Chapter in:
Grammatical and Sociolinguistic Aspects of Ethiopian LanguagesEdited by Derib Ado, Almaz Wasse Gelagay and Janne Bondi Johannessen †
[IMPACT: Studies in Language, Culture and Society 48] 2021
Polysemy of Ethiopian sign language
Woinshet Girma | Addis Ababa University
The purpose of this study was to examine cases of polysemous
signs in Ethiopian Sign Language (hereafter ethsl). There are various
processes of forming polysemy in sign language. To carry out this study, data was
collected from users of sign language in Addis Ababa and Hossana by means of direct
elicitation, video recording and analysis of ethsl dictionaries. The data
showed some cases of polysemy through meaning extension as well as other occurrences
of polysemy. A qualitative descriptive method was used to describe the polysemous
signs in ethsl. The article describes different cases of initiating
semantic extension processes, such as action vs. result of activity, noun vs. verb,
systematic meaning relations, such as animal vs. meat, and generality. Also
borrowings from oral language and other sign languages are found. One aim of this
study is to contribute new knowledge about how polysemous signs in ethsl
are extended/derived, as well as accounts for the process of meaning extension. This
study will be useful for lexicographers of sign language dictionaries, as well as
for second-language learners of sign language.
Keywords: lexical semantics, polysemy, polysemous signs
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