Hononymes and its classification

Homonyms

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

• 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

Definition of Homonymy

• monosyllabic character of the language
• analytic structure of English
• predominance of free forms in English
• high-developed polysemy

Reasons for intense development of homonyms in English

• Convergent development of sound form
• Divergent meaning development

Sources of Homonymy

• two or more words which were pronounced differently at an earlier date develop identical sound forms
• e.g. OE з emane “common”

mean

OE manen “think”

Convergent development of sound form (phonetic changes)

• 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”

Divergent semantic development (split polysemy)

• 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

Other Sources of Homonymy

• the criteria distinguishing homonymy from polysemy
• the formulation of rules for recognizing different meanings of homonyms in terms of their distribution

Synchronic Approach to Homonymy

• 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

Homonymy and Polysemy

• 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.

Distribution Criterion

• full homonyms
• partial homonyms

Professor A. I. Smirnitsky’s Classification of 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

Full 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

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 )

Simple lexico-grammatical 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)

Partial 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 [ b аu] , verb – bow [ b əu] , noun

to tear [ te ə] , verb – tear [ ti ə] , noun

Walter Skeat’s classification of Homonyms

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 by R.S. Ginzburg

• 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’

Classification of homonyms according to their meaning