Meaning of automeronymy | Babel Free

Definitions

The quality or state of being an automeronym; the semantic relation between senses of a word such that one sense is meronymous to another.

uncountable

Examples

“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.”

“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.”

“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.”

CEFR level