Chapter 6
1 - A word which is related to other words is related to them in sense, hence sense relations.
2 - When a word is first coined, it is always monosemic.
3 - The problem of interrelation of the various meanings of the same word can be dealt with from two different angles: diachronic approach and synchronic approach.
Diachronic approach. From the diachronic point of view, polysemy is assumed to be the result of growth and development of the semantic structure of one and same word. At the time when the word was created, it was endowed with only one meaning. This first meaning is the primary meaning. With the advance of time and the development of language, it took on more and more meanings. These later meanings are called derived meanings as they are all derived from the primary meaning.
Synchronic approach. Synchronically, polysemy is viewed as the coexistence of various meanings of the same word in a certain historical period of time, say. Modern English. In this way, the basic meaning of a word is the core of word-meaning called the central meaning.
4 - The development of word-meaning from monosemy to polysemy follows two courses, traditionally known as radiation and concatenation.
Radiation is a semantic process in which the primary meaning stands at the centre and the secondary meanings proceed out of it in every direction like rayes. Concatenation, meaning ‘linking together’, is the semantic process in which the meaning of a word moves gradually away from its first sense by successive shifts until.
Unlike radiation where each of the derived meanings is directly connected to the primary meaning, concatenation describes a process where each of the later meaning is related only to the preceding one like chains. Generally, radiation precedes concatenation. In many cases, the two processes work together, complementing each other.
5 - Homonyms are generally defined as words different in meaning but either identical both in sound and spelling or identical only in sound or spelling.
6 - Based on the degree of similarity, homonyms fall into three classes: perfect homonyms, homographs and homophones.
Perfect homonyms are words identical both in sound and spelling, but different in meaning. Homographs are words identical only in spelling but different in sound and meaning. Homophones are words identical only in sound but different in spelling and meaning. Of the three types, homophones constitute the largest number and are most common.
7 - There are varioussources of homonyms: change in sound and spelling, borrowing, etc.
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.
8 - The fundamental difference between homonyms and polysemants lies in the fact that the former refers to different words which happen to share the same form and the latter is the one and same word which has several distinguishable meanings.
One important criterion is to see their etymology. homonyms are from different sources whereas a polysemant is from the same source which has acquired different meanings in the course of development.
The second principal consideration is semantic relatedness. The various meanings of a polysemant are correlated and connected to one central meaning to a greater or lesser degree, On the other hand, meanings of different homonyms have nothing to do with one another.
In dictionaries, a polysemant has its meanings all listed under one headword whereas homonyms are listed as separate entries.
9 - Synonymy is one of the characteristic features of the vocabulary of natural languages. Synonyms can be defined as word different in sound and spelling but most nearly alike or exactly the same in meaning. Synonyms might be defined as ‘one of two or more words in the English language which have the same or very nearly the same essential meaning. In other words, synonyms share a likeness in denotation as well as in part of speech.
10 - Synonyms can be classified into two major groups: absolute synonyms and relative synonyms.
Absolute synonyms also known as complete synonyms are words which are identical in meaning in all its aspects. both in grammatical meaning and lexical meaning, including conceptual and associative meanings. It is observed that absolute synonyms are rare in natural languages and some people even hold that such synonyms are non-existent. Absolute synonyms are restricted to highly specialized vocabulary.
Relative synonyms also called near-synonyms are similar or nearly the same in denotation, but embrace different shades of meaning or different degrees of a given quality.
11 - Sources of Synonyms:
Borrowing. Modern English is extremely rich in synonyms, which come from different sources. Dialects and regional English, Figurative and euphemistic use of words, Coincidence with idiomatic expressions
12 - The differences between synonyms boil down to three areas: denotation, connotation, and application.
Difference in denotation. Synonyms may differ in the range and intensity of meaning. Some words have a wider range of meaning than others.
Difference in connotation. By connotation we mean the stylistic and emotive colouring of words. Some words share the same denotation but differ in their stylistic appropriateness.
Difference in application. Many words are synonymous in meaning but different in usage in simple terms. They form different collocations and fit into different sentence patterns.
13 - Antonymy is concerned with semantic opposition. Antonyms can be defined as words which are opposite in meaning.
Contradictory terms. These Antonyms truly represent oppositeness of meaning. They are so opposed to each other that they are mutually exclusive and admit no possibility between them. The assertion of one is the denial of the other. In other words, if one of the pair is true, then the other cannot be.
Contrary terms. Antonyms of this type are best viewed in terms of a scale running between two poles or extremes. The two opposites are gradable and one exists in comparison with the other.
Relative terms. This third type consists of relational opposites. The pairs of words indicate such a reciprocal social relationship that one of them cannot be used without suggesting the other. This type also includes reverse terms, which comprise adjectives and adverbs signifying a quality, or verbs and nouns signifying an act or state that reverse the quality, action or state of the other.
14 - Some of the Characteristics of Antonyms
Antonyms are classified on the basis of semantic opposition. A word which has more than one meaning can have more than one antonym. Antonyms differ in semantic inclusion. Contrary terms are gradable antonyms, differing in degree of intensity, so each has its own corresponding opposite. Some words can have two different types of antonyms at the same time, one being the negative and the other opposite.
15 - The Use of Antonyms
Antonyms have various practical uses and have long proved helpful and valuable in defining the meanings of words. Antonyms are useful in enabling us to express economically the opposite of a particular thought, often for the sake of contrast. Many idioms are formed with antonyms. They look neat and pleasant, and sound rhythmic. Antonyms are often used to form antithesis to achieve emphasis by putting contrasting ideas together.
16 - Hyponymy deals with the relationship of semantic inclusion. That is, the meaning of a more specific word is included in that of another more general word. These specific words are known as hyponyms. superordinate, subordinate
17 - Hyponymy can be described in terms of tree-like graphs, with higher-order superordiates above the lower subordinates. But their status either as superordinate or subordinate is relative to other terms.
Knowing the semantic features of the hyponyms and their superordinates can help us achieve vividness, exactness, and concreteness.
18 - The massive word store of a language like English can be conceived of as composedaround a number of meaning areas, some large, such as ‘philosophy’ or ‘ emotions’, others smaller, such as ‘kinship’ or ‘colour’. Viewing the total meaning in this way is the basis of field theory.
