POLYSEMY AND HOMONYMY

AS LANGUAGE UNIVERSALS

Lecture 3
 Plan
1. Polysemy viewed synchronically.
2. Polysemy viewed diachronically.
3. Homonyms. Classification and sources of
homonyms.
The word polysemy is of Greek origin (“polus” – many, “sema”
– meaning), thus – “a word having many meanings”.

The semantic structure of a word is a structured set of

interrelated lexico-grammatical variants with different
denotative and sometimes connotative components of
meaning.

youth – 1) the friends of one’s youth, 2) a young man, 3) young men and
women
to act:
1) do something;
2) behave;
3) take a part in a play;
4) pretend.
Some men have acted courage who had it not; but no man can act wit

земля:
5) третя від Сонця планета;
6) верхній шар земної кори;
7) речовина темно-бурого кольору, що входить до складу земної кори;
8) суша (на відміну від водного простору);
9) країна, край, держава.
Нарешті вони дісталися землі і тепер могли перепочити.
 1. Polysemy viewed synchronically.

polysemy as the co-existence of various meanings of the same

word at a certain historical period of the development of the
language

 General :: special/particular
 Central/main :: minor/peripheric
 Primary :: secondary/derived
 Direct :: figurative
In the historical perspective, the meaning can be classified
according to their genetic characteristics:

Etymological
Archaic
Obsolete
Present-day meaning
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

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.

radiation
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.

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.

board:
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.
 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
homonyms.

of 22540 homonyms given in the Oxford Dictionary 89% are

monosyllabic words and only 9,1% are words of two syllables
homonyms are not typical in Ukrainian
 According to the type of meaning:

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.

ball1 – a round object used in games

ball2 – a gathering of people for dancing;

ключ, — source, spring, fountain

ключ — key.
 According to the type of meaning:

Lexico-grammatical homonyms differ both in lexical and

grammatical meanings, they belong to different parts of speech.

bear1 – animal
bear2 – to carry
seal1 – a sea animal
seal2 – to close tightly
ніс - на обличчі
ніс - минулий час від нести.
 According to the type of meaning:

Grammatical homonyms differ in grammatical meaning only. It is

the homonymy of different word-forms of one and the same word.

stopped1 – the Past Indefinite

stopped2 – Participle II.
відносно — prp.
відносно — adverb
точно— c j.
точно— adverb
 According to the sound-form, graphic form and meaning

Homonyms proper (perfect) are words identical both in

sound-form and in graphic form but different in meaning.

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)
 According to the sound-form, graphic form and meaning

Homophones are words identical in sound-form but different both in spelling and
meaning.
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)
біль – білль
гребти - греби - гриби
 According to the sound-form, graphic form and meaning

Homographs are words identical in spelling but different both in their sound-
form and in meaning.

tear /tiə/, /tεə/

lead /li:d/, /led/
wind /wind/, /waind/
bow (уклін) — bow (лук)
row (ряд) — row (шум, ґвалт)
дере΄вина (одиничне дерево) - дереви΄на (матеріал для виготовлення різних
предметів)
΄сага (жанр давньогерманського епосу) - са΄га (річкова затока)