Homonyms. Lecture 8

Definition of Homonymy
Greek homonymous – homos “the same”
onoma “name”
Two or more words identical in sound form and spelling,
or in one of these aspects, but different in meaning,
distribution and (in many cases) in origin

Classification of homonyms
by Walter Skeat
identical in sound form and spelling but
different in meaning
Perfect homonyms
Ball
Any spherical body
A large dancing party

identical in sound form but
different in spelling and meaning
Homophones
Piece
Part separated from smth
Peace
A situation without war conflicts

“Waiter!”
“Yes, sir!”
“What’s this?”
“It’s bean soup, sir!”
“Never mind what it has been. I want to
know what it is now.”
Bean – been (homophones)

words different in sound-form and in
meaning but identical in spelling
Homographs
Lead [li:d]
The first position at a particular time during competition
Lead [led]
A soft heavy grey metal

Classification of homonyms
by A.I. Smirnitsky
full homonyms
partial homonyms

Full homonyms
words which represent the same category of parts of speech and have the same paradigm
have the same spelling and pronunciation
match, n.
a game, a contest
match, n.
a short piece of wood for producing fire

Partial homonyms
Simple lexico-grammatical
Complex lexico-grammatical
Partial lexical

Partial homonyms
1. simple lexico- grammatical
belong to the same part of speech
their paradigms have only one identical form
to found, verb
found, verb
(Past Ind., Past. Part. of to find)

Partial homonyms
2. Complex lexico-grammatical
belong to different parts of speech and have one
identical form in their paradigms
rose, noun
rose, verb (Pat Ind. of to rise)
one, numeral
won, verb (Past Ind., Past Part. of to win)

Partial homonyms
3. Partial lexical homonyms
belong to the same part of speech but identical only
in corresponding forms of their paradigms
to lie (lay, lain), verb
to lie (lied, lied), verb
to can (canned, canned)
can (could)

Synonyms and antonyms are regarded as the
treasure of the language’s expressive resources.
They are created by the vocabulary system with a
particular purpose
Homonyms are of no interest in this respect.
They are accidental creations, and therefore
purposeless.
In the process of communication they lead
sometimes to confusion and misunderstanding

Sources of Homonyms
Phonetic changes
Borrowing
Shortening
Split polysemy

Convergent development of sound form (phonetic changes)
two or more words which were pronounced differently at an earlier date may develop identical sound forms
OE
knight [knait] [nait] night [nait]

Divergent semantic development (split polysemy)
different meanings of the same word move so far away from each other that they come to be regarded as two separate units
(a long thing piece of wood) 1.a table
e.g. OE board
(food served at the table) 2.daily meals
ople discussing their business at the table) 3.officials who direct some activity

Sources of Homonymy
shortening
Fan (Lat.)
“an implement for waving lightly to produce a cool current of air”
Fan “ an enthusiastic admirer of sport or celebrity” shortening
Fanatic

Sources of Homonymy
borrowings
Bank
bank – “a shore”
a native word
bank – “a financial institution”
an Italian borrowing

Distribution Criterion
homonyms differ in their syntactic function
e.g. I think that this “that” is a conjunction but that “that” that that man used was a pronoun.

PRACTICE
1.Define the given words into
Homonyms proper
Homophones
Homographs
2.Give meanings of these words
Made (A) - maid (N), row (N) – row (N),
seal (N) - seal (N), band (N) – band (N),
desert (V) – desert (N)

Made (A) - maid (N)
Past make A female servant
HOMOPHONES
row (N) – row (N)
People in a line A quarrel
HOMOGRAPHS
seal (N) - seal (N)
A sea animal The official mark
HOMONYMS
de’sert (V) – ‘desert (N)
To leave empty A sandy land
HOMOGRAPHS
hare (N) – hair (N)
An animal Strands growing from the skin
HOMOPHONES

PRACTICE
Fill in the blanks choosing the right word.
Translate your sentences
No (sweet \ suite) without sweat.
All is (fare \ fair) in love and war.
Out of (site \ sight) out of mind.
It never rains, but it (pours \ paws).

Practice
Classify the homonyms using Professor Smirnitsky’s classification
He should give a ball in your honor.—He is playing with a ball.
What’s happened with your left ear? – He ‘s left us.
Turn off the light! – He is wearing light summer trousers.
He couldn’t bear the pain.- catch the bear before you sell the skin.
‘To can’ means to make preservation. – Birds can fly

Practice
Classify the homonyms using Professor Smirnitsky’s classification
He should give a ball in your honor.—He is playing with a ball.
Full homonyms
What’s happened with your left ear? – He ‘s left us.
Complex lexico-grammatical partial
Turn off the light! – He is wearing light summer trousers.
Complex lexico-grammatical
He couldn’t bear the pain.- catch the bear before you sell the skin.
Complex lexico-grammatical partial
‘To can’ means to make preservation. – Birds can fly
Lexical partial