The Interplay of Synonymy and Polysemy

Figure 4. 
Constructional schema capturing the major characteristics of 
echar abajo
The idiomatic or figurative meaning (on the right) is derived from this literal meaning. 
The link (c) connects the two meanings. The link captures the semantic relation between the 
two meanings: the abstract meaning is more schematic. In other words, the physical sense is 
an instantiation of the more abstract sense.
The arrow indicates that the physical sense is an instantiation of the abstract sense (a 
solid elaboration link). But it is the abstract sense that is derived from the physical sense, 
despite the directionality of the arrow (c). Geeraerts (2004:219-220) describes this as a 
process of generalization. It is a type of meaning extension where the original meaning 
(
physical
) is a subset of the extended meaning (
abstract
). That is, the extended meaning 
includes the original meaning as a special instance or case. Physically throwing down an 
object is also an act of toppling or ruining. ‘Throwing down’ is a special instance of the more 
abstract meaning.
The constructional schema seen in Figure 4 not only applies to this specific phrase, 
but to other idiomatic phrases with 
echar
.
Table 1. 
Idiomatic phrases with 
echar 
that are semantically-schematic idioms
Phrase 
Literal/Physical Meaning 
Abstract Meaning 
(a) 
echar abajo 
‘to throw down’ 
‘to ruin’ 
(b) 
echar por tierra 
‘to throw by earth’ 
‘to ruin’ 
(c) 
echar por los suelos 
‘to throw by the ground(s)’ 
‘to ruin’ 
(d) 
echar en cara 
‘to throw in face’ 
‘to reproach’ 
(e) 
echar a la calle 
‘to throw to the street’ 
‘to banish’ 
(f) 
echar encima 
‘to throw on (top)’ 
‘to carry (a burden)’ 
The constructional schema applies to other phrases that mean roughly ‘to ruin’: 
echar 
por los suelos 
‘throw by the ground’ and 
echar por tierra 
‘throw by soil’. In both cases, 
physically throwing an object to the ground or to the soil can be seen as a special instance of 
the more abstract meaning of ruining.
echar 
abajo 
THROW 
DOWN 
physical 
TOPPLE, RUIN, DESTROY 
abstract 
a) 
b) 
c) 

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Other phrases that fit into this idiom schema include 
echar en cara 
‘throw in face’ 
and 
echar a la calle 
‘throw to the street’. The former phrase idiomatically means ‘to 
reproach’. The act of physically throwing an object in someone’s face is an example or a way 
of reproaching (see §4.3.3). 
Echar a la calle 
figuratively means ‘to banish’, usually from the 
home. Let’s imagine a situation where a father is banishing his son from the house. He could 
ask him to leave. Or he could actually grab his son and throw him to the street. Both could be 
described using 
echar a la calle. 
 
Idiomatic phrases with 
echar encima
‘to throw on (top)’ are also semantically-
schematic. If I put a heavy object onto my shoulders, then I am carrying something heavy, a 
burden. This physical meaning leads to the abstract concept of carrying a burden. The idiom 
is then used to refer to different types of nonphysical entities, such as responsibilities and 
duties which are burdens to a person.
There are several phrases with 
echar
combined with specific 
DIRECTIONALS
that fit 
into the idiom schema in Figure 4. The exact details of each idiom are certainly different. But 
at a certain level of abstraction all the phrases show a very similar structure. There is both a 
physical and abstract sense. The physical sense is highly compositional. The abstract sense 
derives from the physical sense. The abstract sense is a generalization over the physical 
sense: the physical sense is a special instance of the abstract sense. 
All these examples involve fixed phrases that combine a verb with a 
DIRECTIONAL
. 
Similar characteristics can be argued to exist in idiomatic phrases of 
echar 
plus a 
MOVANT
. 
Echar tierra a X
can be used literally to mean ‘to throw dirt on X’ but it can also be used in a 
more abstract sense of ‘to cover up’. Again, if I throw dirt on an object I am in fact covering 
it up. The physical sense is an instantiation of the more schematic idiomatic meaning.
The same analysis could be posited for 
echar raíces
‘throw roots’. The physical sense 
of ‘growing roots’ can be seen as a special instance of settling down in a place (abstract 
sense) applying in its physical sense only to plants. 
Something similar can be argued to occur with 
echar mano
literally ‘throw hand’ and 
figuratively ‘to make use of something’ and 
echar una mano
literally ‘throw a hand’ and the 
more abstract ‘to help/aid’. The first step in grabbing an object is to move my hand towards it 
(throw my hand). If I grab an object, then I can make use of it. These examples show, though, 
that these are still idioms we are dealing with. The choice of using a determiner or not plays a 
crucial role in the final meaning. The combination of 
echar 
+ 
mano 
‘hand’ without a 
determiner produces one meaning, while using a determiner produces a completely different 
meaning. In that way, these phrases differ from non-idiomatic language, where the 

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149 | 
determiner is usually freely variable. The point, though, is that despite these idiosyncratic 
characteristics, there is some semantic motivation to these idioms.
Not all idioms have the characteristics of semantically-schematic idioms. Take for 
example the phrase 
arrojar luz
‘to throw light’ which is used to mean ‘to clarify a 
complicated situation’ (DDFH). First of all, the literal use of the phrase seems to be 
uncommon. There are few cases in the collostructional analysis sample or 400-sentence 
corpus where 
arrojar luz
refers to the actual light being directed at a place. The physical 
sense is always backgrounded in this idiom, unlike with semantically-schematic idioms.
Secondly there is no relationship of generalization between physical and abstract 
senses. Literally shining a light on an object is not a case of making sense of a complicated 
situation. 
Arrojar luz
is a different type of idiom than the idioms seen with 
echar
. This does 
not mean that it is not possible to motivate the idiomatic meaning of this phrase, it simply 
means that a different schema would need to be posited for idioms such as 
arrojar luz
. 
The idiom schema in figure 4 helps to make sense of some of the variation in meaning 
seen with 
echar. 
The description of 
echar
throughout this paper has mostly involved the 
listing of fixed phrases that appear once or twice in the data. There was not much to say up to 
this point about these phrases, other than describing their form and semantics. The analysis 
presented in this section shows that at least some of these fixed phrases with 
echar
follow a 
similar pattern and can be seen as instances of a general idiom schema. There is then a 
semantic and syntactic motivation for several fixed phrases with this verb. An important 
characteristic of 
echar 
is its frequent appearance in semantically-schematic idioms.

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150 | 
Chapter 6. Conclusion 
The study of the four verbs 
arrojar, echar, lanzar 
and 
tirar
has revealed some 
interesting facets of the behavior of these verbs. There are several cases where multiple verbs 
can be used in the same or similar constructions and produce similar meanings. All four verbs 
can be used in the 
THROWING 
schema, in the more prototypical sense of throwing another 
object and also throwing yourself. Other cases of overlap include the 
BANISHMENT 
schemas, 
the 
HITS
,
SOUNDS 
and 
LOOKS 
schemas, and the fact that both 
echar 
and 
lanzar
can be used in 
an inchoative meaning, even though there are differences in structure. 
Still, there are a large number of cases where only one of the verbs can express a