4. Transference based on contiguity

Another term for this type of transference is linguistic metonymy. The association is based upon subtle psychological links between different objects and phenomena, sometimes traced and identified with much difficulty. The two objects may be associated together because they often appear in common situations, and so the image of one is easily accompanied by the image of the other; or they may be associated on the principle of cause and effect, of common function, of some material and an object which is made of it, etc.

Let us consider some cases of transference based on contiguity. We will notice that they are of different kinds.

The foot of a bed is the place where the feet rest when one lies in the bed, but the foot of a mountain got its name by another association: the foot of a mountain is its lowest part, so that the association here is founded on common position.

The meaning of the noun hand realized in the context hand of a clock (watch) originates from the main meaning of this noun “part of human body”. It is also developed due to the association of the common function: the hand of a clock points to the figures of the face of the clock, and one of the function of human hand is also that of pointing to things.

Meanings produced through transference based on contiguity sometimes originate from geographical or proper names. China in the sense of “dishes made of porcelain” originated from the name of the country which was believed to be the birthplace of porcelain.

The name of a painter is frequently transferred onto one of his pictures: a Matisse = a painting by Matisse.

5. Broadening (or Generalization) of meaning. Narrowing (or Specialization) of meaning

Sometimes, the process of transference may result in a considerable change in range of meaning. For instance, the verb to arrive (French borrowing) began its life in English in the narrow meaning “to come to shore, to land”. In Modern English it has greatly widened its combinability and developed the general meaning “to come (e.g. to arrive in a village, town, country, at a hotel, college, theatre, place, etc.). The meaning developed through transference based on contiguity, but the range of the second meaning is much broader.

It is interesting to trace the history of the word girl as an example of the changes in the range of meaning in the course of the semantic development of a word.

In Middle English it had the meaning of “a small child of either sex”. Then the word underwent the process of transference based on contiguity and developed the meaning of “a small child of the female sex”, so that the range of meaning was somewhat narrowed. In its further semantic development the word gradually broadened its range of meaning. In modern colloquial English it is practically synonymous to the noun woman (e.g. The old girl must be at least seventy), so that its range of meaning is quite broad.

Here are some examples of narrowing of meaning:

Deer: any beast > a certain kind of beast

Meat: any food > a certain food product

Boy: any young person of the male sex > servant of the male sex

It should be pointed out once more that in all these words the second meaning developed through transference based on contiguity, and that when we speak of them as examples of narrowing of meaning we simply imply that the range of the second meaning is more narrow than that of the original meaning.

6. “Degeneration” (“Degradation”) and “Elevation” of meaning

Let us see what stands behind the examples of change of meaning which illustrate degeneration and elevation of meaning.