In Russian, single-valued and multi-valued words are distinguished by the number of lexical meanings. Monosemantic, or unambiguous, are words that have only one lexical meaning: appendicitis, medicinal, bandage, birch, satin, felt-tip pen, smell, and others like that.
There are several types of monosemantic words.
1. Proper names that name single objects. Examples: Moscow, Petrov, Vasily, Seine, Europe, Great Britain, Baikal.
2. New (recently emerged) words: foam rubber, pizza, briefing, dederon, lavsan.
3. Words that have a narrowly specific meaning: trolleybus, binoculars, suitcase, can, turquoise, beads, ship, analgin.
4. Fibroids, allergies, gastritis, tonsillitis, noun, verb - all these terms are unambiguous.
And polysemantic words are often found in Russian. Among the meanings that they possess, one is taken as the main, basic, and the rest - as derivatives of the main, original meaning. In explanatory dictionaries, the main meaning is always indicatedfirst, followed by numbered derived values.
Vocabulary: single and multiple words in context
The polysemy of a word is realized in the context (speech), which clarifies one of the meanings of a polysemantic word. Usually even a narrow context (for example, a phrase) is enough to clarify the meanings of polysemantic words. For example, a quiet exclamation is quiet, a quiet disposition is calm, a quiet ride is slow, calm weather is calm, quiet breathing is even, etc. A word taken out of context is perceived in the main meaning in which it is most often used in speech.
Single-valued and polysemantic words: examples of usage in context
Derived meanings are revealed in speech, that is, in combination with other words. For example, the word "go" is perceived in the main meaning - "to move around, stepping on your feet" (Petya walked alone for a long time). But the context helps to distinguish the different meanings of the word. "The hours go by, the days pass behind them" (to go - to pass, to flow (about time)). "The path went through the forest" (to go - to have a direction, to stretch). "From the mouth comes steam" (to go - "to flow out from somewhere"). "The blue color goes to your eyes" (to go - "to be in the face"). "The letter went exactly 20 days" (to go - "to be, to be on the way"). "With faith, hope, go for everything" (to go - "show readiness for something"). "There are rumors about you" (go -"spread"). "Russia is going to war" (to go - "to act, to go out against someone").
Single-valued and polysemantic words as a way to develop vocabulary
Words acquire ambiguity in the process of language history, which reflects changes in nature and society, people's knowledge of them. As a result, human thinking is enriched with new terms and concepts. The volume of the dictionary in any language is limited, so the vocabulary develops not only as a result of the birth of new words, but also due to the appearance of other meanings in previously known ones. Single and multiple words, as well as examples of their use in context, can be found in explanatory dictionaries.
