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9 SENSE RELATIONS 9.1 HOMONYMY Homonymy in English The learning objectives: after you have studied the lecture you should be able to speak on the following: 1. Homonyms, its etymology, definition. 2. Classification of homonyms. 3. Sources of homonyms. 4. Relationship among polysemy, homonymy and synonymy. Seminar on Homonymy and Polysemy: Consider your answer to the following: 1) Antrushina G.B. and others English lexicology, M., 1999. Pp. 166-182. Do exercises 1, 2, (8 sent), 4, 5, 7, (6 sent), 8 p. 182 2) Kasheeva Practical Lexicology, pp. 39-40 Homonyms (from Gr. homos means the same, omona means name) are the words, different in meaning and either identical both in sound and spelling or identical only in spelling or sound. The most widely accepted classification of them is following:
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1. homonyms) 2. 3.

Homonyms proper (or perfect Homophones Homographs

1. Homonyms proper are words identical in pronunciation and spelling: a) Ball as a round object used in game, ball as a gathering of people for dancing; b) Bark v to utter sharp explosive cries; bark n is a noise made by dog or a sailing ship, etc. b) Bay v is to bark; bay n is a part of the sea or the lake filling wide mouth opening of the land, or the European laurel1, or . You should remember, that homonyms are distinct words not different meanings within one word. 2. Homophones are words of the same sound, but of different meaning, for example: Air heir, arms alms, bye buy by, him hymn, knight night, rain reign, not knot, or ore oar, piece peace, scent cent, steal steel still, write right, sea see, son sun.
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In the sentence: The play-write on my right thinks it that some conventional rite2 should symbolize the right of every man to write as he pleases the sound complex [rait] is noun, adjective, adverb and verb, has 4 different spellings and 6 different meanings. The difference may be confined to the use of a capital letter as in bill and Bill: How much is my milk bill? Excuse me, madam, but my name is John. On the other hand, whole sentences may be homophonic: The sons raise meat - The suns rays meet. To understand this one needs a wide context. 3. Homographs are words different in sound and in meaning but accidentally identical in spelling: Bow [bou] / [bau] Lead [li:d] / [led] Row [rou] / [rau] , Sever [sov ] / [sjuv ] Tear [te] / [ti ] Wind [wind] / [waind] ()

Classification of homonyms in full and partial see in: Kasheeva pp 39-40, Antrushina pp 128-129. Sources of homonyms On of source of homonyms is a phonetic change, which a word undergoes3 in the course of it historical development. As a result of such changes, less or more words, which were formerly pronounced differently, may develop identical sound forms and thus become homonyms. Night and knight, for instance, were not homonyms in Old English (O.E.) as the initial k in the second word was pronounced. The verb to write in O.E. had the form to writan and the adjective right had the form reht or riht. Another source of homonyms is borrowing. A borrowed word may, in the final stage of the phonetic adaptation conclude the form either with a native word or another borrowing. So in the group of homonyms rite n to write right adj. The second and third words are of native origin, whereas rite is Latin borrowing (Latin ritus); bank n (a shore) is a native word, and bank n (a financial institution) is an Italian borrowing.
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Word building also contributes significantly to the growth of homonymy, the most important type of it being conversion. Such pairs of words as comb n comb v; pale adj. pale v; make v make n, etc. are numerous in vocabulary. Homonyms of this type refer to different categories of parts of speech and called lexico-grammatical homonyms. Shortening is a further type of word-building, which increases the number of homonyms. For example fan (an enthusiastic admirer of some sportsmen, actor, singer, etc.) is a shortening produced from fanatic [f ntik]. Its homonym is a Latin borrowing fan an element for waving and produce some cool wind.4 The noun, for instance, rep, a kind of fabric, has 4 homonyms: 1) rep = repertory; 2) rep = representative; 3) rep = reputation; 4) rep = repetition (in school slang smth, need to know by hard) A further course of homonyms is called split5 polysemy: 2 or more homonyms can originate different meanings of the same word, when for some reason the semantic structure of the word
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breaks into several parts. We may illustrate this by the 3 following homonyms of the word spring, means: 1) The act of springing, leap; 2) A place, where a steam of water comes up out to the sky; 3) A season of the year. Historically all three originate from the same verb with meaning to jump, to leap. This is the Old English word springun6. So that the meaning of the first homonym is the oldest or the most etymological one. The meanings of the 2nd and the 3rd examples were originally made in metaphor. As the head of the strim, the water something lips out of the earth, so that metaphorically such a place could be described as a leap. On the other hand, the season of the year, following winter, could be poetically defined as a leap from the darkness and cold into sunlight and life. Polysemy, synonymy and homonymy One of the most complicated problems in semasiology is to define the place of homonyms among other relationships of words. In a simple code each sign has only one meaning and its meaning is associated with only one sign. But this ideal is not realized in natural language. When
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several related meanings are associated with the same form, the word is called polysemantic. When 2 or more unrelated meanings are associated with the same form, these words are homonyms. When 2 or more forms are associated with the same or nearly the same meaning, they are called the synonyms. 9.2 SYNONYMY A synonym is a word of similar or identical meaning to one or more words in the same language. All languages contain synonyms but in English they exist in superabundance. Theyre no two absolutely identical words because connotations, ways of usage, frequency of an occurrence are different. Senses of synonyms are identical in respect of central semantic trades but differ in respect of minor semantic trades. Classification: 1. Total synonyms

