Polysemy
vs. [monosemy/indeterminacy + elaborate inference]
It may depend on the task.
For example, in translation we need may to pull apart word "senses"
that would otherwise be treated as unitary.
How do you disambiguate?
Look for particular syntactic or lexical clues
Use selectional restrictions: specifications of the legal
combinations of senses; requires a relatively "deep" semantic
analysis
The astronomer married the star.
star has two senses: CELEBRITY and CELESTIAL BODY WHICH IS A
SOURCE OF ENERGY
MARRY is constrained to have an ANIMATE object.
Only the CELEBRITY sense belongs to the class of ANIMATE things.
Problem: selectional restrictions are too rigid;
preferences are what is needed
It can only be the thought of verdure to come, which prompts us in the
autumn to buy these dormant white lumps of vegetable matter covered
by a brown papery skin, and lovingly to plant them and care for them.
It is a marvel to me that under this cover they are labouring unseen
at such a rate within to give us the sudden awesome beauty of
spring flowering bulbs.
While winter reigns the earth reposes but these colourless green
ideas sleep furiously.
--C. M. Street
Thus Adam's Eden-plot in far-off time:
Colour-rampant flowers, trees a myriad green;
Helped by God-bless'd wind and temp'rate clime.
The path to primate knowledge unforseen,
He sleeps in peace at eve with Eve.
One apple later, he looks curiously
At the gardens or dichromates, in whom Colourless green ideas sleep furiously
Then rage for birth each morning, until doom
Brings rainbows they at last perceive.
--D. A. H. Byatt
Use associations between words as well as selectional preferences
John put the pot in the dishwasher.
The COOKING VESSEL sense of pot and the MACHINE FOR WASHING
DISHES sense of dishwasher are associated with one another
(perhaps through other concepts such as KITCHEN, COOKING).
Use a spreading activation + inhibition search in a network of
word and concept nodes.
Recovering from mistaken disambiguation
The astronomer married the star.
John put the pot in the dishwasher. He could see that
a police car had pulled up in his driveway.
Apparently people keep various senses of words around even after
they have selected one.