Why is 6 afraid of 7

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Why is 6 afraid of 7?

Homophones and homonyms

When two or more different (written) forms have the same pronunciation, they are described as homophones. Common examples are bare/bear, meat/meet, flour/flower, pail/pale, right/write, sew/so, and to/too/two.

We use the term homonyms when one form (written or spoken) has to or more unrelated meanings, as in these examples:

Bank (of a river) – bank (financial institution)

Bat (flying creature) – bat (used in sports)

Mole (on skin) – mole (small animal)

Pupil (at school) – pupil ( in the eye)

Race (contest of speed) – race (ethnic group)

The temptation is to think that the two types of bank must be related in meaning. They are not. Homonyms are words that have separate histories and meanings, but have accidentally come to have exactly the same form.

polysemy

Polysemy: when we have two or more words with the same form and related meanings, we have what is technically known as polysemy. Examples are the word head, used to refer to the object on top of your body, and on top of a glass of beer, person at the top of the company or department, and many other things. Other examples of polysemy are foot (of person, of mountain) or run (person does , water does , colors do).if we aren’t sure whether different uses of single word are examples of homonymy or polysemy, we can check in a dictionary. If the word has multiple meanings (i.e. it’s polysemous), then there will be a single entry ,with a numbered list of the different meanings of that word . if two words are treated as homonyms, they will typically have two separate entries. In most dictionaries bank, mail, mole  and sole are clearly treated a homonyms whereas face,foot,get,head and run are treated as examples of polysemy.

Of course, if is possible for two forms to be distinguished via homonymy and for one of the forms also to have various uses via polysemy. The word date (= a thing we can eat ) and date(= a point in time) are homonyms.however , the “ point in time “ kind of date is polysenous in terms of a particular day and month ( = on a letter) , an arranged meeting time (=an appointment), a social meeting(= with someone we like) , and even a person (= that person we like) . So the question How was your date?  Could have several different interpretations.

Why is 6 afraid of 7? You can understand why the answer is funny (because 789 ) by identifying the homophones.

He drank the whole bottle!

the relationship between words , based simply on a close connection in everyday experience. That close connection can be based on a container – contents relation ( bottle/ water , can / juice) , a whole – part relation ( car / wheels, house /roof) or a representive – symbol relationship ( king / crown , the president / the white House) . Using one of these words to refer to the other is an example of metonymy.

It is our familiarity with metonymy that makes it possible for us to understand He drank the whole bottle; although it sounds absurd literally (i.e. he drank the liquid, not the glass object). We also accept the White House has announced … or Downing street protested … without being puzzled that building appear to be talking. We use metonymy when we talk about filling up the car, answering the door, boiling the kettle, giving someone a hand, or needing some wheels.

Are the underlined words best described as examples of polysemy or metonymy?

A:  The pen is mightier than the sword.

B: I had to park on the shoulder of the road.

C: Yes, I love those. I ate a whole box on Sunday!

D: Computer chips created an important new technology.

Second language learning and acquisition

Second language learning A distinction is sometimes made between learning in a foreign language setting (learning language that is not generally spoken in the surrounding community) and a second language setting (learning a language that is spoken in the surrounding community). That is, Japanese students in an English class in Japan are learning English as a foreign language (EFL) and, if those same students were in an English class in the USA, they would be learning English as a second language (ESL). In either case, they are simply trying to learn another language, so the expression second language is used more generally to describe both situations. Acquisition and learning The term acquisition is used to refer to the gradual development of ability in a language by using it naturally in communicative situations with others who know the language. The term learning , however , applies to a more conscious process of accumulating knowledge of the features, such as vocabulary and grammar, of a language , typically in an institutional setting.( mathematics , for example, is learned , not acquired).

George Yule