Exercises

I. Consider your answers to the following.

1. What causes the development of new meanings? Give examples.

2. What is the basis of development or change of meaning? Explain what we mean by the term transfer­ence.

3. What types of transference can you name?

4. What is meant by the widening and the narrowing of meaning?

5. Give examples of the so-called "degradation" and "elevation" of meaning. Why are these terms impre­cise?

II. Read the following extracts and explain the semantic processes by which the italicized words acquired their meanings

1. 'Bureau⁷, a desk, was borrowed from French in the 17th c. In Modern French (and English) it means not only the desk but also the office itself and the au­thority exercised by the office. Hence the familiar bu­reaucracy is likely to become increasingly familiar. The

desk was called so because covered with bureau, a th coarse cloth of a brown russet.

(From The Romance of Words by E. Weekley)

2. An Earl of Spencer made a short overcoat fash- ionable for some time. An Earl of Sandwich invented a form of light refreshment which enabled him to take a meal without leaving the card-table. Hence we have such words as spencer and sandwich in English.

(From The Romance of Words by E. Weekley)

3. A common name for overalls or trousers is jeans. In the singular jean is also a term for a durable twilled cotton and is short for the phrase jean fustian which first appeared in texts from the sixteenth century. Fustian (a Latin borrowing) is a cotton or cotton and linen fabric, and jean is the modern spelling of Middle English Jene or Gene, from Genes, the Middle French name of the Italian city Genoa, where it was made and shipped abroad.

(From The Merriam-Webster Book of Word Histories)

4. Formally barn meant "a storehouse for barley"; today it has widened to mean "any kind of storehouse" for animals or equipment as well as any kind of grain. The word picture used to refer only to a representation made with paint; today it can be a photograph or a rep- resentation made with charcoal, pencil or any other means. A pen used to mean "feather" but now has be- come generalized to include several kinds of writing implements — fountain, ballpoint, etc. The meaning of sail as limited to moving on water in a ship with sails has now generalized to mean "moving on water in any ship".

(From Teaching English Linguistically by J. Malmstrom, J. Lee)

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III. Read the following' extract and criticize the author's treatment of the examples. Provide your own explanations.

Words degenerate in meaning also. In the past vil­lain meant "farm labourer"; counterfeiter meant "imi­tator" without criminal connotations, and sty meant "skilful". A knave meant a "boy" and immoral meant "not customary", and hussy was a "housewife".

Other words improve in meanings. Governor meant "pilot" and constable meant "stable attendant". Other elevations are enthusiasm which formally meant "fa­naticism", knight which used to mean "youth", angel which simply meant "messenger" and pretty which meant "sly". No one can predict the direction of change of meaning, but changes occur constantly.

(From Teaching English Linguistically by J. Malmstrom, J. Lee)

IV. Explain the logical associations in the following groups of meaning for the same words. Define the type of transference which has taken place.

1. The wing of a bird — the wing of a building; the eye of a man — the eye of a needle; the hand of a child — the hand of a clock; the heart of a man — the heart of the matter; the bridge across-the-river — the bridge of the nose; the tongue of a person — the tongue of a bell; the tooth of a boy — the tooth of a comb; the coat of a girl — the coat of a dog.

2. Green grass — green years; black shoes — black despair; nickel (metal) — a nickel (coin); glass — a glass; copper (metal) — a copper (coin); Ford (proper name) — a Ford (car); Damascus (town in Syria) — damask; Kashmir (town in North India) — cashmere.

V. Analyse the process of development of new meanings in the italicized words in the examples given below.

1.1 put the letter well into the mouth of the box and let it go and it fell turning over and over like an autumn leaf. 2. Those who had been the head of the line paused momentarily on entry and looked around curiously. 3. A cheerful-looking girl in blue jeans came up to the stairs whistling. 4. Seated behind a desk, he wore a light patterned suit, switch from his usual tweeds. 5. Oh, Steven, I read a Dickens the other day. It was aw­fully funny. 6. They sat on the rug before the fireplace, savouring its warmth, watching the rising tongues of flame. 7. He inspired universal confidence and had an iron nerve. 8. A very small boy in a green jersey with light red hair cut square across his forehead was peer­ing at Steven between the electric fire and the side of the fireplace. 9. While the others were settling down, Lucy saw Pearson take another bite from his sandwich. 10. As I walked nonchalantly past Hugo's house on the other side they were already carrying out the Renoirs.

VI. Explain the basis for the following jokes. Trace the log­ical associations between the different meanings of the same word.

1. Father was explaining to his little son the funda- mentals of astronomy.

"That's a comet." "A what?"

