metonymy, and metaphor play fundamental roles. The meanings of a polyseme, which consists of a category, are related through meaning chains. The core meaning of the polyseme is the prototype of the category. The category is always in a state of change, new members deriving from the already existing members and prototypes splitting mainly through metonymy and metaphor.For learners and teachers who take English as a second language, polysemy is a very confusing and challenging phenomenon. The article concludes with some observations on a cognitive approach to apply into second language teaching process. Explanation of polysemy can make students realize the inherent and substantial connection among different meanings, and know the rule of words development. With the knowledge of metaphor and metonymy, students can know about the cause and devices of word development, which lay a solid foundation for them. English vocabulary teaching based on relational and cognitive theory can change the former way on the basis of boring memory, thereby stimulate students'interest to improve English vocabulary learning and help improve their efficiency in English learning, especially in reading and writing.