Semasiology. Polysemy. Change of meaning

homonyms are words which can be meant to be the same according to their voice construction and pronunciation, yet they are different in their meanings

meant to be words which are different from their lexical meanings, though they are identical according to their grammatical meanings

words identical in spelling or sound ( pronunciation ) form but different in meaning

коса ( волосся ) - коса " ( для покосу трави )

proper ( full , absolute )

identical in spelling and sound form but different in meaning

like back n. "part of the body" - back adv. "away from the front" - back v. "go back";

Partial homonyms

Homophones

identical in pronunciation but different in spelling and meaning

buy - by - bye

Homographs

identical in spelling but different in pronunciation and meaning

bow [ bou ] -bow [ bau ]

Homoforms

identical in some grammar forms

bound n.jump' bound v . ' past of ' bind

Sources of Homonymy

conversion

mother - to mother

for creating grammatical homonyms

borrowings

different words became identical in sound and spelling forms

Lat vitim > Eng . vice ( evil )

identical pronunciation of once different words

seon > sene > see sa > sea

the primary meaning and the secondary meaning

the growth and development or as a change in semantic structure of the word

word may retain its previous meaning or meanings and at the same time acquire one or several new ones.

The main source is a change in the semantic structure of the word.

Some of the old meanings may become obsolete or even disappear

the coexistence of various meanings of the same word at a certain historical period of the development of the English language

synchronic semantic analysis of the world table all its meanings represent the semantic structure of it

The central meaning occurs in various and widely different contexts

marginal meanings are observed only in certain contexts

tendency in modern linguistics to interpret the concept of the central meaning in terms of the frequency of occurrence of this meaning

elevation (amelioration)

sense of a word takes on a less positive, more negative evaluation in the minds of the users

knave 'a rogue' < OE: cnafa ' a youth, a child' > 'servant'

degradation (pejoration) of word meaning

shifts in the sense of a word in the direction towards a more positive value in the minds of the users

pretty < OE: prættig 'crafty, sly'

In lexical contexts

groups of lexical items combined with the polysemantic word under consideration

“to take” in isolation has primarily the meaning “lay hold of with the hands, grasp, seize” when combined with the lexical group of words denoting some means of transportation (

lexically (or phraseologically) bound meanings which implies that such meanings are to be found only in certain lexical contexts

also called linguistic or verbal contexts

In grammatical contexts

grammatical structure serves to determine various individual meanings of a polysemantic word

also called linguistic or verbal contexts

In extra-linguistic contexts ^

the meaning of the word is determined not by the linguistic factors but by the actual speech situation in which this word is used

also called extra-linguistic or non-verbal contexts

Widening/Extension

range of meanings of a word increases so that the word can be used in more contexts than were appropriate before the change

dog =>1) specific powerful breed of dog => all breeds or races of dog

Narrowing (specialisation, restriction)

range of meaning is decreased so that a word can be used appropriately only in fewer contexts than before the change

meat => 'food' in general

Metaphor

the transfer of name based on the association of similarity

the application of a name or a descriptive term to an object to which it is not literally applicable

head of an army, eye of a needle

observed in idiomatic compounds

based on resemblance an association may be built not only between two physical objects, but also between a concrete object and an abstract concept

Metonymy

consists of the use of the name of one thing for that of something else, with which it is usually associated

to add flavor to writing

The pen is mightier than the sword

serve as colorful ways to take the ordinary and dress it up into something poetic or beautiful

the association of one word with two or more distinct meanings

comes from the Greek for "many signs

The problem in polysemy is that of inter relation of different lexico-semantic variants

All lexico-semantic variants of a word taken together form its semantic structure or semantic paradigm

interrelation and interdependence of various meanings in the semantic structure of one and the same word

Meaning

direct when it nominates the referent without the help of a context, in isolation

figurative when the referent is named and at the same time characterized through its similarity with other objects

tough(таф) meat - direct meaning, tough politician - figurative meaning

primary / secondary main / derived meanings is connected with two approaches to polysemy