- •English lexicology a course of lectures
- •Introduction
- •1. Lexicology as a branch of linquistics
- •2. Kinds of lexicology
- •3. Links of Lexicology with other branches of Linguistics
- •Lecture 1. Word-meaning
- •1.1. Semantics as a branch of Lexicology studing meanihg
- •1.2. Approaches to the study of meaning
- •1.2.1. Referential approach to meaning
- •1.2.2. Functional approach to meaning
- •1.3. Types of word-meaning
- •1.3.1. Grammatical meaning
- •1.3.2. Lexical meaning
- •1.3.3. Part-of-speech meaning
- •1.3.4 Denotative, significative and connotative meanings
- •1.3.5. Connotative meaning
- •1.3.6. Emotive charge and sociostylistic reference of words
- •1.3.7. Pragmatic meaning
- •1.4. Types of morpheme-meaning
- •1.4.1. Lexical meaning of morphemes
- •1.4.2. Functional or part-of-speech meaning of morphemes
- •1.4.3. Differential meaning of morphemes
- •1.4.4. Distributional meaning of morphemes
- •1.5.2.2. Morphological motivation of words
- •1.5.2.3. Semantic motivation of words
- •Lecture 2. Change of Meaning
- •2.1. Causes of semantic change
- •2.1.1. Extralinguistic causes of semantic change
- •2.1.2. Linguistic causes of semantic change
- •2.2. Nature, results and types of semantic change
- •2.2.1. Similarity of meanings or metaphor
- •2.2.2. Contiguity of meanings or metonymy
- •2.2.3. Types of semantic change without the transfer of name
- •2.2.3.1. Specialization and generalization of meanings
- •2.2.3.2. Amelioration and pejoration of meaning
- •2.2.3.3. Hyperbole, litotes, irony, euphemism, disphemism, taboo
- •Lecture 3. Polysemy
- •3.1. The notion of polysemy
- •3.2. Approaches to polysemy
- •3.2.1. Diachronic approach to polysemy
- •3.2.2. Synchronic approach to polysemy
- •Lecture 4. Homonymy
- •4.1. Definition of homonymy
- •4.2. Homonymy of words and homonymy of word-forms
- •4.3. Classification of homonyms
- •4.3.1. Full and partial homonymy
- •4.3.2. Classification of homonyms by the type of meaning
- •4.3.3. Classification of homonyms by the sound-form, graphic form and meaning
- •4.4. Sources of homonymy
- •4.4.1. Diverging meaning development
- •4.4.2. Converging sound development
- •4.5. Differentiation of polysemy and homonymy
- •Lecture 5. Word-meaning in syntagmatics and paradigmatics
- •5.1. Definition of syntagmatics and paradigmatics
- •5.2. Conceptual or semantic fields
- •5.3. Hyponimic (or hierarchical) structures and lexico-semantic groups
- •5.4. Synonymy and antonymy
- •Lecture 6. Word-structure
- •6.1. Segmentation of words into morphemes
- •6.2. Classification of morphemes
- •6.3. Procedure of morphemic analysis
- •6.4. Morphemic types of words
- •6.5. Derivative structure of words
- •7.3. Composition or compounding
- •7.4. Conversion
- •7.5. Shortening and abbreviation
- •7.5.1. Shortening or contraction
- •7.5.2. Abbreviation
- •7.6. Back-formation or reversion
- •8. Word-groups and phraseological units
- •8.1. Lexical and grammatical valency
- •8.2. Definition of phraseological units
- •8.3. Classification of phraseological units
- •Literature
- •Contents
- •Introduction 1
4.2. Homonymy of words and homonymy of word-forms
Some words are homonymous in all their forms. In this case we observe full homonymy of the paradigm of two or more different words. E.g. seal1 ‘a sea animal’:: seal2 ‘a stamp’. Here the paradigm “seal, seal’s, seals’, seals” is identical for both of them.
If we compare the paradigms of the words seal1‘a sea animal’:: (to) seal3 ‘to stamp’ we see that although some individual word-forms are homonymous, the whole of the paradigm is not identical; cf.
seal1 seal3
seal’s seals
seals’ sealed
seals sealing
In such cases we observe homonymy of individual word-forms or partial homonymy.
4.3. Classification of homonyms
4.3.1. Full and partial homonymy
Consequently all cases of homonymy may be classified into full and partial homonymy or homonymy of words and homonymy of individual word-forms.
The bulk of full homonyms are to be found within the same parts of speech; e.g. seal1 :: seal2 both as nouns.
Partial homonymy is also possible within one part of speech; e.g. in the verbs: lie1 ‘to be in horizontal position’:: lie2 ‘to make an untrue statement’; cf.
lie1 lie2
lies lies
lay lied
lain lied
Here only the first two forms are homonymous.
4.3.2. Classification of homonyms by the type of meaning
Homonyms may also be classified by the type of meaning into lexical, lexico-grammatical and grammatical homonyms.
Lexical homonyms are words identical in their part-of-speech and grammatical meaning of all their homonymous word-forms but different in their lexical meaning. E.g. in the case of the nouns seal1 :: seal2 the difference is confined to the lexical meaning only, as they belong to the same part-of-speech and “noun” and the grammatical meanings of their Common and Possessive Cases Singular and Plural are identical.
Lexico-grammatical homonyms are words identical in the sound-forms of some of their grammatical word-forms but different in their part-of-speech meaning and in the lexical and grammatical meaning of their homonymous word-forms. E.g. in the case seal1 :: seal3 the identical sound- and spelling-forms seals1 [sl] (Common case Plural of the noun) and seals3 [sl] (third person Singular of the verb) are different in their lexical and grammatical meaning.
There are cases when lexico-grammatical homonymy is observed within the same part of speech; e.g. in the verbs (to) find :: (to) found; here the homonymic word-forms found1 :: found2 differ both grammatically and lexically.
Grammatical homonymy is the homonymy of different word-forms of one and the same word. E.g. in the paradigm of the majority of verbs the form of the Past Tense is homonymous with the form of Participle II; cf. asked :: asked.
4.3.3. Classification of homonyms by the sound-form, graphic form and meaning
According to the three aspects of homonyms – sound-form, graphic form and meaning homonyms may be subdivided into homophones, homographs and homonyms proper or perfect homonyms.
Homophones are words identical in their sound-form, but different both in their spelling and meaning. E.g. air :: heir; knight :: night; or :: ore :: oar.
Homographs are words identical in their spelling, but different both in their sound-form and meaning. E.g. lead1 [ld] :: lead2 [led]; row1 [rou] :: row2 [rau]; tear1 [t] :: tear2 [t].
Homonyms proper or perfect homonyms are words identical both in their sound-form and spelling, but different in their meaning. E.g. case1 ‘something happened’ :: case ‘a box’.