Tanner Dean

The Polysemy of “Political”: Shared Senses and Network as a Framework for Dealing with Lexical Ambiguity

Political discourse seems to be fraught with competing definitions for what is and is not “political.” These competing definitions can lead to people checking out from these conversations because there seems to be no overlap of these definitions. Polysemy allows for the examining of the shared network people use for creating these definitions. Etymology and the senses attached to these words are polysemous and connect to these shared networks. These shared networks then allow for people to understand that even though these definitions are different they can have an overarching overlap which can pull people back into conversations regarding “politics” and the “political” instead of leading to confusion over difference. Polysemy has the possibility to enrich our understanding of everyday political discourse.

COMM 499, Capstone

Doyle Srader

1 – 1:30 PM

Join the Zoom discussion afterward. The presenter and faculty advisor both have the password.

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