Homonyms

Definition of Homonymy Diachronic Study of Homonymy and Sources of Homonyms Homonyms treated synchronically Classification of homonyms

Definition of Homonymy Greek homonymous – homos “the same” and onoma “name” Two or more words identical in sound form and spelling, or, at least, in one of these aspects, but different in meaning, distribution and (in many cases) in origin are called homonyms

Reasons for intense development of homonyms in English monosyllabic character of the language analytic structure of English predominance of free forms in English high-developed polysemy

Sources of Homonymy Convergent development of sound form Divergent meaning development

Convergent development of sound form (phonetic changes) two or more words which were pronounced differently at an earlier date develop identical sound forms e.g. OE зemane “common” mean OE manen “think”

Divergent semantic development (split polysemy) different meanings of the same word move so far away from each other that they come to be regarded as two separate units chest “large box” e.g. OE cest chest “part of human body”

Other Sources of Homonymy shortening e.g. fan – “an implement for waving lightly to produce a cool current of air” fan fanatic sound-imitation e.g. bang – “a loud, sudden, explosive sound bang – “a fringe of hair combed over the forehead”

Other Sources of Homonymy borrowings e.g. bank – “a shore” – a native word bank – “a financial institution” - an Italian borrowing

Synchronic Approach to Homonymy the criteria distinguishing homonymy from polysemy the formulation of rules for recognizing different meanings of homonyms in terms of their distribution

Homonymy and Polysemy Semantic criterion of related and unrelated meanings – connections between the various meanings are apprehended by speakers or not apprehended

Homonymy and Polysemy radiation - primary meaning stands in the center, secondary meanings proceed out of it like rays polysemy

Homonymy and Polysemy concatenation – secondary meanings develop like a chain. It is difficult to trace some meanings to the primary one. homonymy

Distribution Criterion homonyms differ in their syntactic function e.g. I think that this “that” is a conjunction but that that “that” that that man used was a pronoun.

Professor A. I. Smirnitsky’s Classification of Homonyms full homonyms partial homonyms

Full homonyms words which represent the same category of parts of speech and have the same paradigm have the same spelling an pronunciation e.g. match – a game, a contest match – a short piece of wood for producing fire

Partial homonyms simple lexico-grammatical partial homonyms belong to the same part of speech their paradigms have only one identical form it is never the same form

Simple lexico-grammatical partial homonyms e.g. to found, verb found, verb (Past Ind., Past. Part. of to find) e.g. to lay, verb lay, verb (Past Ind. of to lie)

Partial homonyms 2. Complex lexico-grammatical partial homonyms belong to different parts of speech have one identical form in their paradigms e.g. rose, noun rose, verb (Pat Ind. of to rise) e.g. one, numeral won, verb (Past Ind., Past Part. of to win)

Partial homonyms 3. Partial lexical homonyms belong to the same part of speech identical only in corresponding forms of their paradigms e.g. to lie (lay, lain), verb to lie (lied, lied), verb e.g. to can (canned, canned) (I) can (could)

Walter Skeat’s classification of Homonyms homonyms proper – words identical in pronunciation and spelling e.g. a ball (a sphere) – a ball (a dancing party) homophones – words of the same sound form but different in spelling e.g. sent (Past Inf., Past Part. of to send) – scent - cent

Walter Skeat’s classification of Homonyms homographes – words have the same spelling but different sound form e.g. to bow [bаu], verb – bow [bəu], noun to tear [teə], verb – tear [tiə], noun

Classification of Homonyms by R.S. Ginzburg 1. full homonyms – words belonging to the same part of speech and having the same paradigms e.g. a seal (тюлень) – a seal (печать) 2. partial homonyms – word-forms belonging to different parts of speech e.g. a seal – to seal

Classification of homonyms according to their meaning lexical homonyms – words that differ in their lexical meaning but identical in their grammatical meaning e.g. a seal (тюлень) – a seal (печать)

Classification of homonyms according to their meaning lexico-grammatical homonyms – belong to different parts of speech and have different lexical and grammatical meanings e.g. a seal - to seal

Classification of homonyms according to their meaning grammatical homonyms – different word-forms of one and the same word are identical e.g. a seal – seals – seal’s – seals’