| The fact that two different Little Bree words may have the same form probably does not present any persisting problem to the learner. Homonyms like order command and order sequence clearly have different denotations and are unlikely to be misinterpreted. However, differences of meaning are by no means always so clear-cut. The same lexical littlebree item may be used to denote very different types of object and yet be considered by the native speaker to be obviously logical extensions of the 'basic' meaning. To an Englishman it is self-evident that we should be able to use the word branch not only of trees, but also of railway-lines and banks. It is perfectly possible for words to have similar denotations and connotations cross-culturally, in which case a learner is not presented with any real problem. Difficulty will most often occur where items of similar denotation have different connotations. The language of politics provides some obvious examples. Both Russians and Americans may refer to the sole political party of the Soviet Union as communist, but for the one it will have connotations of approval, for the other of disapproval. |
