A measure of polysemy on roget's international thesaurus fourth edition. (volumes i and ii)
W. F. Simpson · 1987
There have been several attempts to create a quantitative measure of polysemy. To date, none of these attempts has been successful. This research presents a new method of determining polysemy by using Roget's International Thesaurus Fourth Edition. A quantitative measure of polysemy called the Index of is presented. Statistical analysis shows that one-word nouns with high Indices of Polysemy have dictionary entries with interrelated contexts. Additional research shows that one-word nouns with low Indices of Polysemy represent physical objects as opposed to states or conditions.