English 421

Semantics and Pragmatics

Session Seven Notes
Goals/Objectives:
1) To examine the mechanisms of language change
2) To examine the notion of polsem
3) To examine the traditional categories of semantic change narro!ing" broadening" amelioration" and pejoration
4) To look briefly at the notions of metonm and metaphor
#uestions/$ain %deas
(Please write these down as
you think of them)
emantic !hange
"eaning change is e#erywhere$ and no words are immune from it
% striking exam&le of this is the 'nglish con(unction and
)t seems that this is such a sim&le and basic word that we would be same in assuming that its
meaning should be the same thru history
emantic !hange
*ut this isn+t at all the case
)n &re,modern 'nglish$ and was polsemous with -if+
Polsem is the &attern where a single word has more than one meaning$ that is$ it &ossesses
more than one distinct sense
e.g. !hair / furniture$ head of de&t.
emantic !hange
The change can be exem&lified by the following$ from hakes&eare+s Loves Labours Lost0
-%nd ) had but one &enny in the world$ thou shouldst ha#e it to buy gingerbread+
The only &ossible reading of this sentence is0
emantic !hange
-If ) had (ust one &enny in the world 1+
This &olysemy has been lost in modern 'nglish
*ut is shows that e#en elements of the #ocabulary that one would think are conce&tually the
most basic$ and hence the least likely to shift$ can change their meaning
emantic !hange
2ike many other branches of linguistics$ the modern study of semantics began with a largely
diachronic focus$ in#estigating meaning change over time
3nowledge of the history of )ndo,'uro&ean languages had sensiti4ed scholars to the extreme
fluidity of words+ meanings through time
emantic !hange
Traditional scholarly study of ancient languages in the nineteenth century (known as
philolog) meant that the details of meaning change in 'uro&ean languages were well
known
emantic !hange
The a#ailability of a long,written tradition$ going back in the case of 5reek to well before the
sixth century *!$ su&&lied an enormous 6uantity of texts through which changes in words+
meaning could be traced
emantic !hange
*ecause of this history$ %ndo&European languages ha#e had an o#erwhelming im&ortance
in the study of semantic change
This tradition has meant that studies of semantic change ha#e traditionally relied on )ndo,
'uro&ean e#idence much more than ha#e other domains of linguistics
emantic !hange
)n contrast$ we are largely in the dark about long,term sense de#elo&ments in the languages
of oral societies$ which lack the written e#idence on which historical study needs to be based
emantic !hange
7nlike sound change$ which seems to be go#erned by regular laws of great generality which
are o&en to scientific study$ meaning change has often struck in#estigators as chaotic and
&articularistic
emantic !hange
ince changes in words+ meaning are often determined by socio,cultural factors$ much
meaning change is not e#en linguistically moti#ated
8or instance$ since the ad#ent of modern air trans&ort$ the #erb fly can refer to -tra#elling as a
&assenger in an air&lane+
emantic !hange
This is a meaning that was ob#iously una#ailable before the twentieth century
*ut it does not necessarily corres&ond to any change in the sense of fly itself0 this is still
arguably -tra#el through the air+
emantic !hange
9hat has caused the change of meaning is arguably not anything to do with language$ but
sim&ly a change in the word+s denotation
%n im&ortant characteristic of semantic change is that it crucially in#ol#es polsem
emantic !hange
% word does not suddenly change from meaning % to meaning * in a single mo#e
)nstead$ the change ha&&ens #ia an intermediate stage in which the word has both % and *
among its meanings
emantic !hange
The Traditional Categories
'arly studies of semantic change (going back the 1:;<+s) did little more than set u& broad
categories of change$ described with #ery general$ and often #ague$ labels like -weakening$+
-strengthening$+ and so on
emantic !hange
8irst$ we will consider four of these traditional categories of semantic change0
Narro!ing (&eciali4ation=>eduction)
'roadening (5enerali4ation='xtension)
(melioration ('le#ation)
Pejoration (?egradation)
emantic !hange
@ne common ty&e of change is Narro!ing in which a word narrows its range of reference0
8or exam&le0
'nglish liquor used to refer to li6uid of any kind0 the reference to alcohol was a subse6uent
narrowing
emantic !hange
'nglish pavement originally referred to any &a#ed surface$ but narrowed (in *ritish 'nglish)
to sim&ly co#er the foot&ath on the edge of a street (which we$ of course$ call the sidewalk)
This ha&&ens in other languages as well$ of course
emantic !hange
The &roto,>omanian word for ointment$ unctu$ narrowed in >omanian so as only to refer to
a single -ointment$+ butter (as well as undergoing some &honological changes to become unt)
emantic
Aarrowing is less common$ historically$ than extensions$ though it is still found fairly
fre6uently
ome other exam&les0
@' hund -hound+ originally all dogs$ now to a &articular ty&e of dog
"' girl originally referred to young &eo&le of any gender
emantic !hange
The o&&osite tendency is 'roadening in which a word+s meaning changes to encom&ass a
wider class of referents
Zealot originally referred to members of a Bewish resistance mo#ement against the
occu&ying >omans in the first century %?
