POLYSEMY AND HOMONYMY Chapter VI 1 A man who was involved in a serious motorcycle accident was unable to speak when he first regained consciousness. Wishing to know how long he had been unconscious, he took a piece of paper and a pencil from the bedside and, after writing “date”? on it, gave it to his nurse. She handed it back to him after she had written the word “Married” on it. 2 As most words are arbitrary and conventional symbols without any intrinsic connection with what they refer to, it
