The Process of Polysemization of English Verb Rise and its Bengali
Counterpart Uttha
Munira Tasnim
Graduate School of Information Science, Tohoku University
E-mail: muniratasnim@yahoo.com

Abstract
This presentation examines the process of polysemization of the English verb rise and its
partially Bengali counterpart uttha. Using historical data and cognitive semantic study ofmeaning extension we observe that rise and uttha are highly potential for polysemization,
because they adopt various meanings during the gradual course of semantic change throughthe context dependent mechanisms like generalization and metaphorization. According toOxford English Dictionary the polysemy of rise arose in the year 1200. From this period wecan trace the diversity of meanings of rise to be constructed. Following Gronemeyer (1998)
the claim of this thesis is that rise and uttha have one basic lexical entry and all othermeaning constructions are accessed via this entry. According to Oxford English Dictionary
the basic lexical entry or the core meaning of rise is: To get up from sitting, lying andkneeling position, which is attested in 1200. Thus from the data in OED we can infer that thebasic image schema for rise is: To move from a lower level to an upper level. Using historical
data and cognitive study of meaning extension of rise and uttha we conclude that from thisbasic image schema all other meanings of rise and uttha can be constructed. Throughout thethesis we will see how this basic schema is preserved in the construction of meanings of riseand uttha. Using Corpus of Historical American English we will deal with a considerable
number of meanings of rise that were constructed during the last 200 years:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

Physical upward movement of a volitional subject- core meaning of rise and uttha (thesun rises from the horizon, I rose from the table)
Physical upward movement of a non-volitional subject- by the process of generalization(smoke rises from the chimney)
Upward movement of an abstract entity - by the process of metaphorization(increase in
number and amount- the price of gas rises)
To become visible - by the process of generalization (island, stair rose from the water)
From non-existence to come into existence - by the process of metaphorization (the river
rises from the hill, riot rises from some cause feeling rises, horror rises).
To vanish from some location- by the process of metaphorization (applicable for Bengali
only- stain rises from the cloth)

7.

Positive upward movement in the second verb of Bengali V+V compound- by the8.

process of metaphorization (applicable only for Bengali uttha).
A sense of inception, completion and suddenness in the second verb of Bengali V+Vcompound -by the process of metaphorization (applicable only for Bengali uttha).
Using contemporary theory of metaphor and generalization we have given in our thsis adetail analysis of how and why the above semantic change of rise and uttha occurred by
the mechanisms like metaphorization and generalization. In this paper we have tried toprove Lackoff’s claim that “the locus of metaphor is not in language at all, but in theway we conceptualize one mental domain in terms of another.”
Gronemeyer (1998) showed that syntactic change motivates semantic change. On theother hand in case of rise we claim that one single syntactic structure can give rise to
several categories of semantically different rise or uttha. The meanings of rise and uttha
are determined by the semantic analysis of the other constituents of the utterance. Whensemantic analysis becomes inadequate to determine the meaning of rise and uttha weapply contextual or pragmatic analysis of the verb. So when Gronemeyer shows theinterdependence of syntax and semantics, we show semantic-pragmatic analysis ofsemantic change. According to Elizabeth Traugott and J. Paul Hopper……``it(semantic-pragmatic analysis) is a part of the larger mechanism of semantic change ingeneral.
Using cognitive semantic study of new meaning construction we infer that the newmeanings of rise and uttha are constructed by two analogical, context dependent
mechanisms. One is Metaphorization and the other is Generalization. The basic image
schema preservation is the key process of all cognitive mechanisms of new meaning
construction. One of the aims of this paper is to prove the semantic relation between
the basic or the core meaning and the newly constructed meanings of rise and uttha. In
other words the aim of this paper is to explain where and how the basic or the core
meaning of rise and uttha is preserved in all the new meaning constructions of rise anduttha.
References:
1. Gronemeyer, Clair. 1998. On deriving complex polysemy: the Grammaticalization ofget. English Language and Linguistics 3.1:1-39
2. Hopper J. Paul and Traugott, Elizabeth Closs. Grammaticalization. 1993. Cambridge
University Press.

3. Lakoff, George. 1992. The Contemporary Theory of Metaphor(c) Copyright George Lakoff, 1992
To Appear in Ortony, Andrew (ed.) Metaphor and Thought (2nd edition), Cambridge
University Press.