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UNIT 2 ETYMOLOGY HANU English Department Nguyễn Mạnh Hùng, M A Lexicology 2014 73 UNIT 5 HOMONYMY WHAT ARE HOMONYMS? Homonyms are words which are the same in sound and spelling, or, at least, in one o.
HANU - English Department Nguyễn Mạnh Hùng, M.A - Lexicology - 2014 UNIT HOMONYMY WHAT ARE HOMONYMS? Homonyms are words which are the same in sound and spelling, or, at least, in one of these aspects, but different in their meanings Let us examine a few examples in the following sentences: - The dog began to bark when we were carving our initials in the bark of the tree - ―We eat what we can, and what we can't eat we can‖ - The wind blew my blue shirt into the pool - Cheryl rode along as we rowed the boat from the island to the lakeside road - I‘ve never seen such a beautiful scene - We want a site for our home that will be out of sight - The seam in the tent doesn‘t seem to hold back the rain - Due to the dry weather, we not see any dew on the grass The state or quality of a given word‘s having the same spelling and the same sound or pronunciation as another word, but with a different meaning is called homonymy Homonymy exists in many languages, but in English it is particularly frequent, especially among monosyllabic words In the list of 2540 homonyms given in The Concise Oxford English Dictionary (2004), 89% are monosyllabic words and only 9.1% are words of two syllables CLASSIFICATION OF HOMONYMS Traditionally, homonyms are classified into three types namely, homonyms proper, homophones and homographs This is the most widely accepted classification of homonyms Homonyms proper Homonyms proper are words that are identical in both pronunciation and spelling - 73 - HANU - English Department Nguyễn Mạnh Hùng, M.A - Lexicology - 2014 Study these puns: a “Is life worth living?” ”It depends upon the liver.” b “What you with the fruit?” “We eat what we can, and what we can't eat we can” The words “liver” meaning ―a living person‖ and “liver” meaning ―the organ that secretes bile‖ (a) and words “can”, an auxiliary verb and “can”, a notional verb (b) are, for instance, intentionally present in the above play upon words: Other examples are: back n ―part of the body‖ - back adv ―away from the front‖ - back v ―go back‖; ball n ―a gathering of people for dancing‖ - ball n ―round object used in games‖; bark n ―the noise made by dog‖ - bark v ―to utter sharp explosive cries‖; bark n ―the skin of a tree‖; Homophones Homophones are words that are the same sound but of different spelling For example, air - heir; arms - alms; buy - by; him - hymn; knight - night; not - knot; or - oar and many others In the following sentence the sound complex [rait] stands for different nouns, one adjective and one verb, having four different spellings: “The play-wright on my right thinks it right that some conventional rite should symbolize the right of every man to write as he pleases‖ Homophones are often used to create puns and to deceive the reader or to suggest multiple meanings e.g ―My daughter has arranged a little piece for the piano.‖ ―Good! It‘s about time we had a little peace!‖ - 74 - HANU - English Department Nguyễn Mạnh Hùng, M.A - Lexicology - 2014 Homographs Homographs are words that are the same in spelling but different in sound For example, implement [„impliment] (v): to carry out, to put into effect implement [„implimənt](n) : a tool, a piece of equipment content [kən‟tent] (a): feeling satisfaction of what one has content [„kɒntent] (n): things contained in something sewer [`souə] (n): person sewing something sewer [su:ə] (n): underground pipe or passage that carries sewage away wind [wind] (n): air in motion wind [waind](v)]: bend, turn round Some linguists hold that the subdivision of homonyms into homonyms proper, homophones and homographs is not precise enough and does not reflect certain important features of these words, and, most important of all, their status as parts of speech According to them, the classification of homonyms should reflect this distinctive feature Also, the paradigm of each word should be considered, because it has been observed that the paradigms of some homonyms coincide completely, and of others only partially From this perspective, A.I Smirnitsky suggested a different way of classifying homonyms According to him, homonyms can be classified into two main types: full homonyms and partial homonyms Full homonyms Full lexical homonyms are words, which represent the same category of parts of speech and have the same paradigm ball n ―a gathering of people for dancing‖ ball n ―a round object used in games‖ row [rou] (n): a line of people or things row [rau] (n): a noisy or violent argument or quarrel Partial homonyms Partial homonyms are subdivided into three subgroups: - 75 - HANU - English Department Nguyễn Mạnh Hùng, M.A - Lexicology - 2014 a Simple lexico-grammatical partial homonyms are words which belong to the same category of parts of speech and they have one