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Lecture 3.

POLYSEMY AND HOMONYMY AS LANGUAGE UNIVERSALS

1. Polysemy viewed synchronically.

2. Polysemy viewed diachronically.
3. Homonyms. Classification and sources of homonyms.

Polysemy and homonymy, as well as semantic change, are linguistic

universals. Highly developed polysemy and abundance of homonyms in the
English vocabulary can be explained by the following reasons: the analytical
character of the English language and the monosyllable character of the English
word.
The word polysemy is of Greek origin (“polus” – many, “sema” –
meaning), thus – “a word having many meanings”. Every meaning in the language
is signaled either by the form of the word itself or by context. The unity of the
form and content of a polysemantic word is kept in its lexico-grammatical variant.
All the lexico-grammatical variants of a word taken together form its semantic
structure. The s e m a n t i c s t r u c t u r e of a word is a structured set of
interrelated lexico-grammatical variants with different denotative and sometimes
connotative components of meaning. These variants belong to the same set because
they are expressed by the same combination of morphemes, although in different
contextual conditions. The elements are interrelated due to the existence of the
common semantic component. E.g., youth – 1) the friends of one’s youth, 2) a
young man, 3) young men and women. These variants form a structured set
because they are expressed by the same sound complex and they all contain the
semantic component “young”. Polysemy exists only in language, not in speech. An
isolated word in a dictionary is usually given with all its meanings (the semantic
structure of a word in language), but taken in any definite context, the word has
only the meaning required by the text. E.g., act has several meanings – do
something, behave, take a part in a play, pretend. In a sentence Some men have
acted courage who had it not; but no man can act wit – act means “pretend”. In
Ukrainian the word земля has the following meanings: 1) третя від Сонця
планета; 2) верхній шар земної кори; 3) речовина темно-бурого кольору, що
входить до складу земної кори; 4) суша (на відміну від водного простору); 5)
країна, край, держава.

1. Polysemy viewed synchronically.

S y n c h r o n i c a l l y we understand polysemy as the co-existence of

various meanings of the same word at a certain historical period of the
development of the language. There are different types of lexical meaning as
elements of a word’s semantic structure.
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General :: special/particular. The general meaning occurs in various and
widely different contexts, special meanings are observed only in certain contexts,
e.g., technical meanings of the word power or the third meaning of земля.
Central/main :: minor/peripheric. The meaning that first occurs to us when
we hear the cluster of sounds, i.e. the most frequent meaning of the word is the
central one. All other meanings are minor in comparison.
Primary :: secondary/derived. According to the tradition of lexicography
the primary meaning is placed first in the dictionary. When we describe the
meaning of the word as secondary we imply that it could not have appeared before
the primary meaning was in existence. When we refer to the meaning as derived
we imply not only that, but also that it is dependent on the primary meaning and
somehow subordinate to it. E.g., in the word table the primary meaning is “a piece
of furniture”, but “the food put on the table” is secondary as it is derived from the
first one; in the word папір the meaning „матеріал для писання” is primary and
„будь-який письмовий документ офіційного характеру” is secondary.
Direct :: figurative. The meaning is direct when it nominates the referent
without the help of the context, in isolation. The meaning is figurative when the
object is named and at the same time characterized through its similarity with
another object. E.g., mouth – “part of a face” (dir.), “some opening” (fig.).
If we are interested in the historical perspective, the meaning will be
classified according to their genetic characteristics. Here the following terms are
used: etymological, i.e. the earliest known meaning, archaic, i.e. the meaning
superseded at present by a newer one but still remaining; obsolete, i.e. gone out of
use; present-day meaning which is the one most frequent in the present-day
language and the original meaning serving as basis for the derived ones.
According to the style and sphere of language in which the words may occur
they are classified into:
stylistically neutral :: stylistically coloured

bookish colloquial

general scientific literary familiar

colloquial colloquial
poetical slang

2. Polysemy viewed diachronically

Polysemy viewed d i a c h r o n i c a l l y is a historical change in the

semantic structure of the word. It implies that a ward may retain its previous
meanings and at the same time acquire one or several new ones. We distinguish
two schemes of the development of polysemy: radiation and concatenation.
Radiation is a semantic process in which the primary meaning stands at the
centre and the secondary meanings proceed out of it in every direction like rays.
Each of them is independent of all the rest and may be traced back to the central
signification.
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scientific article money

