The Interplay of Synonymy and Polysemy

ECHAR 
lanzar 

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74 | 
tirar. 
The 
BANISHMENT 
schema is fairly frequent with 
tirar
and even more frequent with 
echar
. There are no examples in the corpus of 
lanzar
having this meaning. 
A further use of physical animate 
MOVANTS
is seen in constructions that mean to 
throw oneself (C). In this category, I include only literal uses describing physically throwing 
oneself to a place. This meaning can be expressed by all four 
throw
-verbs, though it is most 
common with 
lanzar
and 
tirar
. A variation on this meaning involves less forceful motion (D) 
closer to the concept of moving oneself. This is frequent only with 
echar. 
There are three variations of throwing oneself that are metaphorical. In (E), one can 
throw oneself to a time. This use is only attested with 
arrojar
. It is also possible to throw 
oneself to an action. There are two variation of this use, one with a nominal element and one 
with a verbal element. The nominal version (F) is almost exclusively used with 
lanzar
and is 
very frequent with this verb. The version with an infinitival verb (G) occurs with 
echar
and 
lanzar
, but is most frequent with 
echar. 
The final schema (H) discussed in this section 
involved the phrase 
echar de menos 
‘to miss’ which I labeled the 
MISS 
schema. This meaning 
only occurs with the verb 
echar
.
Figure 6 shows overlaps in the usage of the different verbs. These areas of overlap 
represent functional synonymy (see §2.4.2). If two verbs can be used in a schema 
interchangeably to express a similar situation and produce the same truth conditions then they 
can be described as functionally synonymous.
All four verbs are functional synonyms when it comes to expressing throwing oneself 
and throwing another. 
Arrojar
, 
echar
and 
tirar
can capture the notion of removing a person 
from a place or banishing someone, and are, in that specific case, functional synonyms. These 
three verbs contrast with 
lanzar,
which according to the corpus data at least, does not express 
banishment. 
Echar 
and
lanzar 
are part of the verbal inchoative construction and are 
functionally synonymous in that case also.
The diagram also helps explain 
arrojar
’s significantly lower occurrence of physical 
animate 
MOVANTS
. 
Arrojar
appears in 4 out of the 8 schemas. It can mean to throw another 
(A), to banish (B), to throw oneself (C) and to throw oneself to a time (E). Even though it 
expresses a variety of notions, it is not frequent in any of them. We can tentatively say that 
even though it is possible for 
arrojar
to express the concept of throwing oneself, speakers 
prefer to express this notion using 
lanzar
or 
tirar
, which are more frequent in the corpus. 
Arrojar 
accepts different uses, but is not the preferred verb in expressing them.

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