identical form in their paradigms For example, (to) fell v fell v (past indef of to fall) (to) wound v wound v (past indef., past part of wind) (to) saw v saw v ( past part of to see) b Complex lexico-grammatical partial homonyms are words of different categories of parts of speech, which have one identical form in their paradigms way n - weigh v right a - right n due a - dew n founder n - founder v ate (v) - eight (num) c Partial lexical homonyms are words of the same category of parts of speech which are identical only in their original forms to lie (lay, lain) v to lie (lied, lied) v to hang (hung, hung) v to hang (hanged, hanged) v to can (canned, canned) (I) can (could) SOURCES OF HOMONYMS Why we have homonyms? Why does the English language in particular have homonyms? The answer is homonyms can come into existence in languages in several ways - 76 - HANU - English Department Nguyễn Mạnh Hùng, M.A - Lexicology - 2014 Phonetic changes Homonyms come in a language because of the convergent phonetic development of two or more different lexical units Most of the homonyms in a language have their origin in this way Phonetic changes pertaining to the loss of affixes, simplification of conjunct consonants, loss of syllables etc affecting either one of the words or both of them lead to creation of homonymy, e.g Sound n ―strait, a fish‘s swimming bladder‖ OE sund ―swimming‖ Sound a ―healthy‖ OE gesund ―healthy‖ to knead (O E cnedan) and to need (O E neodian) sea (O.E sae, and to see (O E seon) Homonyms appearing by this process are etymologically unrelated But in these cases also, even after the phonetic convergence, the two words may be taken as polysemantic For instance, English ear ―organ of hearing‖ and ear ―spike of corn‖ are etymologically unconnected, but the two words are treated as related by some persons because the spike of the corn is considered as the ear of the corn in the same way as eye of needle, mouth or river, foot of hill etc Concerning phonetic changes, we cannot but mention the assimilation of sounds causing homonymy, for example, They‟re hanging their coats over there You‟re crazy if you pierce your ankle! Borrowing Words borrowed from different languages also contribute to homonymy These borrowings may also undergo phonetic changes The homonyms of this type may be of different types: (a) One word is borrowed from another language: e.g mean ―average‖ Latin medianus and mean ―think‖ OE marnan bank (mound) and bank (financial institution -Italian banca) (b) Sometimes both the words of the pair of homonyms are borrowed: piece, n (OFr piece, from Lat Pecia – fragment) and peace, n, (O Fr Pais (Fr Paix) from Lat Păx – peace) - 77 - HANU - English Department Nguyễn Mạnh Hùng, M.A - Lexicology - 2014 Word-building Conversion is, for sure, the type of word formation that results in the greatest number of homonyms bottle, n.- to bottle, v., ink ,n – to ink green, a., - to green, v., yellow, a to yellow to win, v.- win, n , to lose – lose –n Other types of word formation such as shortening, affixation, soundimitation also contributes quite a few homonyms Shortening: Veterinarian = Vet = veteran Acquired immune deficiency syndrome = AIDS = aids/aides Flu (influenza) = flu = flew Affixation: washer (automatic washing machine) = washer (small flat ring placed between two surfaces) founder (person who founds or establish something) = to founder (fail, break down) Sound imitation: quack (the sound made by a duck) = quack (Brit sl) a doctor low (the sound made by cattle) = low (a) not high or tall Split polysemy/ disintegration As said in Unit - Meaning, the semantic structure of a polysemantic word presents a system within which all its constituent meanings are held together by logical associations In most cases, the semantic unity is determined by the central meaning If this meaning, for some reason, disappears from the word's semantic structure, the associations between the meanings may be severed, the semantic structure loses its unity and fails into two or more parts which then become accepted as independent lexical units Let us consider the three words ―board” 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 - 78 - HANU - English Department Nguyễn Mạnh Hùng, M.A - Lexicology - 2014 It is not easy now for us to find semantic and logical associations among them Yet, most larger dictionaries still enter a meaning of board that once held together all these other meanings ―a table‖ which developed from the meaning ―a piece of timber‖ by transference based on contiguity (association of an object and the material from which it is made) The meanings ―meals‖ and ―an official group of persons‖ developed from the meaning ―table‖, also by transference based on contiguity: meals are easily associated with a table on which they are served; an official group of people in authority are also likely to discuss their business round a table Nowadays, however, the item of the furniture, on which meals are served and round which boards of directors