The role of polysemy in the motivation of idioms: A contrastive approach

compositional and idiomatic meanings of idioms (Dobrovol’skij and Piirainen, 2005, 87), the synchronic motivation of idioms is rarely analyzed with regard to their polysemy (cf., e.g., Dobrovol’skij, 2007). Considering that polysemy stands as a motivational device in lexicology (Marzo, 2013), this contribution aims to investigate the potential role that polysemy plays in the synchronic motivation of French idioms. Due to the importance of the perception of native speakers in the study of synchronic motivation (cf., e.g., Koch and Marzo, 2007; Rettig, 1981; Umbreit, 2015), this contribution will analyze the potential influence of polysemy on the motivation of French idioms by means of a qualitative questionnaire. Twelve French idioms, six of which are polysemous, will be motivated by native French speakers and native Italian speakers, who are not familiar with the French language. By comparing the types of conceptualization provided by both groups of speakers, it will be possible to empirically demonstrate the impact of polysemy on the synchronic motivation of idioms and to observe how polysemy-based motivation manifests itself in phraseology.