Chapter 3

Meaning change
Meaning transference

1
The change and development of
meaning

1. Definition of meaning change

2. Causes of semantic change

3. Nature of semantic change

11
 Definition of meaning change
(semantic change)
• New meanings of the words appear

• Bead: prayer  prayer beads  beads

• Immoral: not customary  unethical

• Old meanings drop out of the language or co-exist with
the new ones

• Silly: happy, prosperous  foolish

• Wench: girls  wanton (easy-virtue) woman

 prostitutes 12
 Causes of semantic change
• Extra linguistic causes (connected with the
development of society, changes in social,
political, economic, cultural life, in science and
technology)
• Linguistic causes (connected with the system of
language)
• Psychological reasons (taboos, euphemism)

13
 Extra linguistic causes
• Objects are changed or our concepts are changed
e.g: Car = A four-wheeled wagon
 Automobile railway carriage
• The words used by particular group of people pass
into general usage or vice versa (generalization)
e.g: Lure = Apparatus used by falconers to recall their
hawks
 Thing that attracts and invites
14
 Linguistic changes
• Ellipsis or contraction of a phrase
e.g: To propose marriage = To propose
• Discrimination of synonyms
e.g: Deer = animal beast
 a kind of animal
• Attraction of synonyms
e.g: Catch = grasp, get
Catch = understand
 Grasp/ Get = Understand
15
 Psychological reasons

• Avoidance of expressing explicitly problematic

concepts such as death, excretion, or sex
(Pseudo-euphemisms)
e.g: Toilet = Restroom

To go to the W.C = To answer the call of the

nature

Die = Pass away

16
 Change of meaning

• Change of the denotation:

• Widening/extended

• Narrowing

• Change of the connotation

• Degradation

• Elevation

17
 Denotational meaning change
• Meaning extended: the covers/denotes more
objects/items
- The meaning is widened covering more objects
e.g: Ready = Prepared for a ride
 Prepared for everything
- The meaning is generalized
e.g: Camp = The place where the troops are lodged in
tents
 Temporary quarters
To muscle in = To encroach upon the racket of other
gangsters
 To encroach/to make one’s way by force
18
 Denotational meaning change

• Meaning narrowed: The meaning is more

specialized, less general or less inclusive
than its historically earlier form

e.g: Meat = any food

 animal flesh

19
 Connotational meaning change
• Degradation of meaning (deterioration): more
negative or less favorable
e.g: Villain = Labourer attached to a farm
 A wicked schemer
• Elevation of meaning: the meaning of a word
becomes more positive or favorable
e.g: Minister = A servant, an attendant
 Head of a state department
Rake off = A bribe, a share in illicit profit
 A share of profit
20
 Types of transference
of meaning

METAPHOR METONYMY
OTHER TYPES

HYPERBOLE LITOTES IRONY EUPHEMISMS

21
 Metaphor

• Definition

• Metaphor versus simile

• Conceptual metaphor

• Basis of the transference

• Classification
22
 Definition
• Metaphor is the transference of meaning from one
object to another based on similarities between
these two.

• In other words, we call one object by the name of

another because we compare these objects and find
some common features between them.

 Eg: The Internet is an information superhighway

23
Definition in the view of cognitive linguistics
Metaphor is a conceptual projection whereby one
experiential domain (target) is partially understood in
terms of another experiential domain (source) included
in the same common experiential domain (similarity).

SOURCE TARGET
DOMAIN DOMAIN

SIMILARITY 24
 Example

• That woman is a witch.

TARGET DOMAIN projected SOURCE DOMAIN

Witch – having magic powers
That woman – ugly, cruel
and doing evil things

SIMILARITY
UNPLEASANT, CRUEL
25
 Metaphor vs. Simile
Criteria METAPHOR SIMILE

Feature Implicit comparison Explicit comparison

Form Direct: having no Indirect: having

elements of elements of
comparison comparison (like; as)

Example A wire is a road for A good book is like a

electrons. good meal.

26
 Conceptual metaphor
• Definition

Conceptual metaphor is an underlying identification of an

abstract concept with a more basic or concrete concept
(or a mapping between a concrete domain and an
abstract domain).

• Feature

Conceptual metaphors imply the coherence between

whole sets of ordinary language expressions
27
 Conceptual metaphor
Some everyday English expressions describing LOVE
• Our love has hit a dead - end street.
• We may have to go our separate ways.
• The relationship isn’t going anywhere.
• The marriage is on the rocks.
• Our relationship is off the track.

LOVE is conceptualised as a JOURNEY

28
 Conceptual metaphor
Mapping form:
TARGET- DOMAIN and SOURCE - DOMAIN.
e.g: The Love-is-a-Journey mapping
• The lovers correspond to travellers.

