POLYSEMY PATTERNS AND QUALIA STRUCTURES: A CORPUS-BASED SEMANTIC INVESTIGATION.

This thesis aims to explore the phenomenon of polysemy through the lens of James Pustejovsky's Qualia theory. Polysemy, defined as the presence of multiple meanings associated with a single word, poses a fundamental challenge in lexical semantics. Pustejovsky's innovative approach, grounded in the concept of Qualia, provides a sophisticated theoretical framework for analyzing the semantic complexity of words and their various senses. The research is based on a detailed investigation of a selected linguistic corpus, with the goal of identifying and classifying the different qualities that constitute the polysemic meaning of specific key words. By applying analytical tools based on the Qualia theory, the intention is to map the semantic structure of each sense, highlighting distinctive features and internal semantic relationships. The primary contribution of this research lies in offering an in-depth perspective on the nature of polysemy by integrating Pustejovsky's Qualia model to illuminate intrinsic semantic dynamics. The obtained results will provide a solid foundation for understanding how the Qualia structure can be successfully applied in polysemy analysis, thereby contributing to our broader understanding of meaning mechanisms in natural language. The relationships expressed by the four qualia that make up the structure are crucial in the change of meanings in the polysemic context.