Seeing clearly: Frame Semantic, Psycholinguistic, and Cross ...

CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION 18
c. \VP deletion": Charles has already changed his position and Nancy might.
d. \Gapping": Charles changed his position and Nancy hers.
The \bad" combinations are instances of what is called zeugma in rhetoric; it is
sometimes done deliberately for humorous e ect, e.g. Her spirits rose with the temperature,
and by noon she was actually cheerful.
\Extra Information" Tests
The basic conception here is that the selection of one or the other of a pair of
alternative LUs immediately carries with it a lot of information that is not otherwise in-
ferable from the context. Modulation within a general sense, on the other hand, adds only
the information that results from the composition of the semantics of the context.
The test, therefore, consists in trying to nd a synonym that will cover both cases
in question, and observing whether there is a considerable \loss" of information when it is
substituted. The e ect is clearest (as usual) for homonyms:
(4) a. The object ew out from under the roof.
b. The object hit the ball.
c. The bat ew out from under the roof.
d. The bat hit the ball.
In Ex. (4), sentences a. and b. give us only the most general kind of image of the
processes, while c. and d. give ustwo quite distinct images. In the rst place, we have to
go all the way up the taxonomy to a term as general as object to nd a synonym, itself a
suggestion that ambiguity isinvolved. Having done so, we have little idea about the manner
of the ying motion or the hitting action. As soon as we go back tosentences c. and d.,
much more becomes clear, and the images of the bat in c. and d. are quite distinct. This
must be due to the ambiguity ofbat.
Distinguishing Monosemy, Polysemy and Homonymy
Even though the di erences between monosemy and polysemy on the one hand
and between polysemy and homonymy on the other seem intuitively clear, it has proven ex-
traordinarily di cult to make each of these distinctions reliably and convincingly. Table 1.1