POLYSEMY OF THE LEXEME BANK FROM THE FRAME SEMANTICS PERSPECTIVE. AN ANALYSIS OF SELECTED EXAMPLES IN ENGLISH, POLISH AND SLOVAK
Jozef Bruk, Olga Słabońska
Słowa kluczowe:
frame, Frame Semantics, polysemy, homonymy, prototype, conceptualisation, cognitive linguisticsAbstrakt
This paper investigates the polysemy of the lexeme bank through the framework of Frame Semantics, with a comparative focus on its usage in English, Polish, and Slovak. Contrary to Lyons (1977), who classifies bank as a case of homonymy, this study argues for a polysemous analysis, demonstrating that the various senses of the word are systematically related and conceptually unified. The analysis draws on data from etymological sources, monolingual and bilingual dictionaries, and FrameNet, supplemented by insights from cognitive linguistics, particularly prototype theory. The findings show that the different meanings of bank, such as ‘financial institution’, ‘river edge’, and ‘storage place’, are linked through a common conceptual frame centered on the notion of “keeping something safe in a designated location”. This frame accounts for the structured and non-arbitrary nature of the semantic extensions observed across the three languages. The study contributes to ongoing debates on lexical ambiguity by providing cross-linguistic evidence for a frame-based approach to polysemy and offers a refined understanding of how semantic networks are cognitively and linguistically organized.
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