an extremely rare occurence Ulman: a luxury that language can hardly afford. M. Breal spoke about a law of distribution in the language (words should be synonyms,

were synonyms in the past usually acquire different meanings and are no longer interchangeable). Ex.:

2. Ideographic synonyms.

They bear the same idea but not identical in their referential content. Ex.: to ascent to mount to climb To happen to occur to befall to chance Look appearance complexion countenance Ex.: lift elevator Queue line Autumn fall

3. Dialectical synonyms.

4. Contextual synonyms.

Context can emphasize some certain semantic trades & suppress other semantic trades; words with different meaning can become synonyms in a certain context. Ex.: tasteless dull Active curious Curious responsive Synonyms can reflect social conventions. Ex.:

clever bright

brainy

intelligent

Deverclever

Only Is not speakin used by g about Positive Stylisticall neutra the younger connotatio y l higher people n remarked educate by older d people people 5. Stylistic synonyms.

Belong to different styles. Infant elevated Kid colloquial To kick the bucket

child neutral To die

Synonymic condensation is typical of the English language. It refers to situations when writers or speakers bring together several words with one & the same meaning to add more conviction, to description more vivid. Ex.:

Safe & sound

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Lord & master First & foremost Safe & secure Stress & strain By force & violence

It is deeply rooted in the history of English language It was customary to use French borrowings together with their native synonyms. They are very often characterized by alliteration, rhymes, idioms, etc. Synonymy the coincidence in the essential meanings of linguistic elements which (at the same time) usually preserve their differences in connotations and stylistic characteristics. Synonyms two or more words belonging to the same part of speech and possessing one or more identical or nearly identical denotational meanings, interchangeable in some contexts. Their distinctive features can be connotations, stylistic features, distributional or depending on valency. The difference between some synonyms can be marked for register subject-field, mode, and style (tenor) or their combinations. Typology of synonyms:
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- cognitive synonyms s. which differ in respect of the varieties of discourse in which they appear; the distinction between such items lies not so much in their inner lexical meaning, but in the sphere of their actual application or usage, as besides the referential basis (referential meaning q.v.) the actual meanings of the words as found in utterances reflect relations which hold between lexical items within the communicative space, i.e. the functional differentiation of discourse. - contextual/context-dependent synonyms similar in meaning only under some specific distributional conditions, when the difference between the meanings of two words is contextually neutralized: e.g. buy and get; - dialectal synonyms pertaining to different variant of language from dialectal stratification point of view; - functional synonyms the term is not lexicological proper as it refers to different syntactic units capable of performing one and the same syntactic function (e.g. Subordinate Object Clause and Complex Object constructions are functional synonyms;

