Seminar 5

1) The definition of homonyms, types of homonyms

2) Sources of homonyms in English
3) The differentiation between polysemy and homonymy
4) The definition of synonyms. The notion of a generic term
5) The classification of synonyms
6) Sources of synonyms. Euphemism as a special type of a synonym
7) Specific features of antonyms in English

Homonymhɒmənɪm, -a word that sounds the same or is spelled the same as another
word but has a different meaning
Oxford dictionary, for instance, registers redʒɪstəs 2600 homonyms. This is only natural
ˈnætʃərəl because most English words have a monosyllabic mɒnəsɪˈlæbɪk structure.
Classifications of homonyms
Walter Skeat скіт classified homonyms according to their graphic form
1) homonyms proper or perfect homonyms
2) homophones
3) homographs
Homonyms proper or perfect homonyms is words having entirely /ɪnˈtaɪəli different
meanings but absolutely identical in spelling and sound:
ball – м’яч; ball – тюлень;
case (випадок) – case (сумка)
bank "a shore" - bank "a financial institution",
winter "a season" - to winter "to spend the winter";
Homographs are words identical in spelling but different in sound and meaning:
bow [bəu] ‘a weapon ˈwepən used for shooting’ –
bow [bau] ‘the act of bending’
row [rou] ‘a line of seats’ – row [rau] ‘quarrel’ˈkwɒrəl
lead [led] ‘soft heavy grey metal’ –
lead [li:d] ‘a piece of rope, leather, or chain for holding a dog’
Homophones are the words identical in sound but different in spelling and meaning:
knight – night;лицар – ніч;
piece – peace; шматок – спокій;
course - coarse, course - coarse,
weather - whether,weather - whether,
cite - sight – site;
According to their grammatical structure
1) Full (or complete) homonyms coincide in all their grammatical forms.
ball "a dancing party" - ball "a spherical object",
seal "a sea animal" - seal " a piece of wax, lead, etc. stamped with a design";
2) Partial homonyms are those which coincide kəʊənˈsaɪd only in some of their
grammatical forms.
found "to establish" - found (past indefinite of find),
seal "a sea animal" - to seal "to fasten or close tightly";
According to the type of meaning
1) Lexical homonyms -If both homonyms belong to the same part of speech, they are lexical
to read – read, knight лицар –night, to lie – to lie.
2) Lexical-grammatical homonyms-homonyms belonging to different parts of speech.
Usually different both in their lexical and grammatical meaning but they also can be found
within the same part of speech.
rose "a flower" - rose (past indefinite or rise)
3) Grammatical homonyms-different in their grammatical meanings, they have different
grammatical categories
brothers – brother’s, brothers’

There are several sources of homonymy.

Phonetic changes. In the course of the language development two or more words that were
pronounced differently may develop identical sound form
knight-night, sea-see, write-right.
Borrowing. A borrowed word may duplicate ˈdjuːplɪkeɪt in form a native word or another
borrowing
match "a game, contest" (native) - match "a slender short piece of wood for producing fire"
(French)
fair "just" (native) - fair "a gathering of buyers and sellers" (French)
Wordbuilding:
Conversion-when verbs are built from nouns or adjectives without any affixes, pale-to pale,
water –to water pale - to pale "grow or become pale",
mother "female parent" - to mother "to take care of like a mother";
Convergent kənˈvɜːdʒent sound development-when two or more phonetically distinct words
coincided in their graphic forms in the course of the historical development
can (могти) - Old English cunnan (знати);
can (банка) – Old English canne (банка);
here (тут) – Old English her (тут);
to hear (чути) – Old English hieran (чути).
Abreviation-a shortened form of a written word or phrase used in place of the whole word
or phrase
"Amt" is an abbreviation for "amount."
"USA" is an abbreviation of "United States of America."
Splitting polysemy-When two or more meanings of a polysemantic word went so far away
from the original sense so that they came to be treated as belonging to separate lexical units.
spring¹ - "act of springing",
spring2 - "a place where a stream of water comes up out of the earth",
spring3 - "a season of the year".
DISTRIBUTIONAL and TRANSFORMATIONAL ANLAYSES.

Distributional analysis- helps to differentiate cases of homonymy through different

structural patterns in which a word can appear. We have homonyms if the words are
characterized by different distribution and therefore belong to different parts of speech. The
distribution of every part of speech is represented with the help of a set of the most typical
structural patterns the word occurs.
N + V + N – I bought a book
N +V + Pr + N – I go to the cinema
N + V + Adj. – He was cruel
N + V + Adv. – He walks slowly
N + V + to + V – I want to sit
The pattern for a noun is:
Art + Adj. + N – A beautiful girl
Tranformational -is based on the assumption that if the meanings of identical sound
clusters can be explained with the help of identical kernel word groups, we have polysemy, if
not – homonymy.
Voice (1) may mean sounds produced in speaking or singing
Voice (2) – the vibration of vocal chords to produce sounds
Voice (3) is a grammatical category which expresses the relation between the object or
person named by the subject of the sentence and the action denoted by the predicate

The differentiation between polysemy and homonymy

Polysemy and Homonymy are two similar concepts in linguistics. Both of them refer to
words having multiple meanings. Polysemy refers to the coexistence of many possible
meanings for a word or phrase. Homonymy refers to the existence of two or more words
having the same spelling or pronunciation but different meanings and origins.