emantic !hange
)ts contem&orary meaning -fanatical enthusiast+ is a later broadening
8rench panier -basket+ originally meant (ust a bread,basketC it was subse6uently broadened
to baskets of any kind
The 2atin noun passer means -s&arrow+
emantic !hange
*ut in a number of >omance languages it has generali4ed to the meaning of -bird+0 this is the
case$ for exam&le$ with &anish pjaro and >omanian pasre
The most common #erb for -work+ in >omance languages$ like 8rench travailler and &anish
trabajar$ is a result of a broadening
emantic !hange
8rom the 2atin -tri&aliare+ -torture with a tri&alium$+ a three,s&iked torture instrument
The 5erman ad#erb sehr -#ery+ originally meant -cruelly+ or -&ainfully+ (a trace of this
meaning sur#i#es in the #erb versehren -in(ure+ or -hurt+
emantic !hange
The shift to -#ery+ is an exam&le of an extreme broadening that has lost almost all connection
with the original sense
ound strangeD
% similar change is found in many 'nglish intensifier terms$ like terribly and awfully
emantic !hange
*roadenings are fre6uently the result of generali4ing from the speci)ic case to the broader
class of which the s&ecific case is a member.
%n exam&le from @ld 'nglish is the following0
@riginally the word -dog+$ &ronounced @' EdocgaF$ referred to a s&ecific breed of dog. The
same is true of the word -bird.+
emantic !hange
*roadening seems &articularly common with &ro&er names$ such as0
,ello
,!leene"
,#ero"
,$oke
emantic !hange
The two other traditional categories in the analysis of meaning change$ Pejoration and
(melioration$ refer to changes in words+ e#aluati#e force
)n Pejoration$ a word takes on a derogator meaning
emantic !hange
This is fre6uently seen with words for animals$ which can be used to refer to &eo&le
negati#ely or insultingly$ as when someone is called a parasite% pig% sow% and so on
%nother exam&le of &e(oration is the ad(ecti#e silly
This originally meant -blessed$ ha&&y$ fortunate+
emantic !hange
)ts contem&orary meaning -foolish+ is a later de#elo&ment and one which$ this time$ has
entirely dis&lace the original sense
imilarly$ boor+s original meaning was -farmer+
-crude &erson+ was a later &e(oration
emantic !hange
&ccident originally meant sim&ly -chance e#ent$+ but took on the meaning -unfa#orable
chance e#ent+
(melioration is the o&&osite &rocess$ in which a word+s meaning changes to become more
&ositi#ely #alued
The normali4ation of &re#iously &roscribed taboo !ords is a good exam&le (like ass)
emantic !hange
@ne exam&le of amelioration is the word is &ro#ided by the 'nglish word nice
The earliest meaning of this ad(ecti#e$ found in "iddle 'nglish$ is -sim&le$ foolish$ silly$
ignorant+
The basic modern sense$ -agreeable$ &leasant$ satisfactory$ attracti#e+ is not attested until the
1:
th
century
emantic !hange
)t is interesting to note that semantic changes in one word of a language are often
accom&anied by (or result in) semantic changes in another word
8or exam&le0 as hund became more s&ecific in meaning$ dog became more general$ and #ice,
#ersa
)n this way$ the semantic system as a whole seemed to remain in balance
emantic !hange
7nfortunately$ these four categories on their own are not 6uite ade6uate to describe the
com&lexities and di#ersity of the ty&es of meaning change encountered in the history of
languages
Gow do we ex&lain$ for instance$ the shift of 2atin ver -s&ring+ to the meaning -summer+ in
many >omance languagesD
emantic !hange
This seems to fit none of the four categories so far mentioned
The same could be said for the de#elo&ment from 2atin sensus -sensation$ consciousness$
sense+ to the meaning -brains+ in &anish seso
emantic !hange
% solution to this sort of &roblem comes from recogni4ing narrowing and broadening are (ust
two ty&es of metonmic change
"etonymy is the &rocess of sense de#elo&ment in which a word shifts to a contiguous
meaning
-!ontiguous+ has a number of different meanings
emantic !hange
*ut the essential idea is that two senses are contiguous if their referents are actually next to
each other$ either spatiall or temporall
@r if the senses underlying the words are closely related conceptuall
