Homonyms

Homonyms (Gr. homos “similar” + onoma “name”) are words which have identical sound form and/or spelling but are different in their meaning. E.g. bank (n) – a shore (of the river);bank (n) – an institution for receiving, lending, exchanging and safeguarding money

Classification of homonyms (1)• Homonyms proper (собственно омонимы):

E.g. ball (мяч) – ball (бал); bank (банк) – bank (берег); light, adj. (легкий) – light, n. (свет).

• Homophones: E.g. piece – peace; air - heir; knight – night; rose (flower) – rose (Past form of rise).

• Homographs: E.g. bow [bəu] (лук) – bow [bau] (поклон); lead [liːd] (лидерство) – lead [led] (свинец); row [rəu] (ряд) – row [rau] (ссора).

Classification of homonyms (2)

The criterion: whether homonyms belong to the same or to different parts of speech.•Lexical•Lexico-grammatical•Grammatical

Lexical homonyms

• Belong to the same part of speech. The difference is confined to the lexical meaning only: fair (ярмарка) – fare (плата за проезд); bow [bəu] (лук) - bow [bau] (поклон); match (спичка) – match (матч)

Lexico-grammatical homonyms

• Belong to different parts of speech and differ in lexical meaning: tear [tɪə], n. (слеза) – to tear, v. [tɛə] (рвать); bear, n. [bɛə] (медведь) – to bare [bɛə], v. (носить) – bare [bɛə], adj. (обнаженный).

Grammatical homonyms

• Belong to different parts of speech but there is a link between their lexical meanings: milk – to milk; practice – to practice.

Classification of homonyms (3) The criterion: whether the paradigms of the

homonyms coincide completely or partially.•Full homonyms are identical in sound in all their forms and paradigms: match (матч) - match (спичка); ear (ухо) – ear (колос); ball (мяч) – ball (бал)•Partial homonyms are identical only in some of the forms: to found (основывать) – found (Past Indefinite, Past Participle of the verb to find); to lie (lied, lied) (красть) – to lie (lay, lain) (лежать); bean, n. (фасоль) – been, v. (Past Part. of the verb to be).

Sources of homonyms

• phonetic changes: night – knight (OE kniht); write (OE writan) – right (OE reht and riht). • borrowings: bank (берег): native origin - bank

(банк): Italian; fair (справедливый): native - fair (ярмарка): French.

Sources of homonyms

• shortening of words: flu (from influenza) - flew (Past Indef. of to fly); fan (from fanatic) -fan (вентилятор).

• conversion: comb, n. – to comb, v., pale, adj. – to pale, v., to make, v. – make, n. (grammatical homonyms).

Sources of homonyms

• Split polysemy:spring (n) – “the act of springing, a leap”;spring (n) – “a place where a stream of water comes up out of the earth”;spring (n) – “a season of the year”.

The original word: springan - “to jump,” “to leap”

The problem of differentiating between polysemy and homonymy

spring is represented •as two homonyms in V.K. Müller’s and Hornby’s dictionaries: I. a season of the year, II. a) the act of springing, a leap, b) a place where a stream of water comes up out of the earth. •as three homonyms in V.D. Arakin’s dictionary.

Origins of synonyms

• to begin (native, neutral) – to commence (French, bookish) – to initiate (Latin, bookish)

• bodily (native, neutral) — corporal (Latin, bookish)

• brotherly (native, neutral) — fraternal (Latin, bookish).

Definition of synonyms

• Synonyms are words with the same denotation (or denotative component) but different in connotations (or connotative components). (semantic approach)

• Methods of studying synonyms: definitional, transformational, componential.

Synonyms of the verb to look• to stare: to look + steadily, lastingly + in surprise,

curiosity, etc. • to glare: to look + steadily, lastingly + in anger,

rage, fury • to gaze: to look + steadily, lastingly + in

tenderness, admiration, wonder • to glance: to look + briefly, in passing • to peep: to look + steadily, lastingly + by stealth;

through an opening or from a concealed location • to peer: to look + steadily, lastingly + with

difficulty or strain

V.V. Vinogradov’s classification of synonyms

• Ideographic synonyms are words conveying the same concept but differing in shades of meaning: power — force — energy; beautiful — handsome — pretty.

