Semantic Changes

Semantic Changes

Plan:

Page:

Foreword………………………………………………………………………………....3

Chapter I. Semantic changes. Types of Semantic changes……………………………... 4

Definition………………………………………………… ……… … ……….4

Metaphor………………………………………………………………………7

Metonymy……………………………………………………………………...9

Other types of Semantic changes…………………………………………….. 10

Chapter II. Causes of semantic change…...……………………………………… … …12

Conclusion………………………………………………………………………………15

Literature…………………………………………………………………………...……16

FOREWORD

The meaning of a word can change in the course of time. Changes of

lexical meanings can be proved by comparing contexts of different times.

Transfer of the meaning is called lexico-semantic word-building. In such

cases the outer aspect of a word does not change.

The causes of semantic changes can be extra-linguistic and linguistic,

e.g. the change of the lexical meaning of the noun «pen» was due to extra-

linguistic causes. Primarily «pen» comes back to the Latin word «penna»

(a feather of a bird). As people wrote with goose pens the name was

transferred to steel pens which were later on used for writing. Still

later any instrument for writing was called « a pen».

On the other hand causes can be linguistic, e.g. the conflict of

synonyms when a perfect synonym of a native word is borrowed from some

other language one of them may specialize in its meaning, e.g. the noun

«tide» in Old English was polisemantic and denoted «time», «season»,

«hour». When the French words «time», «season», «hour» were borrowed into

English they ousted the word «tide» in these meanings. It was specialized

and now means «regular rise and fall of the sea caused by attraction of

the moon». The meaning of a word can also change due to ellipsis, e.g.

the word-group «a train of carriages» had the meaning of «a row of

carriages», later on «of carriages» was dropped and the noun «train»

changed its meaning, it is used now in the function and with the meaning

of the whole word-group.

Semantic changes have been classified by different scientists. The

most complete classification was suggested by a German scientist Herman

Paul in his work «Prinzipien des Sprachgeschichte». It is based on the

logical principle. He distiguishes two main ways where the semantic

change is gradual ( specialization and generalization), two momentary

conscious semantic changes (metaphor and metonymy) and also secondary

ways: gradual (elevation and degradation), momentary (hyperbole and

litote).

CHAPTER I. SEMANTIC CHANGES. TYPES OF SEMANTIC CHANGES.

1. Definition.

The development and change of the semantic structure of a word is always

a source of qualitative and quantitative development of the vocabulary.

All the types discussed depend upon some comparison between the earlier

(whether extinct or still in use) and the new meaning of the given word.

This comparison may be based on the difference between notions expressed or

referents in the real world that are pointed out, on the type of

psychological association at work, on evaluation of the latter by the

speaker or, possibly, on some other feature.

The order in which various types are described will follow more or less

closely the diachronic classifications of M. Breal and H. Paul. No attempt

at a new classification is considered necessary. There seems to be no point

in augmenting the number of unsatisfactory schemes already offered in

literature. The treatment is therefore traditional.

M. Breal was probably the first to emphasize the fact that in passing

from general usage into some special sphere of communication a word as a

rule undergoes some sort of specialisation of its meaning. The word case,

for instance, alongside its general meaning of 'circumstances in which a

person or a thing is' possesses special meanings: in law ('a law suit'), in

grammar (e.g. the Possessive case), in medicine ('a patient', 'an

illness'). Compare the following:

One of Charles's cases had been a child ill with a form of diphtheria.

(C. P. SNOW) (case = a patient).

The Solicitor whom I met at the Holfords’ sent me a case which any

young man at my stage would have thought himself lucky to get. (Idem) (case

= a question decided, in a court of law, a law suit)

The general, not specialized meaning is also very frequent in present-

day English. For example: At last we tiptoed up the broad slippery

staircase, and went to our rooms. But in my case not to sleep, immediately

at least. (Idem) (case = circumstances in which one is)

This difference is revealed in the difference of contexts in which these

words occur, in their different valency. Words connected with illnesses and

medicine in the first example, and words connected with law and court

procedures in the second, form the semantic paradigm of the word case.