emantic !hange
The &anish -consciousness+ H -brains+ shift exem&lifies conce&tually contiguity (brains and
consciousness ha#e a close conce&tual association) while the -s&ring+ H -summer+ shift
exem&lifies both tem&oral and conce&tual contiguity0 summer is next to s&ring in time$ and
also a closely related notion conce&tually
emantic !hange
ome instances of &e(oration and amelioration can also be considered metonymic
The shift of boor from -farmer+ to -crude &erson+ could be considered to be based on the
close association of these two notions (at least historically)
emantic !hange
"etonymy is a &owerful category
)t can describe many ty&es of changes which can+t otherwise be accommodated
The 'nglish noun bead originally meant -&rayer+ in @ld 'nglish
)ts &resent meaning can be ex&lained through the wides&read use of the !atholic >osary
emantic !hange
This association established a conce&tual link between the notions -&rayer+ and -bead$+
ex&laining the metonymic transfer of bead to the latter meaning in the "iddle 'nglish &eriod
This is neither narrowing=broadening nor &e(oration=amelioration$ so a new category is
clearly needed
emantic !hange
"etonymic changes are common
% &articularly colorful one underlies the word pupil$ which in 'nglish refers both to a student
and to the o&ening in the eye through which light &asses
This &u44ling &olysemy goes back to 2atin$ where pupilla means both -small girl$ doll+ and
-student+
emantic !hange
@ur eyes ha#e -&u&ils+ because of the small doll,like image that can be obser#ed there0
s&atial contiguity$ in other words$ underlies the shift
%nother exam&le of a metonymic meaning shift is the >omanian word brbat -husband$+
which deri#es from the 2atin barbatus -bearded+
emantic !hange
)f husbands often ha#e beards$ the ideas will be conce&tually associated
"etonymy was a notion ado&ted into linguistics from rhetoric$ the traditional study of
figurati#e$ literary and &ersuasi#e language
%nother originally rhetorical conce&t with linguistic a&&lication is metaphor
emantic !hange
"eta&hors are based not on contiguity$ but similarit or analog
'nglish germ is a good exam&le of a meta&hor,based meaning change
The earlier meaning of this word was -seed$+ as in this exam&le sentence from 1:<20
emantic !hange
-The germ grows u& in the s&ring$ u&on a fruit stalk$ accom&anied with lea#es+
The word+s a&&lication to the microsco&ic -seeds+ of disease is a meta&horical transfer0
ailments are likened to &lants$ gi#ing them -seeds+ from which they de#elo&
emantic !hange
The @ld 8rench word for -head$+ test$ is another exam&le of meta&horical de#elo&ment
@riginally$ test meant -&ot+ or -&iece of broken &ot+
The semantic extension to -head+ is said to be the result of a meta&hor current among
soldiers$ in which battle was described as -smashing &ots+
emantic !hange
'xactly the same meta&hor ex&lains the sense de#elo&ment of 5erman kopf -head$+ which
used to mean -cu&+
The use of monkey% pig% sow in &e(orati#e reference to &eo&le can also be seen as the result of
meta&hor based on &ercei#ed similarity with the animals concerned
emantic !hange
The centrality of meta&hor and metonymy in semantic change is due to the fact that they
(ointly exhaust the &ossibilities of inno#ati#e word use and thus subsume all the other
descri&ti#e categories
The argument$ according to Aerlich and !larke (1;;2)$ is0
emantics !hange
)f you want to ex&ress yourself inno#ati#ely and be understood$ then there are only two ways
of going about that0 using words for the near neighbors of the things you mean (metonymy)
or using words for the look,alikes of what you mean (meta&hor)
emantic !hange
The descri&ti#e a&&roach to semantic change described thus far is far from ideal
The categories are #ague and &urely taxonomic$ and offer no ex&lanatory insight into the
conditions under which meaning change ha&&ens
emantics !hange
They are also highly informal$ and lack clear criteria for their a&&lication
This is &articularly true for amelioration and &e(oration
9hether a meaning change is in a &ositi#e or negati#e direction will often de&end on little
more than one+s subjective judgment
