The problem of distinguishing polysemy and homonymy in Bashkir lexicology and lexicography

Doklady Bashkirskogo Universiteta. 2024. Volume 9. No. 2. pp. 35-45.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.33184/dokbsu-2024.2.5

Download text.pdf

The article is devoted to the problem of distinguishing between polysemy and homonymy in Bashkir lexicology and lexicography. Polysemy refers to the presence of two or more meanings for the same word. A mandatory feature of a polysemantic word is the presence of a common seme in its meaning. Homonymy is a case of pronunciation equivalence of different linguistic units whose meanings are not related to each other. The article examines two different points of view on the phenomena of polysemy and homonymy. A number of linguists classify words that arose as a result of a semantic break in the meanings of a polysemantic word as a part of homonyms; others believe that polysemy never develops into homonymy. The inclusion in the category of homonyms of words that arose as a resultof the separation of the meanings of a polysemantic word led to the difficulty of distinguishing polysemantic words and homonyms. This had a negative impact primarily on the compilation of dictionaries. This article expresses the idea that only meanings related to words of different origins should be considered homonyms. The main criterion for distinguishing polysemantic words from homonyms is to clarify the origin of the words. In the Bashkir language, the origin of many words is heavily obscured and it is quite difficult to establish their origin. The process of separation of the meanings of a polysemous word is long and hardly noticeable. In such cases, the semantic connection between the meanings of words can be restored only by resorting to extralinguistic factors. When establishing the etymology of relic words, it is necessary to take into account the former ideas of native speakers about a particular object of reality and its concept.