Synonyms can be defined as two or more words of the same language, belonging to the
same part of speech and possessing one or more identical or nearly identical denotational
meanings

The words to annoy, to vex, to irk, to bother are synonyms. To annoy, to vex may mean both
a non-intentional influence and an intentional one. To irk, to bother presuppose only the
intentional influence. To annoy is a neutral word. To vex has a stronger shade. To bother
presupposes the slightest reaction. The denotational meaning of all these words is the same:
to make somebody a little angry by especially repeated acts

Valencyˈveɪlənsi (combinability) -the potential capacity kəˈpæsəti/ of words to occur /əˈkɜ

with other words
many is used with countable nouns, much – with uncountable nouns,
few – with countable nouns, little – with uncountable nouns
to gain & to win. Both can be combined with victory, but only win with war
Morphological and syntactical distribution
ill & sick both can be used as predicatives (e.g. She is ill / sick), but only sick can be an
attribute
to look, to seem, to appear
to seem & to appear can take an infinitive or an object clause (e.g. He seems to know
all. It seems that he knows everything).
to look cannot be used in these surroundings. (e.g. He seems / looks pale)
Sometimes the difference is restricted to prepositions: e.g.
to address smb. – to appeal to smb.
to say to smb. – to tell smb.;
to answer a question – to reply to a question
Emotional charge is the attitude of the speaker to what is being described.
alone – lonely
to love – to worship – to adore
to ask – to beg – to pray
to tremble – to shake – to shudder
angry – furious – enraged
Stylistic reference. Synonyms may differ in their connotation, i.e. the sphere of their
usage
father – dad – parent
child – baby – infant
girl (neutral) – maid (poetic) – lass (lassie) (dial.) – flapper (sl.) – damsel (obsolete)
leave (neutral) – quit, be off, clear out (coll.) – retire (lit.-bookish)
Synonyms are usually arranged in synonymic groups or sets.
Synonyms are grouped according to similarity of meaning and in their different
meanings they may enter into different groups.
bright (‘light’) brilliant, radiant, beaming, luminous, lustrious
bright (‘capability’) smart, intelligent, clever, capable, gifted
Within every synonymic set there is the so called ‘generic term’ which is a general term
neutral in style and has a great combining power
piece: slice (bread, cheese, pizza); lump (sugar); bit (news); morsel (bread or meat); cake
(soap), chunk (wood), pinch (salt).

In terms of componential analysis within the meaning of the word we can single out the
main seme and differentiating semes. To enter synonymic relation it is necessary that the
main semes of the denotational component should be identical
Classifications of Synonyms
-Absolute (or perfect) synonyms.
-Idiographic (or relative) synonyms
-Stylistic synonyms

Absolute æbsəluːt synonyms/ synonyms-substitutes-are very rare reə  in the language.

They are mostly different names for one and the same plant, animal, disease.They are widely
used in publicistic ˈpʌblɪsɪstik style.
1) identical — indistinguishable 2) drink — beverage ˈbevərɪdʒ
Ideographic synonyms differ from each other in shades of meaning. Synonyms of this kind
are very numerous in the English language
1) to look-to glance-to gaze-to stare steə -to view
2) Look – appearance – complexion kəmˈplekʃən– countenance ˈkaʊntənəns
Stylistic synonyms do not differ in shades of their common meaning. They differ in usage
and style:
1) doctor (official) – doc (familiar);
2) to commence kəˈmens (official) – to begin (neutral)

Sources of Synonymy

One of the sources of synonymy is borrowings.

The native word heaven has been more and more restricted to the figurative and religious
use for the Danish word sky began to be used exclusively in the meaning of the blue above us
though originally sky meant only cloud. The Danish word call has ousted the Old English
word heitan, the French word army ousted the native word here

Dialects and variants of the English language

British English American English
sweets candy
shop store
underground subway
chemist’s drugstore
post mail

Antonyms-words with diametrically opposite meanings . We find antonyms among

words denoting:
- quality: hard – soft; good – bad; здоровий – кволий;
- state: clean – dirty; wealth – poverty; чистий – брудний;
- manner: quickly – slowly; willingly – unwillingly; швидко –
повільно;
- direction: up – down; here – there; тут – там;
- action or feeling: to smile – to frown; to love – to hate; любити –
ненавидіти;

Antonyms can be divided into two groups: those which are formed with the help of negative
affixes (derivational) and those nwhich are of different roots.

The most productive antonym-forming negative prefixes are un-

(unhappy, unimportant), mis-(misfortune, misunderstanding). In the
Ukrainian language that is the prefix не-(неправда, неволя). The prefix без- is also rather
productive: безстрашний, безлад)

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
word-combinations. 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.
to give –to take: to give a book – to take a book

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.
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).