Development Pattern of Polysemous Psychological Representation

Author: Zhao Cuilian
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-02-01
Features: The English Department of the PLA University of Foreign Languages was established in 1949, with a well-structured discipline system, making it a key discipline both nationally and within the armed forces. It boasts a postdoctoral research station and doctoral degree authorization. The faculty is strong, with nearly 30 teachers holding doctorates. The teaching quality is excellent, consistently ranking among the top in national English assessments. Research and academic activities are vibrant, with a rigorous academic atmosphere and abundant achievements. This series of academic works is meticulously written by some of the country's leading scholars and professors under their guidance. It is planned to publish 5 books annually, and we look forward to your attention. Polysemy is a widely discussed topic in the philosophy of language, linguistics, and psychology. People are interested in polysemy because it involves many fields, such as the distinction between polysemes and homophones, the boundary between polysemy and fuzzy meanings, practical applications in semantics, such as translation and lexicography, as well as foreign language teaching. Linguistic literature is controversial about the psychological storage of polysemic meanings, primarily revolving around a core question: whether only one central meaning is represented (the central meaning representation view) or all meanings are represented independently (the independent meaning representation view). By analyzing past experimental studies on the psychological representation of polysemes, we found that the conflicting conclusions (central and independent meaning representation) were due to flaws in experimental design, such as using native speakers with the same language proficiency level, certain defects in experimental materials, and the use of traditional online psycholinguistic experimental methods. This study holds significant theoretical implications for polysemy research; it also provides certain guidance for lexicography and EFL teaching. The theoretical framework proposed in this study, the research methods used, and the results address the gaps in the research on the psychological representation of polysemes among EFL learners. It provides a psychological basis for the arrangement of polysemic meanings in dictionary entries and the handling of homophones, offering valuable insights for EFL learners to acquire polysemic meanings.