• Stylistic synonyms have the same denotational components but differ in stylistic characteristics: hearty (neutr.) – cordial (formal), to imitate (neutr.) – to monkey (inform.), to begin (neutr.) – to commence (formal); to die (neutr.) – to pass away (formal).

V.V. Vinogradov’s classification of synonyms

• Absolute synonyms coincide in all their shades of meaning and in all their stylistic characteristics: gift - present; homeland – motherland; spirants – fricatives, etc.

The phenomenon of absolute synonymy is very rare in the language and very often temporary.

Classification of synonyms based on the types of connotations

• The connotation of degree or intensity: to surprise – to astonish – to amaze – to astound; to shout – to yell – to bellow – to roar (the rising degree of intensity)

• The connotation of duration: to stare – to glare – to gaze – to peep - to peer (a lasting look) - to glance (a brief look)

• The emotive connotation: to stare (to look in surprise, curiosity) – to glare (in anger, rage or fury) – to gaze (in tenderness, admiration or wonder)

Classification of synonyms based on the types of connotations

• The evaluative connotation (conveys the speaker’s attitude towards the referent): well-known – famous – notorious (-) – celebrated (+) (cf.: a notorious criminal, but a celebrated scientist).

• The causative connotation: to shiver (because of the frost) – to shudder (with fear, horror).

• The connotation of manner: to stroll – to stride – to pace – to trot – to swagger

The synonymic dominant (the dominant synonym)

• the most general word in the group • belonging to the basic stock of words • stylistically neutral • having high frequency of usage, vast

combinability, lacking connotations. • expresses the notion common to all the members

of the group in the most general way without any additional information.

to surprise – to astonish – to amaze – to astound; to shout – to yell – to bellow – to roar; to look – to stare – to glare – to gaze – to peer.

Synonyms of a polysemantic word

• to close – to finish (e.g. to close a discussion) • to close – to shut (e.g. to close the door).

Euphemisms

• Euphemism (Gr. eu “well” + pheme “speaking”) is a substitution for an expression that may offend or suggest something unpleasant to the receiver, using instead an agreeable or less offensive expression.

• E.g. drunk: intoxicated, under the influence (formal), tipsy (colloq.), boiled, tanked, high as a kite (slang), etc.

Targets for euphemistic substitution

• notions of death, • madness, • stupidity, • drunkenness, • certain physiological processes, • crimes, etc. E.g. to die: to expire, to pass away, to depart, to

join the silent majority, to kick the bucket, to breathe one’s last, to be gathered to one’s fathers etc.

Antonyms

• Antonyms are words of the same part of speech having common denotative component of meaning but expressing contrasting points of the same notion.

• wide - narrow, admit - deny, produce -consume, old - young, etc.

Antonyms and parts of speech

• Adjectives: high – low, strong – weak, bitter – sweet.

• Verbs: to lose – to find, to live – to die, to open – to close.

• Nouns: friend – enemy, joy – grief, good – evil.

Antonyms of a polysemantic word

E.g. dull:•Boring – the deficiency in interest: interesting, amusing, entertaining•Stupid - the deficiency in intellect: clever, bright, capable •Not active - the deficiency in activity: active

Structural classification of antonyms (V.N. Komissarov. Dictionary of English

Antonyms)• antonyms of the same root: e.g. to do – to

undo, cheerful - cheerless; (affixes which help in the formation of antonyms: un-, in-, dis-, -less, etc.)

• antonyms of different roots: e.g. day – night, rich - poor.

Semantic classification of antonyms

• Contradictories: dead – alive, singled – married (contradict each other: not dead = alive, not single = married).

• Contraries are polar members of a gradual opposition which may have intermediate elements: cold – (cool – warm) - hot.