6. Homonymy. Different classifications. Sources of homonyms.

Homonyms are words which are identical in sound and spelling, or, at least, in one of these aspects, but different in their meaning, e.g. bank, n-a shore, bank, n-an institution for receiving, lending, and safeguarding money, ball, n-a sphere, any spherical body, ball, n-a large dancing party.

The most widely accepted classification of homonyms is the following: homonyms proper, homophones and homographs.

Homonyms proper are words identical in pronunciation and spelling, like bark, in “the noise made by a dog”, bark, n “the skin of a tree».

Homophones are words of the same sound but of different spelling and meaning: air-heir, buy-bye, knight-night, peace-piece, write, right, rite.

Homographs are words different in sound and in meaning but accidentally identical in spelling: bow [bou] – bow [bau], lead [li: d] – lead [led], row [rou] – row [rau], wind [wind] – wind [waind].

Professor A. I. Smirnitsky classified homonyms into two large classes: full homonyms and partial homonyms.

Full lexical homonyms are words which represent the same category of parts of speech and have the same paradigm. Ex. Match, n – a game, a contest ----- Match, n - a short piece of wood used for producing fire.

Partial homonyms are subdivided into three large groups:

A) Simple lexico-grammatical homonyms words which belong to the same category of parts of speech. Their paradigms have one identical form, but it is never the same form (to find – found (Past Indef., Past Part. of to find)

B) Complex lexico-grammatical partial homonyms are words of different categories of part of speech which have one identical form in their paradigms. e.g. rose, n - rose, v (Past Indef. Of to rise)

C) Partial lexical homonyms are words of the same category of parts of speech which are identical only in their corresponding forms. (to hang (hung, hung), v - to hang (hanged, hanged), to can (canned, canned - can (could).

Sources of homonyms

One of the sources of homonyms is phonetic changes which words undergo in the course of their historical development. As a result of such changes, two or more words which were formerly pronounced differently may develop identical sound forms and thus become homonyms. (Night and knight).

Borrowing is another source of homonyms. A borrowed word may, in the final stage of its phonetic adaptation, duplicate in form either a native word or another borrowing. Bank, n (“shore”) – is a native word, and bank, n (“a financial institution”) is an Italian borrowing.

Word-building also contributes significantly to the growth of homonymy, and the most important type in this respect is undoubtedly conversion. Such pairs of words as comb, n. — to comb, v., pale, adj. — to pale, v., to make, v. — make, n. are numerous in the vocabulary. Homonyms of this type, which are the same in sound and spelling but refer to different categories of parts of speech, are called lexico-grammatical homonyms.

Shortening is a further type of word-building which increases the number of homonyms. E. g. fan, n. in the sense of «an enthusiastic admirer of sport or of an actor, singer, etc.» is a shortening produced from fanatic. Its homonym is a Latin borrowing fan, n. which denotes an implement for waving lightly to produce a cool current of air.

Words made by sound-imitation can also form pairs of homonyms with other words: e. g. bang, n. («a loud, sudden, explosive noise») — bang, n. («a fringe of hair combed over the forehead»). Also: mew, n. («the sound a cat makes») — mew, n. («a sea gull»).

Two or more homonyms can originate from different meanings of the same word when, for some reason, the semantic structure of the word breaks into several parts. This type of formation of homonyms is called split polysemy.

board, n. — a long and thin piece of timber board, n. — daily meals, esp. as provided for pay, e. g. room and board

board, n. — an official group of persons who direct or supervise some activity, e. g. a board of directors

spring, n. — the act of springing, a leap spring, n. — a place where a stream of water comes up out of the earth (R. родник, источник) spring, n. — a season of the year.