텍스트 상에서의 동음이의어: 국어 말뭉치에서의 ‘다리’ 분석을 중심으로

Abstract

In semantics, polysemy and homonymy are two of the major topics which attempt to characterize lexical meanings. The purpose of this research is to explore how a homonymous word is used in texts thorough an examination of the word tali 'leg' or 'bridge' in the Korean corpus database. To achieve this goal, this work examines polysemous meanings of tali used as a body-part name (ie, leg) and as a built structure (ie, bridge). Examination shows that tali as a body-part name has the following meanings: (i) human legs, (ii) legs of animals or insects, and (iii) upright supports for furniture. It also shows that tali as a bridge has the following meanings: (i) a bridge, and (ii) a connection between two things. Based on this observation, this work claims that the metaphorically extended meanings of tali can be explained in terms of metaphor theory in cognitive linguistics. After that, this study examines how problems of ambiguity are resolved when homonymous words are used. Examination shows that ambiguity caused by homonymy is resolved by the interaction of the following factors: (i) collocational use of specific predicates, (ii) collocational use of modifiers (adjectives, modifying phrases or clauses, etc.), (iii) circumstantial/textual contexts, and (iv) topic continuity. Finally, this research shows that a text-based analysis is one of the fruitful methods in exploring the relationship between homonymy and polysemy.