Co znaczy i co oznacza śmiech? O metonimicznych źródłach wieloznaczności czasownika śmiać się
What does laughter mean from a linguistic and extralinguistic perspective? On metonymy as a source of polysemy of the Polish verb śmiać się (to laugh)

Summary/Abstract: This paper investigates the main syntactic and semantic features of the Polish polysemous predicate śmiać się (to laugh) within the theory of Semantic Syntax (Karolak 1984, 2002). The analysis shows that the verb forms several predicate-argument structures, e.g.: 1) [ktoś] śmieje się z [kimś] z tego, że_, ([somebody] laughs with [somebody] + SENT), 2) [ktoś] śmieje się do [kogoś] ([somebody] laughs to [somebody], which means ‘to grin’), 3) [ktoś] śmieje się z [siebie], że_ ([somebody] laughs at [oneself] + SENT), 4) [ktoś] śmieje się z [kogoś/czyjegoś], że_ ([somebody] laughs at [somebody / something that belongs to somebody] + SENT), which are different in terms of the number, status and semantic roles of their arguments, reference and type of humour incorporated in the act of laughter. The source of this variety of meanings of the predicate śmiać się (to laugh) lies in metonymic extensions which fit into the pattern of radial and chain polysemy. The article also outlines how the semiotic (cultural) meaning of laughter is reflected in the semantics of the verb śmiać się (to laugh) through the mechanism of metonymy.

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