The Main Features of Semantic Approach of Polysemy

Abstract

In linguistic, polysemy is a phenomenon of language not of speech. In this article the main focus is in understanding polysemy from semantic point of view in schools,colleges or university context. Treated together with homonymy both represent quite complex linguistic phenomena, which deserves proper treatment. This article addresses to four main features of polysemy that not only can help us understand the actual meaning of a word, but also to distinguish it from homonymy. How to up-hold these features unswervingly is demonstrated through giving details and using all the time a comparative approach and illustrating them with relevant examples from both English and Albanian languages. This article aims to raise language teacher’s awareness of the significance of semantic approach of polysemantic words and eventually aid them with a valid, practical and useful tool in their everyday teaching process.

DOI: 10.5901/jesr.2015.v5n3p169