"A comet. You know what a comet is?" "No."

"Don't you know what they call a star with a tail?" "Sure — Mickey Mouse."

2. "Pa, what branches did you take when you went to school?"

"I never went to high school, son, but when I attend­ed the little log school-house they used mostly hickory and beech and willow."

3. What has eyes yet never sees? (Potato)

4. H e (in telephone booth): I want a box for two.

Voice (at the other end): Sorry, but we don't have boxes for two.

H e: But aren't you the box office of the theatre? Voice: No, we are the undertakers.

VII. In the examples given below identify the cases of wid- ening and narrowing of meaning.

1. While the others waited the elderly executive filled his pipe and lit it. 2. Finn was watching the birds. 3. The two girls took hold of one another, one acting gentleman, the other lady; three or four more pairs of girls immediately joined them and began a waltz. 4. He was informed that the president had not arrived at the bank, but was on his way. 5. Smokey had followed a dic­tum all his life: If you want a woman to stick beside you, pick an ugly one. Ugly ones stay to slice the meat and stir the gravy.

VIII. Have the italicized words evaluative connotations in their meanings? Motivate your answer and comment on the history of the words.

1. The directors now assembling were admirals and field marshals of commerce. 2. For a businessman to be invited to serve on a top-flight bank board is roughly equivalent to being knighted by the British Queen. 3.1 had a nice newsy gossip with Mrs. Needham before you turned up last night. 4. The little half-starved guy looked more a victim than a villain. 5. Meanwhile I nod­ded my head vigorously and directed a happy smile in the direction of the two ladies. 6.1 shook hands with Tom; it seemed silly not to, for I felt suddenly as though I were talking to a child.

IX. Read the following. Find examples of "degeneration" and "elevation" of meaning. Comment on the history of the words.

1. King Arthur invented Conferences because he was secretly a Weak King and liked to know what his mem-

orable thousand and one knights wanted to do next. Аз they were all jealous knights he had to have the memo­rable Round Table made to have the Conferences at, so that it was impossible to say which was top knight.

(From 1066 and All That by C. W. Sellar, R. J. Yeatman)

2. A 1 f: Where are you going, Ted? Ted: Fishing at the old mill. A If: But what about school? T e d: Don't be silly. There aren't any fish there!

X. Try your hand at the following scientific research. Write a short essay on the development of the meanings of three of the following words. Try to explain each shift of meaning. Use "The Shorter Oxford Dictionary" or "The Merriam-Webster Book of Word Histories".

Fee, cattle, school, pupil, nice, pen, gossip, coquette, biscuit, apron, merry, silly, doom, duke, pretty, yan-kee.

CHAPTER 9

Homonyms: Words of the Same Form

Homonyms are words which are identical in sound and spelling, or, at least, in one of these aspects, but different in their meaning.

E. g. f bank, n. — a shore

bank, n. — an institution for receiving, lending, exchanging, and safeguarding money

ball, n. — a sphere; any spherical body ball, n. — a large dancing party

English vocabulary is rich in such pairs and even groups of words. Their identical forms are mostly acci­dental: the majority of homonyms coincided due to phonetic changes which they suffered during their de­velopment.

If synonyms and antonyms can be regarded as the treasury of the language's expressive resources, homonyms are of no interest in this respect, and one cannot expect them to be of particular value for com­munication. Metaphorically speaking, groups of syn­onyms and pairs of antonyms are created by the vocab­ulary system with a particular purpose whereas hom­onyms are accidental creations, and therefore purpose­less.

In the process of communication they are more of 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 humour.

The pun is a joke based upon the play upon words of similar form but different meaning (i. e. on homonyms) as in the following:

"A tailor guarantees to give each of his customers a perfect fit."

(The joke is based on the homonyms: I. fit, n. — per­fectly fitting clothes; II. fit, n. — a nervous spasm.)

Homonyms which are the same in sound and spelling (as the examples given in the beginning of this chapter) are traditionally termed homonyms proper.

The following joke is based on a pun which makes use of another type of homonyms:

"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."

Bean, n. and been, Past Part, of to be are homo­phones. As the example shows they are the same in sound but different in spelling. Here are some more examples of homophones:

night, n. — knight, п.; piece, n. — peace, п.; scent, n. — cent, n. — sent, v. (Past Indef., Past Part, of to send); rite, n. — to write, v. — right, adj.; sea, n. — to see, v. — С [si:] (the name of a let­ter).

The third type of homonyms is called homographs. These are words which are the same in spelling but dif­ferent in sound.

E. g. f to bow [bau], v. — to incline the head or ■j body in salutation