Homonymy in English. The problem of homonymy and polysemy.

Definition of homonyms. Causes of homonymy and sources of homonyms in

English: convergent sound development and divergent sense development

Homonymy may be described as the sameness of form associated with the difference of meaning. Acc. to Arnold, when 2 or more unrelated meanings are associated with the same form the words are homonyms. The term consists of 2 Greek words: ‘homos’ – the same & ‘onoma’ – name. Homonyms are words identical in sound &/ or in spelling, but different in meaning.

E.g. (1) match (n) – a game, a contest, match (n) – a short piece of wood used for producing fire; (2) sea (n) – water that covers huge surface, see (v) – to perceive with eyes

Homonymy in English is found on different levels:

-homonymous words (lie – lye)

-homonymous morphemes (friendly – quickly)

-homonymous forms of words (he taught – he has taught)

English is reach in homonyms, but usually no ambiguity arises in speech because the meaning of the word is determined by the context.

Different causes of homonymy may be subdivided into 2 groups:

1) The 1^st group is presented by homonymy which developed due to convergent sound development when 2 or more words of different origin accidentally coincided in sound. These homonyms are called etymological homonyms (they make up about 90% of all homonyms).

E.g. (1) bank – an institution offering certain financial services, (2) bank – a slope, as of a hill

2) The 2^nd group of homonyms which developed from polysemy. In other words this process is called split of polysemy. And as a result semantic homonyms are built (they make up about 10%). This is the process when different meaning of a polysemantic word moves so far apart that any semantic connection b/w them is lost.

E.g. the semantic structure of the polysemantic word board was split into 3 units, forming 3 homonyms: (1) board – a long & thin piece of timber, (2) board – daily meals provided for pay, (3) board – an official group of persons who direct & supervise some activity

 

Classifications of homonyms: 1) homonyms proper, homophones and homographs; 2) full and partial homonyms; 3) lexical, lexico-grammatical and grammatical homonyms; 4) simple and complex homonyms

There are few principles acc. to which H. may be classifies. Traditionally Hs are subdivided into: homonyms proper, homophones, homographs.

Homonyms proper are words identical both in sound form & in spelling, but different in meaning. E.g. bank – bank, match – match

Homophones are words which are identical in sound but different in spelling & meaning. E.g. blue – blew, peace – piece, one – won

Homographs are words which are identical in spelling, but different in sound form & meaning. E.g. lead (свинец) – lead (вести), row (ряд) – row (рев)

Besides the traditional classification of H., there is another one. Professor Smirnitsky classified homonyms as: lexical, lexico-gr. & grammatical H.

Lexical H. are H. which differ only in lexical meaning. E.g. seal (тюлень) – seal (печаль), match – match

Lexico-gr. H. are H. which differ in both lexical & grammatical meaning. E.g. blue – blew

Grammatical H. are H. which differ only in grammatical meaning. E.g. brother’s – brothers’

Besides, there are 2 more classifications of H. H. may be subdivided into: full & partial.

Full H. have identical paradigms. E.g. stroke – stroke

Partial H. have different paradigms. E.g. to lie – to lye

H. may be also subdivided into: simple & complex.

Simple H. belong to one & the same part of speech.

Complex H. belong to different parts of speech.

 

The problem of homonymy and polysemy in English. The criteria applied to solve the problem: etymological, phonetic, the criterion of spelling, the semantic criterion of related and unrelated meanings, the criterion of distribution

One of the most debatable problems in Semasiology is the demarcation line b/w polysemy & homonymy. To solve this problem a number of criteria may be applied. etymological, phonetic, spelling criteria, the criterion of distribution & the semantic criterion.

1) The etymological criterion may be applied to H. which appeared as a result of convergent sound development. It means that if the origin of words is different, then these words may be safely regarded as H.

E.g. match (пара) – native word – match (спичка) – Old French

2) The criterion of spelling & phonetic criterion may be applied if there is any formal difference of words in spelling or in pronunciation, they are considered to be different words (homonyms).

3) The criterion of distribution is helpful mainly in cases of lexico-gr. & grammatical homonymy.

E.g. the rose is beautiful (n+v[link]+adj), he rose to his feet (n[pr]+v+pr+n)

4) The semantic criterion is applied when the basic problem is caused by words which are identical in origin, sound form, spelling & distribution. So, acc. to it:

- If 2 voc. items identical in form have related meanings, or have some common semantic components, they are treated as LSVs of a polysemantic word.

- If 2 voc. items identical in form have unrelated meaning, or have no common semantic components, they are treated as different words, they are H.

Sometimes, none of the criterion is of any avail. It means that none of the criteria works. In such cases the demarcation line b/w polysemy & homonymy is rather vague.