meet, is no longer denoted by the word board but by the French Norman borrowing table, and board in this meaning, though still registered by some dictionaries, can very well be marked as archaic as it is no longer used in common speech That is why, with the intrusion of the borrowed table, the word board actually lost its corresponding meaning But it was just that meaning which served as a link to hold together the rest of the constituent parts of the word's semantic structure With its diminished role as an element of communication, its role in the semantic structure was also weakened The speakers almost forgot that board had ever been associated with any item of furniture, nor could they associate the notions of meals or of a responsible committee with a long thin piece of timber (which is the oldest meaning of board) Consequently, the semantic structure of board was split into three units Also, in course of time the different related meanings of a word become so very different that the relatedness of meanings is no longer perceived and the words are treated as homonyms But this is very fluid and uncertain field Much depends on the speaker's judgement which is not infrequently subjective For example, chest 'large box' (OE cyst, from Lat cista) chest 'part of human body' Bank-mound, bank-financial institution and river bank actually have a common origin, the Gothic word benc, which originally referred to a small mound Then it was also used metaphorically for river bank, and also as a metaphor for a low table, especially those where bankers used to exchange money, which gave Italian banca, French banque, and English bank Bankruptcy originates in banqueroute, i.e "bank on the road" HOMONYMY VERSUS POLYSEMY One of the most controversial points in semantics has been the differentiation between polysemy and homonymy The general principle of - 79 - HANU - English Department Nguyễn Mạnh Hùng, M.A - Lexicology - 2014 differentiation has been the relatedness of the meanings If the meanings are related it is a case of polysemy, if not, it is a case of homonymy The question of relatedness of meanings can be viewed form two points of view: historical and synchronic Historically related meanings are those which can be traced back to the same source that is the meanings are etymologically connected or one meaning can be derived form the other If they are not etymologically connected they are not related and are homonyms Synchronic consideration has the intuition of the speakers of the language as its basis If the speakers perceive relationship between the meanings of a word it can be said that the meanings are related and form the semantic structure of one and the same word If the speaker feels the meanings are not related it is a case of homonymy But the intuition is not always a reliable guide It can be quite subjective The speakers may establish relatedness of meaning where there is none etymologically We have noted the example of ear earlier The speaker may find the meanings unrelated in spite of the fact that these are derived form the same source English crane ―bird‖ and crane a ―machine‖ may be treated as unrelated although the latter is a figurative extension of the same Zgusta (1971, 85) In such cases the etymology is not relevant An example from Nida may make it clearer The form stock may occur in three very different types of contexts, e.g He has a lot of stock in the warehouse He sells stocks and bonds He feeds the stock on his farm well Though historically these three sets of meanings are related, for many present day speakers of English there seem to be no meaningful connections (Nida,1975,13) In some cases the figurative extensions of the meaning may not be recognizable by the speakers e.g in ―He will foot the bill‖ the meaning of foot may not be related to foot ―the part of the body‖ But if the meaning of foot which occurs in ―the foot of the column‖ is taken into consideration a relation may be established in the sense that a person pays the sum at the foot of the bill (Nida, 1975, 128) In fact, the distinction between polysemy and homonymy is, in some cases, very uncertain and as observed by Lyons (1968, 406) is ―in the last resort indeterminate and arbitrary‖ - 80 - HANU - English Department Nguyễn Mạnh Hùng, M.A - Lexicology - 2014 Questions for discussion and activities What are homonyms? Traditionally, how many types can homonyms be classified into? Can the traditional approach to the classification of homonyms be applied to your native language? Do you agree that homonymy is a rich source for jokes as well as absurb misunderstandings? According to A.I Smirnitsky, how many types can homonyms be classified into? What is the basic difference in the criteria for the traditional and Smirnitsky‘s classification of homonyms? What is the difference between homonyms proper in the traditional classification and full homonyms suggested by Smirnitsky? What is the general principle of differentiation of homonymy and polysemy? - 81 -