promissory note paper document
written word newspaper
examination work

Concatenation is the semantic process in which the meaning of a word

moves gradually away from its first signification by successive shifts of meanings.
E.g., the word board may signify: 1) a piece of timber, 2) an extended surface of
wood, 3) a table, 4) any piece of furniture resembling a table, as dressing-board,
side-board, 5) board and lodging, 6) Board of Health, Board of Trade.
Radiation and concatenation are closely connected, being different stages of
the same semantic process. In fact, radiation always precedes concatenation.

3. Homonyms. Classification and sources of homonyms

Two or more words identical in sound and spelling but different in meaning,
distribution and (in many cases) origin are called h o m o n y m s. Of 2540
homonyms given in Oxford dictionary 89% are monosyllabic words and only 9,1%
are words of two syllables. Homonyms are not typical of Ukrainian.
There are several classifications of homonyms. One of them is based on the
type of meaning and according to it homonyms may be classified into lexical,
lexico-grammatical and grammatical.
Lexical homonyms belong to one and the same part of speech and the
grammatical meanings of all their forms are identical, but they are different in their
lexical meaning. E.g., ball1 – a round object used in games, ball2 – a gathering of
people for dancing; Ukrainian: 6paк — spoilage and 6paк — marriage, ключ, —
source, spring, fountain and ключ — key.
Lexico-grammatical homonyms differ both in lexical and grammatical
meanings, they belong to different parts of speech. E.g., bear1 – animal, bear2 – to
carry; seal1 – a sea animal, seal2 – to close tightly, Ukrainian: ніс (на обличчі) -
ніс (минулий час від нести).
Grammatical homonyms differ in grammatical meaning only. It is the
homonymy of different word-forms of one and the same word. E.g., stopped1 – the
Past Indefinite, stopped2 – Participle II. Ukrainian: відносно — prp., відносно —
adverb; точно— c j., точно— adverb. The following examples are highly illustrative:
provided – Participle II from provide, provided – коли, з умовою;
regarding – Participle I from regard, regarding – відносно;
owing – Participle I from owe, owing (to) – навпаки;
just — adverb, just — particle of emphatic precision.
The second classification is based not only on the meaning, but all the three
aspects (sound-form, graphic form and meaning) are taken into account. Here we
distinguish homonyms proper, homophones and homographs.
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Homonyms proper (perfect) are words identical both in sound-form and in
graphic form but different in meaning. E.g., bark1 – a noise made by a dog, bark2 –
a sailing ship; back1 – part of the body, back2 – away from the front, back3 – go
back, bear (ведмідь) — bear (носити, родити), bay (затока, бухта) — bay (гавкіт,
гавкання), pale (кіл, паля) — pale (блідий, тьмяний). The important point is that
homonyms are distinct words: not different meanings within one word.
Homophones are words identical in sound-form but different both in
spelling and meaning. E.g., son (син) — sun (сонце), pair (пара) — pear (груша),
see (бачити) — sea (мope); sight (зір, погляд) – site (місцеположення, ділянка) — cite
(цитувати); coarse (грубий) — course (кypc); light (легкий) — light (світло); meet
(зустрічати) — meat (м’ясо); piece (шматок, кусок) — peace (мир). In Ukrainian there
are few homophones, among them several borrowings with doubled consonants
(біль - білль), and words with unstressed vowels „е/и” (гребти - греби - гриби).
Homographs are words identical in spelling but different both in their
sound-form and in meaning. E.g., tear /tiə/, /tεə/, lead /li:d/, /led/, wind /wind/,
/waind/, bow (поклін) — bow (лук), row (ряд) — row (шум, ґвалт). In Ukrainian
homographs are distinguished by the stress, e.g., дере΄вина (одиничне дерево) - дереви΄на
(матеріал для виготовлення різних предметів), ΄сага (жанр давньогерманського епосу) -
са΄га (річкова затока).