Homonyms
Homonyms (Gr. homos “similar” + onoma
“name”) are words which have identical sound
form and/or spelling but are different in their
meaning.
E.g. bank (n) – a shore (of the river);
bank (n) – an institution for receiving, lending,
exchanging and safeguarding money
Classification of homonyms (1)
• Homonyms proper (собственно омонимы):
E.g. ball (мяч) – ball (бал); bank (банк) – bank
(берег); light, adj. (легкий) – light, n. (свет).
• Homophones: E.g. piece – peace; air - heir;
knight – night; rose (flower) – rose (Past form
of rise).
• Homographs: E.g. bow [bəu] (лук) – bow
[bau] (поклон); lead [liːd] (лидерство) – lead
[led] (свинец); row [rəu] (ряд) – row [rau]
(ссора).
Classification of homonyms (2)
The criterion: whether homonyms belong to the
same or to different parts of speech.
• Lexical
• Lexico-grammatical
• Grammatical
Lexical homonyms
• Belong to the same part of speech. The
difference is confined to the lexical meaning
only: fair (ярмарка) – fare (плата за проезд);
bow [bəu] (лук) - bow [bau] (поклон); match
(спичка) – match (матч)
Lexico-grammatical homonyms
• Belong to different parts of speech and differ
in lexical meaning: tear [tɪə], n. (слеза) – to
tear, v. [tɛə] (рвать); bear, n. [bɛə] (медведь)
– to bare [bɛə], v. (носить) – bare [bɛə], adj.
(обнаженный).
Grammatical homonyms
• Belong to different parts of speech but there is
a link between their lexical meanings: milk –
to milk; practice – to practice.
Classification of homonyms (3)
The criterion: whether the paradigms of the
homonyms coincide completely or partially.
• Full homonyms are identical in sound in all their
forms and paradigms: match (матч) - match
(спичка); ear (ухо) – ear (колос); ball (мяч) – ball
(бал)
• Partial homonyms are identical only in some of
the forms: to found (основывать) – found (Past
Indefinite, Past Participle of the verb to find); to
lie (lied, lied) (красть) – to lie (lay, lain) (лежать);
bean, n. (фасоль) – been, v. (Past Part. of the verb
to be).
Sources of homonyms
• phonetic changes: night – knight (OE kniht);
write (OE writan) – right (OE reht and riht).
• borrowings: bank (берег): native origin - bank
(банк): Italian; fair (справедливый): native fair (ярмарка): French.
Sources of homonyms
• shortening of words: flu (from influenza) flew (Past Indef. of to fly); fan (from fanatic) fan (вентилятор).
• conversion: comb, n. – to comb, v., pale, adj. –
to pale, v., to make, v. – make, n. (grammatical
homonyms).
Sources of homonyms
• Split polysemy:
spring (n) – “the act of springing, a leap”;
spring (n) – “a place where a stream of
water comes up out of the earth”;
spring (n) – “a season of the year”.
The original word: springan - “to jump,” “to
leap”
The problem of differentiating between
polysemy and homonymy
spring is represented
• as two homonyms in V.K. Müller’s and
Hornby’s dictionaries: I. a season of the year,
II. a) the act of springing, a leap, b) a place
where a stream of water comes up out of the
earth.
• as three homonyms in V.D. Arakin’s dictionary.
Origins of synonyms
• to begin (native, neutral) – to commence
(French, bookish) – to initiate (Latin, bookish)
• bodily (native, neutral) — corporal (Latin,
bookish)
• brotherly (native, neutral) — fraternal (Latin,
bookish).
Definition of synonyms
• Synonyms are words with the same
denotation (or denotative component) but
different in connotations (or connotative
components). (semantic approach)
• Methods of studying synonyms: definitional,
transformational, componential.
Synonyms of the verb to look
• to stare: to look + steadily, lastingly + in surprise,
curiosity, etc.
• to glare: to look + steadily, lastingly + in anger,
rage, fury
• to gaze: to look + steadily, lastingly + in
tenderness, admiration, wonder
• to glance: to look + briefly, in passing
• to peep: to look + steadily, lastingly + by stealth;
through an opening or from a concealed location
• to peer: to look + steadily, lastingly + with
difficulty or strain
V.V. Vinogradov’s classification of
synonyms
• Ideographic synonyms are words conveying the
same concept but differing in shades of meaning:
power — force — energy; beautiful — handsome
— pretty.
