Sense Relations
6.2
Homonymy
0706 万超女 王姝
6.2 Homonymy
--- Homonymy: the state or quality of a given
word’s having the same spelling and the same sound or
pronunciation as another word, but with a different
meaning.
--- Homonym: words different in meaning but
either identical both in sound and spelling or identical
only in sound or spelling 同形（同音）异义词
--- The words which are in the relationship
of homonymy are homonyms.
1. Types of homonyms
Perfect homonyms
Homographs
Homophones
Perfect homonyms
△ bear n. 熊（large furry animal）[from Old English bera]
bear v. 忍受（tolerate）[from Old English beran]
△ lie vi. 位于（be located somewhere）[from Old English licgan]
lie vi. 说谎（deliberately say something untrue）[from Old English lyge]
△meet vt. 遇到（come across somebody）[from Old English metan]
meet adj. 合适的（appropriate）[from Old English gemaete]
△tack n. 钉子（small nail）[14th century. From Old Northern French
tague]
tack n. 马鞍和马勒（saddles and bridles）[late 18th century. Shortening
of tackle]
tack n. 劣质的东西（something inferior）[late 20th century. Backformation from tacky]
tack n. 食物（poor fare）[late 16th century. Origin unknown]
Homographs
△refuse v. 拒绝（indicate unwillingness）
refuse n. 垃圾（garbage）
△sow v. 播种（plant seed）
sow n. 母猪（female hog）
△tear n. 眼泪（single drop of fluid from the eye）
tear v. 撕裂（pull or come apart）
△prayer n.祈祷（communication with God or other being
）
prayer n.祈祷者（one who prays）
△sewer n. 下水道（drain for water）
sewer n. 中世纪佣仆（medieval servant）
sewer n. 裁缝（one who sews）
Homophones
△ dear n. a loved person
deer n. a kind of animal
△ aero adj. of aircraft
arrow n. slender, pointed shaft
△ air n. stuff we breathe
heir n. one who will inherit
△ altar n. raised center of worship
alter v. to change
△ baron n. minor royalty
barren adj. unable to bear children
2. Origins of homonyms
•
change in sound and spelling
Some homonyms are native by origin, derived from different
earlier forms in Old English. The change in sound and spelling
gradually made them identical in modern English.
•
borrowing
As a result of heavy borrowing from other languages, many
words of foreign origin coincide in sound and/or spelling with
those of native origin or with those of other foreign origin.
•
shortening
Many shortened forms of words happen to be identical with
other words in spelling or sound.
3. Differentiation of homonyms
and polysemants
perfect homonyms
Similarity
Differenc
es
polysemants
spelling and sound
fundamental
different lexemes
the same form
the same lexeme
distinguishable meaning
source \
etymology
desendants of different
sources
a words of the same
sources
semantic
relatedness
have nothing to do with
one another
related,
can be traced back to
one central meaning
in dictionaries
listed as sepatated
entries
listed under one
headword
Polysemants
the same form
the same form
Perfect Homonyms
• Lexeme:
A lexeme is an abstract unit of morphological
analysis in linguistics, that roughly
corresponds to a set of words that are
different forms of "the same word".
For example, the English word forms run, runs,
ran and running are forms of the same lexeme.
4. Rhetoric Features of
Homonyms
• As homomyms are considered in
sound or spelling, particularly
homophones, they are often employed
to created puns for desired effect of,
say, humour, sarcasm or ridicule.
Examples:
--- "'Mine is a long and sad tale!' said the
Mouse, turning to Alice, and sighing.
--- "'It is a long tail, certainly,' said Alice,
looking down with wonder at the
Mouse's tail; 'but why do you call it
sad?'"
(Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in
Wonderland)
• William Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet
--- Not I, believe me. You have dancing shoes with nimble soles (souls) ;
I have a soul（sole）of lead so stakes me to the ground. I cannot
move.
Notes： nimble（quick, and neat in movement ）
sole （the underside of the foot ）
stake（to tie, fasten, or tether with or to a stake
译一：我实在不能跳了，
你们都有轻快的舞鞋。
我只有一个像铅一样重的灵魂，
把我的身体紧紧的钉在地上，使我不能动弹。
译二：我实在不能跳了，
你们都有轻快的舞鞋。
我只有一个像铅一样重的舞鞋。
译三：我实在不能跳了，
你们都有舞鞋，且心情轻松