The semantics of polysemy

This work targets students and researchers in semantics, cognitive linguistics, English, and Australian languages, focusing on the polysemy patterns of percussion/impact ('hitting') verbs in English and Warlpiri (Pama-Nyungan, Central Australia). The initial chapters introduce a novel theoretical approach to polysemy by closely examining two traditions within cognitivism: Langackerian and Lakovian Cognitive Semantics, and Wierzbickian Natural Semantic Metalanguage. The author critiques these traditions for their attempts to anchor meaning analysis in cognitive or neurological realities or in universal synonymy relations. Instead, an interpretative framework for linguistic theorizing is proposed, addressing key issues in polysemy research, including sense individuation, reference's role in linguistic categorization, and the distinction between metaphor and metonymy. Subsequent chapters provide a detailed typology of polysemous senses of percussion/impact verbs in both languages, utilizing a diachronically rich corpus of dictionary citations from Middle to contemporary English and a substantial corpus of Warlpiri citations. This typology, limited to metaphor and three metonymy categories, identifies four basic relations between extended and core meanings, allowing for a concise description of polysemy and semantic extension.