emantic !hange
8or exam&le$ the change of 'nglish knight from the meaning -boy$ ser#ant+ to the meaning
referring to the aristocrat is often described as amelioration
*ut this is only the case if the latter meaning is e#aluati#ely su&erior to the former$ a
(udgment that not e#eryone would share
emantic !hange
%nother &roblem with the traditional categories is that they are also either too &owerful or
not &owerful enough
)n the case of narrowing=broadening and amelioration=&e(oration$ there aer many meaning
changes which do not seem to fit
emantic !hange
)n the case of metonymy=meta&hor$ the categories seem to be able to ex&lain any change$
since we can always find some connection of similarity or contiguity between two meanings
to (ustify their treatment as one or the other category (think six degrees of se&aration for
3e#in *acon)
emantic !hange
The traditional analysis of semantic change seems worlds away from the kinds of &recise
ex&lanations that are &ossible in the study of sound change
"ore recent work attem&ts to go beyond the mere descri&tion of changes$ and search for
causal e*planations
emantic !hange
There is much disagreement
8or some scholars$ the categories of metonymy and meta&hor themsel#es are cogniti#ely real
and hence ex&lanatory0 cogniti#e linguists take metonymy and meta&hor as basic cogniti#e
o&erations which are at work throughout language
emantic !hange
8rom this &oint of #iew$ it is not sur&rising that meta&hor and metonymy are &rominent in
meaning change$ since they are also the &rinci&les behind much synchronic semantics
emantic !hange
8or someone committed to understanding language in terms of meta&hor and metonymy$ the
contrast between ex&laining semantic change and (ust describing or classifying it colla&ses
The shift from germ -seed+ to germ -microbe+ is e"plained$ not (ust classified
emantic !hange
im&ly by #irtue of being identified as a meta&hor
8or others$ howe#er$ this ty&e of ex&lanation is not satisfactory
"uch modern work on semantic change stresses the role of the conventionali+ation o)
implicature as a source of semantic change
emantic !hange
!onsider the &e(oration of 'nglish accident
The original sense of -chance e#ent+ would often ha#e been used in discourse circumstances
where the unfa#orable nature of the e#ent was strongly im&lied$ as in this sentence from
1I<20
emantic !hange
-The wisest councils may be discom&osed by the smallest accidents+
The more neutral descri&tion -chance e#ent+ would seem &erfectly a&&ro&riate to the sense of
accident &resent here
emantic !hange
The context$ howe#er$ strongly im&lies that the chance e#ent is unfortunate or regrettable$
since it -discom&oses the wisest councils+
%ccording to the con#entionali4ation of im&licature theory of semantic change$ accident
would ha#e become increasingly associated with contexts like that abo#e
emantic !hange
%nd the im&lication that the e#ent was unfa#orable or regrettable would ha#e been
&rogressi#ely strengthened
@n encountering accident$ s&eakers would increasingly associate it with contexts like that
abo#e$ and assume that the e#ent was an unfa#orable one
emantic !hange
9ith time$ this &rocess of strengthening would change the status of reading
-unfortunate=unfa#orable chance e#ent+ from an im&lication to &art of the word+s literal
meaning
emantic !hange
The &e(oration of accident is thus the result of the con#entionali4ation of an im&licature
This ex&lanation does not deny that there is a relation of -contiguity+ between the notions
-chance e#ent+ and -unfa#orable chance e#ent+
emantic !hange
)t is also not incom&atible with an ex&lanation based on metonymy
*ut it goes further$ by showing that the actual discourse mechanisms which allow the
contiguity to become rele#ant
uch ex&lanations$ then$ &ut &ragmatic considerations at the heart of understanding change
emantic !hange
To understand why meaning changes$ this &ers&ecti#e argues$ we should not be thinking in
terms of broad cogniti#e o&erations like meta&hor and metonymy$ but should look instead at
how inferences generated in discourse become &art of lexicali4ed word meaning
Summar/$inute Paper: