THE ROLE OF SEMASIOLOGY IN UNDERSTANDING POLYSEMY AND HOMONYMY.

Semasiology, a branch of linguistics concerned with the study of meaning, plays a pivotal role in distinguishing and analyzing semantic phenomena such as polysemy and homonymy. While both involve words with multiple meanings, semasiology offers theoretical and methodological tools to differentiate between related and unrelated senses of a word. This paper explores how semasiology contributes to understanding the complexity of lexical meanings, examines the criteria for distinguishing polysemy from homonymy, and evaluates their implications in linguistic theory and language learning. Emphasis is placed on the dynamic nature of word meanings and the cognitive processes underlying semantic interpretation.