Hypersynonymy for Polyfunctionality

Abstract

The term polyfunctionality has an extraordinary number of synonyms and near-synonyms in linguistics, e.g. multifunctionality, polycategoriality, conversion, and zero derivation. In this paper I will present many of these terms and discuss possible differences (for some authors) among them. The paper will thus be a case study in hypersynonymy, the existence of a very large set of (near-)synonymous terms.