automeronymy
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English
Etymology
By surface analysis, auto- + meronymy, or, by surface analysis, automeronym + -y.
Noun
automeronymy (uncountable)
- (semantics, linguistics) The quality or state of being an automeronym; the semantic relation between senses of a word such that one sense is meronymous to another.
- Hypernyms: polysemy, < colexification
- Coordinate term: autoholonymy
- 2000, D. Alan Cruse, “6: Contextual variability of word meaning”, in Meaning in Language: An Introduction to Semantics and Pragmatics (Oxford Textbooks in Linguistics), Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 111:
- 6.4.1.2 Automeronymy / Automeronymy occurs in a parallel way to autohyponymy, except that the more specific reading denotes subpart rather than a subtype, although it is by no means always easy to determine whether we should be talking about automeronymy or autoholonymy, that is to say, it is not easy to see which is the more basic use. An example of this may be door, which can refer to either the whole set-up, with jambs, lintel, threshold, hinges, and the leaf panel itself, as in Go through that door, or just the leaf, as in Take the door off its hinges. Notice the zeugma in the following, which confirms the discreteness of the specific reading: ?We took the door off its hinges and walked through it.
- 2005, Jonathan Charteris-Black, “9 Cultural Resonance in English and Malay Figurative Phrases: The case of 'hand'”, in Anne Ife, Janet Cotterill, editors, Language Across Boundaries: British Association for Applied Linguistics Meeting, British Association for Applied Linguistics, →ISBN, page 156:
- The core meaning of tangan in Malay can be translated into English either as 'hand' or as 'arm'. This implies differences in the lexical field for the human body in the two languages: Malay employs a single body part term for senses that are conveyed in English by two distinct terms. This is a case of what Cruse (2000: 187) refers to as automeronymy 'that is, when part and immediate whole have the same name'. It would usually be quite clear from the context as to which part tangan refers to.
- 2022, Christopher Grindrod, Naomi Gurevich, editors, Clinical Applications of Linguistics to Speech-Language Pathology: A Guide for Clinicians, Taylor and Francis, →ISBN:
- Polysemous words can be further divided based on whether there is a linear or nonlinear relationship between their senses (Cruse, 2011). Linear polysemy describes words where one sense covers a more specific area within the area covered by the other, as is the case when one sense denotes a subtype or part of the other. Autohyponymy and automeronymy are two types of linear polysemy. Autohyponymy occurs when a sense denotes a subtype of another sense. For example, drink has two senses, a general sense "to consume a liquid" as in You shouldn't drink anything before surgery., and a more specific sense "to consume alcohol" as in You shouldn't drink while driving. Automeronymy occurs when a sense denotes a subpart of another sense. For example, arm has two senses, one that refers to the whole arm as in She lost an arm in the accident., and another that refers to a part of the arm as in The cat scratched her arm., which typically means the non-hand part of the arm. Nonlinear polysemy describes words where there is no relationship of inclusion between the senses, as is the case with metaphor and metonymy.
Usage notes
Automeronymy and autoholonymy are counterparts, two sides of the same coin. The reason linguistics can make a distinction whereby any given instance is said to instantiate one and not the other is that the terms are defined such that whichever sense of the given word can be judged to be the primary sense governs the direction toward the other. For example, if the whole-limb sense of the word arm is judged to be the primary sense, then the shoulder-to-elbow sense (used in anatomy) is said to exhibit automeronymy. The analogous relationship for autohyponymy and autohypernymy is also true.