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will frequently encounter the word take with several possible different meanings when reading the novel.
Table 4.1 also shows the frequency of occurrences of the word take based on the levels of polysemy. There are three levels of polysemy: primary level,
secondary level, and tertiary level. From seventy 70 occurrences, the word take occurred thirty-six 36 times in primary level, twenty-one 21 times in secondary
level, and thirteen times 13 in tertiary level of polysemy. In secondary level of polysemy, there were fifteen phrasal verbs and six idioms. The percentages of the
occurrences were counted with the Formula of Frequency 1 Figure 3.1. The percentages are 51.43 for primary level of polysemy, 30 for secondary level
of polysemy, and 18.57 for tertiary level of polysemy. Table 4.1 shows that the word take in primary level of polysemy has the highest percentage. It indicates
that the word take in primary level simple lexeme are used more often. From the finding, it can be seen that the word take in the novel occurs in all levels of
polysemy.
B. The Meanings of the Word Take Based on the Contexts in the Novel
The first objective addressed to this research is to figure out the meanings of the word take that occurred in the novel based on the contexts in the novel. The
word take is polysemy, a word having multiple meanings. Based on the data collection, the word take occurred seventy 70 times throughout the chapters of
the novel. It implied that there were seventy 70 possible different meanings of the word take in the novel. The word take in the novel occurred in sixty-nine 69
contexts or sentences. The sentences where the word take occurs are given a
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coding name as Context. Therefore, the first sentence will be referred as Context 1, the second sentence as Context 2, and so on. The complete sentence of each
context can be seen in Appendix A. A special case occurred in the Context 60. The word take occurred twice in the same sentence. The researcher divided the
word take in that sentence into Context 60a and Context 60b. The researcher derived the meaning of the word take from sixty-nine 69
sentences by interpreting them based on the contexts in the sentences. In the process of interpretation, some meanings were derived merely based on the
contexts without consulting to a dictionary and some others, especially the idiomatic expressions, were interpreted by consulting to dictionaries. The
researcher conducted peer debriefing to check the validity of the interpretation. The contexts were not determined merely from the sentences where the word take
occurred but it also involved the sentences before and after the referred sentence. In some cases, the context in whole paragraph was involved. Table 4.2 shows the
list of some meanings of the word take occurred in the novel as the examples. The complete list of seventy 70 meanings of the word take in the novel can be seen
in Appendix C. Based on the peer debriefing result, the researcher changed two meanings
interpretation. The result of peer debriefing can be seen in Appendix H. From the result, Context 1 and Context 25 have the least of total agreed numbers. There
were 40 of the debriefers who did not agree with the interpretation made by the researcher. Thus, the researcher replaced the meanings of both contexts with the
meanings based on the debriefers ’ suggestions. Previously, Context 1 meaning
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was ‘to grasp and hold still something’ and it was changed into ‘to move or lead someone to a certain place’. The former interpretation for Context 25 was ‘to
grasp something from someone’s possession’ and it was changed into ‘to grasp and hold something’.
Table 4.2 The Meanings of the Word Take in C. S. Lewis’ The Last Battle
No. Context
Meaning
1 Context 1
To move or lead someone to a certain place 2
Context 2 To go around
3 Context 3
To grasp and hold something in the hand 4
Context 4 To make someone believe the wrong thing
5 Context 5
To remove something that is attached in the body 6
Context 6 To cut something
7 Context 7
To go somewhere and do a particular thing 8
Context 8 To believe something is true
9 Context 9
To require a particular of time 10
Context 10 To grab something from somebody’s possession
11 Context 11
To capture someone 12
Context 12 To grasp something from somebody’s possession
13 Context 13
To receive something from someone else 14
Context 14 To lead someone to a distance
15 Context 15
To lead someone to a distance 16
Context 16 To carry someone from one place to another place
17 Context 17
To cause someone to be surprised 18
Context 18 To require a certain amount of time to spend
19 Context 19
To remove something from a certain position 20
Context 20 To obtain something
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The frequency counting in Table 4.1 shows that the words take in the form of phrasal verbs occurs in secondary and tertiary levels of polysemy. There were
three phrasal verbs combination which occurred both in secondary and tertiary levels of polysemy: take in, take away and take out. Take in in Context 60a is
secondary level of polysemy because it has a literal meaning as ‘to capture’—to take someone in someone else’s authority. Take in in Context 4, Context 23,
Context 24, Context 47, Context 58, and Context 59 is tertiary level of polysemy because it has non-
literal meaning as ‘to deceive’. In this case, take in in tertiary level is a metaphor. Take in is usually used as the notion for an object or person;
concrete and can be touched. However, in the metaphor take in is put in the notion for a process in the mind which is an abstract concept. Take away in Context 10,
Context 14, Context 15, and Context 28 is secondary level of polysemy which means
‘to lead someone to a distance’ and ‘to remove from the former position’. Take away
in Context 66 is in tertiary level of polysemy which means ‘to make something disappear’ which is also a metaphor. In the metaphor, take away is
used for the notion of an abstract concept that is trembling which denotes fear. Take out in Context 19, Context 60b, Context 63, and Context 64 is secondary
level of polysemy which means ‘to remove something from a certain position’. Take out in Context 68 is tertiary level of polysemy and a metaphor which means
‘to bring something up’. Take out in the metaphor extension is used for the notion of a non-concrete thing that is a joke. In conclusion, the word take in literal
meaning secondary level of polysemy is usually used for the notion of something concrete or physical, an object or person, while in non-literal meaning
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tertiary level of polysemy, the word take can be used for the notion of an abstract concept as the process in the mind or feelings.
The word take occurred seventy 70 times in the novel. However, the word take in the novel does not have seventy 70 different meanings. Some of the
meanings convey the same thing. For example, the same meanings of the word take occurred in many contexts in various levels of polysemy or in the complexity
of the lexeme. The list of the word take based on the complexity of the lexeme or based on the levels of polysemy can be seen in Appendix B. The word take in
primary level of polysemy a simple lexeme could have the same meaning with the word take in secondary or tertiary level of polysemy whether it was a phrasal
verb or idiom complex lexeme. For example, the meaning to capture was derived from Context 51, which is a simple lexeme and Context 60a, which is a
phrasal verb. Thus, it is not necessary for the word take to be in the same level of polysemy to have the possibility of having the same meaning. The fact indicates
that the occurrences of the same meanings might happen. Therefore, it is possible to make categorizations of the meanings which will be discussed in the next part.
C. The Relations between the Meanings