• The love relationship corresponds to the vehicle.

• The lovers’ common goals correspond to their

common destinations on the journey.
• Difficulties in the relationship correspond to
impediments to travel.
29
 Basis of transference

• Shape: teeth of the • Function: the key to

saw the mystery

• Position: foot of the • Colour: rose, orange

mountain • Size: midget,
• Movement: She elephantine
wormed her way • Characteristics:
through the crowd. Othello, snake, bear 30
 Classification of metaphor

• Living metaphor

• Faded metaphor

• Dead metaphor

31
 Living metaphor

• Living metaphor is a word used in

unusual, novel meaning and metaphor
is felt as such.

• Eg: She lent wings to his imagination.

32
 Faded metaphor

• Faded metaphor is the one which has

lost its freshness because of long use
and became habitual.

• Eg: Good qualifications aren’t always

the key to success.
33
 Dead metaphor

• Dead metaphor is the word which has

lost its metaphoric meaning and are
used only figuratively.

• Eg: I’m open to criticism.

34
 Notes
• It’s difficult to clearly distinguish living,
faded and dead metaphor.
• Culture
• Personal experience
• There is a theory that all our words are
dead metaphors.

35
 Metonymy

• Definition

• Basis of transference

• Cases of metonymy

36
 Definition
• Metonymy is the substitution of one word for
another with which it is associated.

• In other words, instead of the name of one

object or notion, we use the name of another
because these objects are associated and
closely related.
• Eg: The White House announced a press conference for four
o'clock Sunday. 37
 Metonymy vs. Metaphor

• Metaphor is based on similarity.

Eg: Her voice were music to his ears.

• Metonymy is based on contiguity.

Eg: The Crown had absolute power in

the Middle Ages.

38
 Notes

• Metonym is a kind of “local” word

perceived in a system of beliefs that is
available only to a sub-section of the
community.

• Eg: The white jersey was very nice.

39
 Basis of the transference
Material, causal or conceptual relation

• Place - for - institution

Eg: The White Hall objected to the plan.

• Thing - for - perception

Eg: There goes my knee. (the pain in my

knee)

40
 Basis of the transference
Material, causal or conceptual relation
• Object - for - possessor

Eg: The Crown in fact has little power.

• Part - for - whole

Eg: We don’t employ long hairs.

• Place - for - event

Eg: Waterloo marked the end of Napoleon’s life

41
 Cases of metonymy
• Name of container instead of the thing contained:
to drink a glass
• Parts of human body as symbols: kind heart,
clever head
• The concrete in stead of the abstract: from the
cradle to the grave
• Materials instead of the things made of the
materials: glass, iron, silver, gold, bronze

42
 Cases of metonymy
• Name of the author instead of his works:
Picasso, Dickens,
• Part for the whole: living in the same roof,
wearing a fox; He’s always running after the
skirt.
• Names of places and names of products made
there: china, champagne, havana, cardigan
• Names of inventors and names of inventions:
sandwich, volt, ampere, diesel, watt.
43
 Cases of metonymy

• Spatial relation: chair, table (people sitting

at the table)

• Causal relation: fear (M.E); OE: fer (danger)

• Functional relation: to pen

• Geographical relation: china, holland

44
 Hyperpole
• Definition: Hyperbole is an exaggerated
statement not meant to be understood
literally, but with powerful effect.

• Eg: It was a nightmare to meet him again.

I had to wait an eternity for the file to

download.
45
 Litotes
• Definition: Litotes is an understatement
expressing something in the affirmative by
the negative of its contrary.

• He was no coward to tell her the truth.

• Not bad = very good

46
 Irony

• Definition: Irony expresses meaning by words of

the opposite sense.

• Intonation plays an essential role in getting the

message across.

Eg: Watching it rain, he said, "Lovely day for a

picnic!"

47
 Euphemism
• Definition: Euphemism is the use of a
milder expression for something
unpleasant.

Eg: “restroom” or “lavatory” instead of “toilet”

“pass away” instead of “die”

48
 Exercises
What type of meaning transference
do the following sentences belong
to?

1. The cat's eyes were jewels,

gleaming out of the darkness.

2. Like a writhing snake, the broken

electrical wires hissed and twitched
in the damp grass.
49
 Exercises
• What type of meaning transference do the
following sentences belong to?
3. Waves high as mountains broke over the reef.

4. He drank 20 glasses.

5. His fear was a prison, stronger than any more

visible barricade.

6. ‘England is famous for its food,’ she told her

husband after the dinner at her English
colleague's house. 50
51