A WORD AND ITS MEANING.

CHANGE OF MEANING IN THE ENGLISH

AND UKRAINIAN LANGUAGES.

Lecture 2
 Plan
1. The semantic structure of English and Ukrainian words.
2. Semantic change in English and Ukrainian.
2.1. The socio-linguistic classification of semantic change.
2.2. The psychological classification of semantic change.
2.3. The logical classification of semantic change.
 1. The semantic structure of English and Ukrainian
words

The grammatical meaning is the component of meaning in identical sets of

individual forms of different words, as e.g., the tense meaning in the word-forms
of verbs or the meaning of plurality etc.
asked, thought walked
їхав, йшов, говорив
books, intentions, phenomena
столи, вікна
The lexico-grammatical meaning (part-of-speech meaning) is the common
meaning of words belonging to a lexico-grammatical class of words, it is the
feature according to which they are grouped together. The interrelation of the
lexical and the grammatical meaning varies in different word-classes.

in prepositions the grammatical type of meaning is prevailing

in nouns, verbs, etc. – the lexical one is dominant
The lexical meaning is the component of meaning proper to the
given linguistic unit in all its forms and distributions.
go, goes, went, gone
читає, читав, читатиме
 The denotative component of lexical meaning expresses the conceptual
content of a word.

 The connotative component of lexical meaning expresses the pragmatic

communicative value the word receives depending on where, when, how, by
whom, for what purpose and in what contexts it is used.
 Stylistic
 Emotive
 Evaluative
 Expressive / intensifying.
 The connotation is stylistic when associations concern the situation in which the word is uttered (formal, familiar,
etc.), the social relationships between the interlocutors (polite, rough), the purpose of communication (poetic,
official).
parent (bookish) – father (neutral) – dad (colloquial)
чоло (poetical) – лоб (neutral) – макітра (low colloquial)
 An emotive connotation is acquired by the word because the referent named in the denotative meaning is
associated with emotions.
large, big, tremendous
like, love, worship
подобатися, любити, обожнювати
 An evaluative connotation expresses approval or disapproval
clique – group, magic – witchcraft
вітер – вітрюга, козак – козаченько
 The intensifying connotation is expressive, emphatic.
magnificent, splendid, superb
вітер – вітерець – вітрище – вітрюга
 Monosemantic words
we, she, nobody, ten, thir­ty, and, or, atom, oxygen, sugar, today
він, вони, десять, перший, і/та, чи, кисень, цукор, сьогодні, торік
 Polyse­mantic words
boat - човен, судно/корабель, шлюпка;
coat - верхній одяг, пальто, піджак, кітель, хутро (тварин), захисний
шар фарби на предметі; подорож - cruise, jour­ney, travel, trip, tour,
voyage
 2. Semantic Change in English and Ukrainian

the change of meaning (socio-linguistic classification)

 the nature of these changes (psychological classification)
 the results of semantic changes (logical classification)
 2.1 The socio-linguistic classification of semantic change
The causes of semantic changes may be subdivided into two groups:
a) extra-linguistic - changes in social life of a community, resulting in the
appearance of new words (провайдер, траст, пабліситі, тренінг, фрістайл);
changes of things the names of which are retained (car from Latin “carrus” - “a
four-wheeled wagon” - “a motor-car”, “a railway carriage”; зелені - амер.
долари);
b) linguistic - factors acting within the language system of paradigmatic and
syntagmatic character (ellipsis: propose - propose marriage, be expecting - be
expecting a baby; discrimination of synonyms: time and tide).
 2.2. The psychological classification of semantic change

Some connection between the old meaning and the new one is a necessary
condition of any semantic change:
a) similarity of meaning
b) contiguity of meaning.

Metaphor
Metonymy
A metaphor is a transfer of name based on the association of similarity.
a woman = a peach, a lemon, a cat, a goose, a lioness, голубка, гусеня, киця
Types of similarity:
similarity of shape: the head of a cabbage, the teeth of a saw, мереживо
березових віток, росинка радості;
similarity of function or use: the Head of the school, the key to a mystery,
голова зборів, голова правління;
similarity of position: foot of a mountain, foot of a page;
similarity of duration of time and space: long distance – long speech, a
short path – a short time.
A metonymy is a transfer of name based on substituting the part for the
whole.
spatial relations: the bar (the lawyers), the town (inhabitants), the House
(the members of the House of Lords or Commons), аудиторія, клас .
things are named in the meaning of the substance contained: з'їв миску
борщу, розлив відро.
the thing are named after material it is made of: папір.
instrumental relations: the best pens of the day, hand.
functional relations: воротар.
 Synecdoche - giving the part for the whole or vise versa:
ABC (alphabet), man (humanity), the squirrel, the tiger (a whole for a part);
Makintosh, Pulman, Sandwich (the name of the inventor for the thing invented)
 Hyperbole (from Gr. hyperbole “exceed”) is an exaggerated statement not meant to be
understood literally but expressing emotional attitude of the speaker to what he is speaking
about:
I haven’t seen you for ages! It’s absolutely maddening. "He was so tall that I was
not sure he had a face". (O.Henry)
 Litotes (from Gr. litos “plain”) is a figure used to conceal or suppress one’s feelings, and
to seem indifferent and calm.
But this is frightful! – Certainly somewhat disturbing.
It is a good thing. – It's not a bad thing.
 
 2.3. The logical classification of semantic change
 Restriction of meaning is a process when a word of wide meaning
acquires a narrower sense in which it only denotes some of the objects
which it previously denoted.
meat: food and drink in general edible flesh
билина: denoted the name of the plant стеблина трави, травинка
 If the word with the new meaning is used in the specialized vocabulary
of some professional group we speak of specialization of meaning:
to glide: to move gently smoothly to fly with no engine
Extension of meaning is the application of the word to a wider variety of referents:
target: a small round shield anything that is fired at
pirate: one who robs on the sea any one who robs with violence

If the word with the extended meaning passes from the specialized vocabulary into
common use, we describe the result of the semantic change as the generalization of
meaning:
barn: a place for storing barley a covered building for storing grain
pioneer: soldier one who goes before
столяр: the man who made tables a specialist in processing wood and
manufacturing things from it
 Amelioration is a process when words arise from humble
beginnings to position of greater importance:
knight: a young servant a man who fought for his feudal
офіс, менеджмент, кур’єр контора, управління чи посильний.

 Pejoration of meaning is a process that involves a lowering in

social scale, the acquisition by the word of some derogatory
emotive charge:
villain: farm servant scoundrel