The word play suggests different notions to a child, a playwright, a

footballer, a musician or a chess-player and has in their speech different

semantic paradigms. The same applies to the noun cell as used by a

biologist, an electrician, a nun or a representative of the law; or the

word gas as understood by a chemist, a housewife, a motorist or a miner.

In all the examples considered above a word which formerly represented a

notion of a broader scope has come to render a notion of a narrower scope.

When the meaning is specialized, the word can name fewer objects, i.e. have

fewer referents. At the same time the content of the notion is being

enriched, as it includes -a greater number of relevant features by which

the notion is characterized. Or as St. Ullmann puts it: "The word is now

applicable to more things but tells us less about them." The reduction of

scope accounts for the term "narrowing of the meaning" which is even more

often used than the term "specialization". We shall avoid the term

"narrowing", since it is somewhat misleading. Actually it is neither the

meaning nor the notion, but the scope of the notion that .is narrowed.

There is also a third term for the same phenomenon, namely

"differentiation", but it is not so widely used as the first two terms.

H. Paul, as well as many other authors, emphasizes the fact that this

type of semantic change is particularly frequent in vocabulary of

professional and trade groups.

H. Paul's examples are from the German language but it is very easy to

find parallel cases in English. So this type of change is fairly universal

and fails to disclose any specifically English properties.

The best known examples of specialization in the general language are as

follows: OE d?or 'wild beast' > ModE deer 'wild rum,inant of a particular

species' (the original meaning was still alive in Shakespeare's time as is

proved by the following quotation: Rats and mice and such small deer); OE

mete 'food' >ModE meat 'edible flesh', i.e. only a particular species of

food (the earlier meaning is still noticeable in the compound sweetmeat).

This last example deserves special attention because the tendency of fixed

context to preserve the original meaning is very marked as is constantly

proved by various examples. Other well-worn examples are: OE fuзol 'bird'

(cf. Germ Vogel) > ModE foal 'domestic birds'. The old, meaning is still

preserved in poetic diction and in set expressions, like fowls of the air.

Among its derivatives, fowler means 'a person who shoots or traps wild

birds for sport or food'; the shooting or trapping itself is called

fowling; a fowling piece is a gun. OE hund 'dog' (cf. . Germ Hund) >hound

'a species of hunting dog'. Many words connected with literacy also show

similar changes: thus, teach

Numerous cases of metaphoric transfer are based upon the analogy between

duration of time and space, e.g. long distance:: long- speech; a short

path :: a short time. The transfer of space relations upon psychological

and mental notions may be exemplified by words and expressions concerned

with understanding: to catch (to grasp) an idea; to take a hint; , to get

the hang of; to throw light upon.

This metaphoric change from the concrete to the abstract is also

represented in such simple words as score, span, thrill. Score comes from

OE scoru 'twenty' from ON skor 'twenty' and also 'notch'. In OE time

notches were cut on sticks to keep a reckoning. As score is cognate with

shear, it is very probable that the meaning developed from the twentieth

notch that was made of a larger size. From the meaning 'line' or 'notch cut

or scratched down' many new meanings sprang out, such as 'number of points

made by a player or a side in some games', 'running account', 'a debt',

'written or printed music', etc. Span from OE spann 'maximum distance

between the tips of thumb and little finger used as a measure of length',

came to mean 'full extent from end to end' (of a bridge, an arch, etc.) and

'a short distance'. Thrill from ME thriven 'to pierce' developed into the

present meaning 'to penetrate with emotion'.

Another subgroup of metaphors comprises transitions of proper names into

common ones: an Adonis, a Cicero, a Don Juan, etc. When a proper name like

Falstaff is used referring specifically to the hero of Shakespeare's plays

it has a unique reference. But when people speak of a person they know

calling him Falstaff they make a proper name generic for a corpulent,

jovial, irrepressibly impudent person and it no longer denotes a unique

being. Cf. Don Juan as used about attractive profligates. To certain races

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