Homonyms defined

Traditionally homonyms are held to designate different words (lexemes) with the same form. Even though they have the same shape, homonyms are regarded as distinct lexemes, primarily because they are semantically unrelated and have different origins. So, according to McArthur, lexicographers generally take the view that homonymy relates to different words whose forms have converged while polysemy relates to one word whose meanings have diverged or radiated [ ].

For example, the lexemes tear1, which means ‘pulling or ripping apart’ and another orthographic doublet tear2, denoting ‘the drop of salty liquid that comes from the eyes when someone weeps’ have different origins. They are both from Old English, the first from teran and the second from tẻar. (H. Jackson, Lexicography, p.). Lexemes that share the same spelling, but have a different etymology, are termed homographs (a Greek word, meaning ‘same (homo) +writing’), e.g. wind, live, sow, irony, lead, etc.

1) The strong wind prevented us from boating. Don’t forget to wind your watch.

2) They used to live in a small country cottage. My favourite singer is giving a live concert tonight.

3) There was a sow with five piglets on my uncle’s farm. The farmers sow the seeds in spring.

Homonyms are not a homogenous group, however. The sameness of shape, which characterizes homonyms, can refer to different aspects of their form. Thus, we distinguish between homographs (lead, row), lexemes that are spelt the same but pronounced differently, and homophones, which show the reverse situation: they have an identical sound form, but are spelt differently (flour-flower; sight – site; rain – reign – rein). Homographs are not very numerous in English; much more common seem to be the homophones: e.g. air/heir, groan/grown, pray/prey, whether/weather, etc.

There are absolute homonyms, which are supposed to meet the following three conditions:

(1) they are unrelated in meaning;

(2) all their forms are identical (belong to the same word class);

(3) the identical forms are grammatically equivalent. Absolute homonyms are fairly commonplace, e.g.: band1 (n) – a company of musicians

band2 (n) – a trip or loop of something;

fall1 (n) – the act of falling, dropping or coming down

fall2 (v) - to move to a lower position or level

On the other hand, there are also partial homonyms, which are to say cases where (a) there is identity of (minimally) one form and (b) one or two, but not all three of the above conditions are satisfied. E.g., the verbs ‘ find ’ and ‘ found ’ share the form found, but not finds, finding, or founds, founding, etc. The two homonymous verbs ‘ lie (lay, lain) ’ and ‘ lie (lied, lied) ’coincide only in their initial form. It is worthy of note that there is a correlation between points (2) and (3), which means that the failure to satisfy (2) correlates with the failure to satisfy (3). This is not common to all the languages, but it is certainly common to English.

Partial homonyms are of two types: homophones and homographs. Homophones are words identical in sound but different in spelling and meaning:

made 1 (adj) – formed

maid 2 (n) – a female domestic servant

bread 1 (n) – a common food made of baked flour

bred 2 (adj) – reared in a special environment or way

sum1 (n) – a particular amount of money

some2 (pronoun) – an unspecified amount or number of

Homographs are words identical in spelling but different in sound and meaning:

row1 (n) – a number of persons or things in a line

row2 (n) – a noisy acrimonious quarrel

desert1 (v) – to leave empty or leave completely

desert2 (n) – a large sandy piece of land where there is very little rain and not much plant life.

Words which coincide in sound and spelling but differ both lexically and grammatically are grammatical homonyms:

e.g. bear(noun) – bear(verb)

grave (adjective)- grave(noun)

When homonyms belong to different word classes, as in the case of rear, which has different lexemes as a noun (at the rear of the house), an adjective (a rear entrance), a verb (to rear the children), each homonym has not only a distinct meaning, but also a different grammatical function. The same observation could be applied to the pairs of words such as stick (verb) and stick (noun), seal (verb) and seal (noun), mean (adjective) and mean (verb).

Words not homonymous in their initial forms but only in their secondary ones are called homoforms.

e.g. paws - pause

saw - saw

English vocabulary is rich in the pairs and groups of homonyms. Their identical forms are mostly accidental. The majority of homonyms coincided due to the phonetic changes they underwent in the course of their development. In the process of communication, they are more at an encumbrance leading sometimes to confusion and misunderstanding. Yet it is this very characteristic which makes them one of the most important sources of popular humor producing pun.

TASK 4. Decide on what the following jokes are built: 1. – My wife is an angel! – You are lucky! Mine is still alive. An advertisement of the jeweler’s shop: “If you want to give her a ring, give us a ring”. A tailor guarantees to give each of his customers a perfect fit. 4. – 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. 5. Їла диню нині Ївга, А ти нині диню їв, га?!

Sources of homonyms:

Sources of homonymous words should be sought in the historical development of the language. Etymological surveys claim the following ones:

1) Phonetic change which words undergo in the course of their historical development. As a result of such changes, two or more words which were formally pronounced differently may develop identical sound forms and thus become homonyms.

e.g. long1 – O.E. longian

long2 - O.E. long

I - O.E. ic

eye - O.E. eaзe

2) Borrowing: a loan-word in the final stage of its phonemic adaptation may duplicate in form either in native word or another borrowing:

e.g. angle1 – O.E. angel (rod)

angle2 - O.E. angulus

arm1 – O.E. arma (part of the body)

arm2 – Latin (weapon)

3) Conversion:

e.g. make1(v) – make2(n)

comb1(v) – comb2 (n)

pale1 (adj.) - pale2 (v)

find 1 (n) – find2 (v)

4) Shortening:

e.g. cab1 (cabriolet)

cab2 (cabbage)

cab3 (cabin)

rep1 (representative)

rep2 (repetition)

rep3 (repertoire)

5) Derivation: e.g. reader1 (a person)

reader2 (a book)

6) Split polysemy:

mouse1 (animal)

mouse2 (part of the computer)

As a semantic structure of a traditional polysemantic word presents a system within which all its constituent senses are held together by logical association.

e.g. spring1 – spring2 – spring3 – spring4

match1 (game)

match2 (couple)

match3 (a small stick with a special substance on it used to make fire)

Hear is the list of homonymous pairs with their origin:

hate (v) – hate (n) (OE hatian v. – hete n.)

work (n) – work (v) (OE weorc n. – wyrcan v.)

drink (v) – drink (n) (OE drincan v – drinc n.)

point (n) – point (v) (OF point, pointer, n. – pointer v. > point n. v.)

note (n) – note (v) (OF note, n., noter, v. > note n., v.)

answer (n) – answer (v) (OE answaru, n. – answarian v.)

smile (v) – smile (n) (Scan. Smirk v.)

place (n) - place (v) (L. platea n.)

A vivid example is the Ukrainian word гриф (a mythical creature which is a borrowing from Greek), гриф (a part of the music instrument, fingerboard - a borrowing from German), гриф (letter head – a borrowing from French).