Homonyms

Lecture # 8

Grigoryeva M.
Homonymy

 Definition of Homonymy

 Diachronic Study of Homonymy and

Sources of Homonyms

 Homonyms treated synchronically

 Classification of homonyms
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
• 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 an 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 it is never the same 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)
Classification of homonyms
by I.V. Arnold

Only one group of homonyms-

Perfect homonyms

4 criteria for their classification:

• Lexical meaning
• Grammatical meaning
• Basic form
• Paradigm
Classification of homonyms
by I.V. Arnold
• Homonyms identical in their grammatical meanings, basic forms and
paradigms but different in lexical meaning
Board - a piece of wood \ a council
• Homonyms identical in their grammatical meanings and basic forms
but different in lexical meaning and paradigms
To lie- lied- lied (ЛГАТЬ) To lie- lay- lain (ЛЕЖАТЬ)
• Homonyms different in in their grammatical meanings, lexical
meaning and paradigms but identical in basic forms
Light (lights) Light (lighter, the lightest)
• Homonyms different in in their grammatical meanings, lexical
meaning, basic forms and paradigms (but coinciding in one of the
forms of their paradigms)
A bit Bit (to bite)
Classification of homonyms
according to their meaning
 lexical homonyms – words that differ in
their lexical meaning but identical in their
grammatical meaning
e.g. a seal (тюлень) – a seal (печать)
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
Classification of homonyms
according to their meaning
 grammatical homonyms – different
word-forms of one and the same word are
identical
e.g. a seal – seals – seal’s – seals’
“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)

Reasons for intense development of
homonyms in English

 monosyllabic character of the language

 analytic structure of English

 predominance of free forms in English

 high-developed polysemy
Sources of Homonyms

• Phonetic changes
• Borrowing
• Conversion
• 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
Sources of Homonymy
 sound-imitation

mew

‘the sound a cat makes’

‘a sea gull’
‘small terraced houses in London’
Synchronic Approach to Homonymy

1. the criteria distinguishing homonymy

from polysemy
2. the formulation of rules for recognizing
different meanings of homonyms in
terms of their distribution
Homonymy and Polysemy

 Semantic criterion of related and

unrelated meanings
connections between the various meanings
are apprehended by speakers or not
apprehended
Homonymy and Polysemy

 radiation - primary meaning stands in the

center, secondary meanings proceed out
of it like rays

polysemy
Homonymy and Polysemy

 concatenation – secondary meanings

develop like a chain. It is difficult to trace
some meanings to the primary one.

homonymy
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.
Classification of homonyms
according to their meaning
 lexical homonyms – words that differ in
their lexical meaning but identical in their
grammatical meaning

a seal (тюлень)
a seal (печать)
Classification of homonyms
according to their meaning
 grammatical homonyms – different
word-forms of one and the same word are
identical

a seal – seals – seal’s – seals’

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.
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
Practice
• Find the homophones to the following words, give the
spelling (if they are different) and explain the difference
in meanings
Dye
Tale
Week
Sun
Meet
Write
Hare