An analysis of homonymy and polysemy in Xitsonga

Abstract

Certain words are often presumed to be understood by speakers, which creates an assumption that all listeners understand their meanings. These terms may have two distinct meanings, referred to as homonyms, or more than two related meanings, known as polysemes. This can lead to ambiguity and misinterpretation when extra contextual information is lacking. This article aims to analyse Xitsonga’s homonyms and polysemes. This qualitative study employs a descriptive linguistics approach. It describes and analyses words with multiple meanings in Xitsonga. For this study, information was gathered from Xitsonga grammar books, Xitsonga dictionaries, Xitsonga.org, an online dictionary, and the researcher’s own experience as a Xitsonga speaker. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the gathered data. The study found that homonyms known as ‘mafanapeletwana’ do exist in Xitsonga, but with unclear etymology. Polysemy also exists in Xitsonga, termed ‘pholisemi’, which is a transliteration of polysemy, and is analysed in terms of relatedness of meanings. In order to assist readers to understand these two concepts, to be able to distinguish between them in order to understand spoken or written words in any context, to educate language users and to preserve the language, this article recommends that a Xitsonga dictionary of homonyms and polysemy should be developed.