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- ideographic synonyms differ in shades of meaning, i.e. between which a semantic different is statable; - stylistic synonyms are distinguished stylistically, i.e. in all kinds of emotional, expressive and evaluative overtones without explicitly displaying semantic difference; - referential synonyms a vague term, concerns coreferential expressions, when one denotatum can be defined differently from different points of view and in different aspects: e.g. names Walter Scott and the author of 'Ivanhoe' are coreferential because they refer to one and the same denotatum Sir Walter Scott; - terminological synonyms two existing terms for one denotatum: e.g. borrowing and loan-word; concept and notion (the difference between them is not discriminated by some linguists);

- total synonyms - can replace each other in any given context, without the slightest alteration in denotative or emotional meaning and connotations (e.g. noun and substantive, functional affix, flection and inflection); is a rare occasion.
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The dominant synonym expresses the notion common to all synonyms of the group in the most general way, without contributing any additional information as to the manner, intensity, duration or any attending feature of the referent. So, any dominant synonym is a typical basic-vocabulary word (see Ch. 2). Its meaning, which is broad and generalized, more or less "covers" the meanings of the rest of the synonyms, so that it may be substituted for any of them. It seems that here, at last, the idea of interchangeability of synonyms comes into its own. And yet, each such substitution would mean an irreparable loss of the additional information supplied by connotative components of each synonym. So, using to look instead of to glare, to stare, to peep, to peer we preserve the general sense of the utterance but lose a great deal in precision, expressiveness and colour. Euphemisms There are words in every language which people instinctively avoid because they are considered indecent, indelicate, rude, too direct or impolite. As the "offensive" referents, for which these words stand, must still be alluded to, they are often described in a round-about way, by using substitutes called euphemisms. This device is
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dictated by social conventions which are sometimes apt to be over-sensitive, see "indecency" where there is none and seek refinement in absurd avoidances and pretentiousness. The word lavatory has, naturally, produced many euphemisms. Here are some of them: powder room, washroom, restroom, retiring room, (public) comfort station, ladies' (room), gentlemen's (room), water-closet, w. c. ([dabljH`sJ]), public conveniences and even Windsor castle (which is a comical phrase for "deciphering" w.c.). Pregnancy is another topic for "delicate" references. Here are some of the euphemisms used as substitutes for the adjective pregnant: in an interesting condition, in a delicate condition, in the family way, with a baby coming, (big) with child, expecting. The apparently innocent word trousers, not so long ago, had a great number of euphemistic equivalents, . some of them quite funny: unmentionables, inexpressibles, indescribables, unwhisperables, you-mustn't-mention ems, situpons. Nowadays, however, nobody seems to regard this word as "indecent" any more, and so
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its . euphemistic substitutes are no longer in use. y A landlady who refers to her lodgers as paying t guests is also using a euphemism, aiming at halfconcealing the embarrassing fact that she lets rooms. The love of affectation, which displays itself in the t excessive use of euphemisms, has never been a sign of a good taste or genuine refinement. Quite the opposite. I Fiction writers have often ridiculed pretentious people for their weak attempts to express themselves in a delicate and refined way. 9.3 Antonymy Antonyms a) The Definition

of

Antonyms

Words with diametrically opposite meanings are called antonyms. We find antonyms among words denoting: - quality: hard soft; good bad; ; - state: clean dirty; wealth poverty; ; 15

manner:

quickly

slowly;

willingly

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unwillingly;

- direction: up down; here there; ; - action or feeling: to smile to frown; to love to hate; ; - features: tall short; beautiful ugly; . Words which do not have relative features do not have antonyms. Classifications of Antonyms Antonyms can be divided into two groups: those which are formed with the help of negative affixes (derivational) and those which are of different roots. There are affixes in English which impart to the root the meaning of either the presence or the absence of a certain quality, property or state. The most productive antonym-forming negative prefixes are un- (unhappy, unimportant), mis(misfortune, misunderstanding). In the Ukrainian language that is the prefix -(, ). The prefix - is also rather
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productive:

).

