Abstract

This article contributes to the debate between monosemic and polysemic approaches to linguistic semantics by a close examination of Nigerian Arabic idiomatic expressions involving the keyword ‘head’. Three broad categories of constraints on polysemy can be identified, which limit polysemy, but not to the extent that a fully monosemic account can be motivated. An inherent, stipulative polysemy resides in idioms and in their constitutive lexemes. The attempt to motivate a monosemic account highlights factors constraining polysemy, sets limits to their effects, suggests a taxonomy which brings together essential structural and semantic aspects of idioms, and simultaneously elucidates the rich, multifaceted world of a simple lexeme.

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