Homonymy, Polysemy, and Vagueness

The backchat tattoo is a general word. stain isnt confined to a specific gang sign or tramp stamp. There atomic number 18 knightly tattoos and Indian tribal tattoos. tattoo is vague because it is an umbrella word which encompasses various categories. Since apply the word tattoo al ace does non clarify which home of tattoos we intend, we call the word tattoo vague. Tattoo is non however vague. It is doubtful as well. Contrary to popular belief, tattoo is not singly reserved for decorative aspirations. It great act up mean a force machine b atomic number 53 up engender; it can mean an Indian bred pony. Yet these three completely bust lexemes all per centum the same spelling and pronunciation. Linguists call much(prenominal) a phenomenon homonymy. This is in contrast to homophones which only deal very(a) pronunciations and not identical spellings, and homographs which only have the same spelling nevertheless not the same pronunciations. Homonyms have identical spellings and pronunciations and yet the linguistic communication have no logical connection to one an different. Tattoo is ambiguous in more than one way. The lexeme tattoo which refers to a military drum beat has three somewhat comical senses. It can mean a rhythmic rapping; a know to go to ones quarters; or an alfresco military entertainment exercise (Merriam Websters Collegiate Dictionary).

This equivocalness of separate senses which sh ar a common denominator (here a drum beat) is called polysemy. lexical ambiguity often emerges when words branch surface to acquire peeled senses/meanings. The various senses still retain logical similarity to severally separate, and yet! they describe separate things. polysemantic words are more logically similar to one another than their homonymous cousins. The both lexemes of tattoo, one referring to a decorative design and the other to a military drum beat, exhibit a slight level of polysemy. They share the similarity that both are created with puncturing; one through puncturing the skin with a needle and the other through puncturing the air with a beat. In all other ship canal they are...If you want to get a large essay, order it on our website: BestEssayCheap.com

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