Antonym-forming suffixes impart to the word the meaning of the presence or absence of the quality or feature indicated by the root. The most productive antonym-forming suffixes are ful,less: fruitful fruitless; hopeful hopeless. The second group (antonyms proper) includes words of different roots: day night; rich poor, , . Considered in meaning antonyms can be divided into absolute, phraseological and complex. Absolute antonyms are diametrically opposite in meaning and remain antonyms in any wordcombinations. These are mostly found among negative affix-formed antonyms. Phraseological antonyms. When they become components of phraseological groups or compound words they sometimes lose their absolutely antonymic nature. e.g.: to give to take: to give a book to take a book but to give way will not have to take way as its antonym.
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Phraseological antonyms cannot be used in parallel antonymic expressions indiscriminately. We can say The books are alike - The books are different but we cannot say an alike book though we do say a different book. Complex antonyms are those polysemantic words that have different antipodes for their various meanings. e.g.: Soft has such meanings as

- not hard, yielding (soft seat, soft nature); - not loud, subdued (soft voice, soft colours); - mild, not severe (soft climate, soft punishment). Naturally all these meanings will find different words for antipodes: hard (hard seat, hard nature);

- loud, harsh (loud voice, harsh colours); - severe (severe climate, severe punishment). )Criteria of Antonyms
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Antonyms have traditionally been defined as words of opposite meanings. This definition is not sufficiently accurate, as it only shifts the problem to the question of what words may be regarded as words of opposite meanings. Two words are considered antonyms if they are regularly contrasted in actual speech. A regular and frequent co-occurrence in such contexts is the most important characteristic feature of antonyms. Another criterion is the possibility of substitution and identical lexical valency. Members of the same antonymic pair reveal nearly identical spheres of collocation. e.g.: The adjective hot in its figurative meanings angry and excited is chiefly combined with unpleasant emotions (anger, scorn) . Its antonym cold occurs with the same words. But hot and cold are used in combinations with the emotionally neutral words fellow, man, but not with the nouns implying positive evaluation friend, supporter. Antonyms form binary oppositions, the distinctive feature of which is semantic polarity; its basis is regular co-occurrence in typical
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contexts combined with approximate sameness of distribution and stylistic and emotional equivalence.

9.5 HYPONYMY Definition: In linguistics, a specific term used to designate a member of a class. For instance, daisy androse are hyponyms of flower. Words that are hyponyms of the same superordinate term (that is, a hypernym) are called co-hyponyms. See Examples and Observations, below. Examples and Observations: "Hyponymy is a less familiar term to most people than either synonymy or antonymy, but it refers to a much more important sense relation. It describes what happens when we say 'An X is a kind of Y'--A daffodil is a kind of flower, or simply, A daffodil is a flower." (David Crystal, The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language, 2nd ed. Cambridge University Press, 2003)
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A Test for Hyponymy "Hyponymy involves specific instantiations of a more general concept such as holds between horse and animal or vermillion and red o r buy and get. In each case, one word provides a more specific type of concept than is displayed by the other. The more specific word is called a hyponym and the more general word is the superordinate which may also be referred to as a hyperonym or hypernym . . .. Where the words being classified according to this relation are nouns, one can test for hyponymy by replacing X and Y in the frame 'X is a kind of Y' and seeing if the result makes sense. So we have '(A) horse is a kind of animal' but not '(An) animal is a kind of horse' and so on." (Ronnie Cann, "Sense Relations." Semantics: An International Handbook of Natural Language and Meaning, Vol. 1, ed. by Claudia Maienborn, Klaus von Heusinger, and Paul Portner. Walter de Gruyter, 2011) Inclusion "In general, there are a number of hyponyms for each superordinate. For example, boar and piglet are also hyponyms of the superordinate pig, since the meaning of each of
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the three words sow, boar, andpiglet 'contains' the meaning of the word pig. (Note that in defining a word like sow, boar, or piglet, the superordinate word pig is often used as part of the definition: 'A sow is an adult female pig.') Thus, it is not surprising that hyponymy is sometimes referred to as inclusion. The superordinate is the included word and the hyponym is the including one." (Frank Parker and Kathryn Riley, Linguistics for Non-Linguists. Allyn and Bacon, 1994) For example, most people know that "alligator" and "crocodile" are words denoting similar reptiles, but many people are not sure how to tell the animals apart. Exploring the sense relationship that binds the words together (as cohyponyms of the hypernym "reptile") and examining the modifying details that differentiate them, people can add these two clarified words to their permanent vocabulary.

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