• Stylistic synonyms have the same denotational
components but differ in stylistic characteristics:
hearty (neutr.) – cordial (formal), to imitate
(neutr.) – to monkey (inform.), to begin (neutr.) –
to commence (formal); to die (neutr.) – to pass
away (formal).
V.V. Vinogradov’s classification of
synonyms
• Absolute synonyms coincide in all their
shades of meaning and in all their stylistic
characteristics: gift - present; homeland –
motherland; spirants – fricatives, etc.
The phenomenon of absolute synonymy is very
rare in the language and very often temporary.
Classification of synonyms based on
the types of connotations
• The connotation of degree or intensity: to
surprise – to astonish – to amaze – to astound;
to shout – to yell – to bellow – to roar (the
rising degree of intensity)
• The connotation of duration: to stare – to
glare – to gaze – to peep - to peer (a lasting
look) - to glance (a brief look)
• The emotive connotation: to stare (to look in
surprise, curiosity) – to glare (in anger, rage or
fury) – to gaze (in tenderness, admiration or
wonder)
Classification of synonyms based on
the types of connotations
• The evaluative connotation (conveys the
speaker’s attitude towards the referent): wellknown – famous – notorious (-) – celebrated
(+) (cf.: a notorious criminal, but a celebrated
scientist).
• The causative connotation: to shiver (because
of the frost) – to shudder (with fear, horror).
• The connotation of manner: to stroll – to
stride – to pace – to trot – to swagger
The synonymic dominant (the
dominant synonym)
•
•
•
•
the most general word in the group
belonging to the basic stock of words
stylistically neutral
having high frequency of usage, vast
combinability, lacking connotations.
• expresses the notion common to all the members
of the group in the most general way without any
additional information.
to surprise – to astonish – to amaze – to astound;
to shout – to yell – to bellow – to roar;
to look – to stare – to glare – to gaze – to peer.
Synonyms of a polysemantic word
• to close – to finish (e.g. to close a discussion)
• to close – to shut (e.g. to close the door).
Euphemisms
• Euphemism (Gr. eu “well” + pheme
“speaking”) is a substitution for an expression
that may offend or suggest something
unpleasant to the receiver, using instead an
agreeable or less offensive expression.
• E.g. drunk: intoxicated, under the influence
(formal), tipsy (colloq.), boiled, tanked, high as
a kite (slang), etc.
Targets for euphemistic substitution
• notions of death,
• madness,
• stupidity,
• drunkenness,
• certain physiological processes,
• crimes, etc.
E.g. to die: to expire, to pass away, to depart, to
join the silent majority, to kick the bucket, to
breathe one’s last, to be gathered to one’s
fathers etc.
Antonyms
• Antonyms are words of the same part of
speech having common denotative
component of meaning but expressing
contrasting points of the same notion.
• wide - narrow, admit - deny, produce consume, old - young, etc.
Antonyms and parts of speech
• Adjectives: high – low, strong – weak, bitter –
sweet.
• Verbs: to lose – to find, to live – to die, to open
– to close.
• Nouns: friend – enemy, joy – grief, good – evil.
Antonyms of a polysemantic word
E.g. dull:
• Boring – the deficiency in interest: interesting,
amusing, entertaining
• Stupid - the deficiency in intellect: clever,
bright, capable
• Not active - the deficiency in activity: active
Structural classification of antonyms
(V.N. Komissarov. Dictionary of English
Antonyms)
• antonyms of the same root: e.g. to do – to
undo, cheerful - cheerless;
(affixes which help in the formation of
antonyms: un-, in-, dis-, -less, etc.)
• antonyms of different roots: e.g. day – night,
rich - poor.
Semantic classification of antonyms
• Contradictories: dead – alive, singled –
married (contradict each other: not dead =
alive, not single = married).
• Contraries are polar members of a gradual
opposition which may have intermediate
elements: cold – (cool – warm) - hot.