10. Amelioration vs. Pejoration of Meaning.

The process by which a word becomes more respectable or its meaning becomes more pleasant is amelioration. The history of groom provides a good illustration. Marshal and constable were also raised in status from referring to horse grooms to referring to police officers. Cnicht, the Anglo-Saxon word for knight, started out meaning servant. The opposite process, by which a word becomes disreputable or its meaning degenerates, is pejoration. Probably the best example of the pejorative process and its effects is the word ain't. Originally ain't was spelled an't and pronounced ahnt. It was a contraction for am not and used only with I. But untutored American settlers began using the word (by then pronounced ant) with he, she, and they, extending its meaning to are not, is not, and even have not.

12. Specialization vs. Generalization of Meaning.

Specialization and Generalization Connotations can change a word's meaning in other ways besides raising or lowering its acceptability. A word's use in a particular context or situation can lead to the broadening or narrowing of semantic meaning. When the meaning of a word is extended to cover a similar or related idea, it undergoes generalization. When its meaning becomes more specific, it undergoes specialization. In either case, the old meaning may be kept along with the new, or the original may become obsolete, being replaced entirely by the new meaning. Generalization also occurs when the meaning of a word is broadened to include a related concept. Board, a flat piece of lumber, was extended to mean the table made from the board and later meals (served on the board) received as pay. Board was also extended in connection with another kind of table to mean a group of people in conference. Although board has not lost its original meaning, few people think of a piece of lumber when speaking of the chairman of the board. Let's Review!

13. Processes Responsible for Semantic Changes

The lexical meaning of a word can change in the course of time. Changes of lexical meanings can be proved by comparing contexts of different times. Glad (OE) meant glad, bright SC is one of the most important ways of developing the vocabulary.

The causes of semantic changes can be extra-linguistic different kind of change in its culture, knowledge, technology, arts lead to gaps appearing in the voc. Newly created objects concepts & phenomena must be named. 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). Carriage – a vehicle drowned by horses/ a railway car

The process of SC. 2 types of transference are distinguishable and depend on the 3 types of logical associations. They are metaphor and metonymy.

Metaphor

It is a transfer of the meaning on the basis of comparison. Herman Paul points out that metaphor can be based on different types of similarity: a) similarity of shape, e.g. head (of a cabbage), bottleneck, teeth (of a saw, a comb);b) similarity of position, e.g. foot (of a page, of a mountain), head (of a procession); c) similarity of function, behaviour e.g. a whip (an official in the British Parliament whose duty is to see that members were present at the voting); d) similarity of colour, e.g. orange, hazel, chestnut etc.

In some cases we have a complex similarity, e.g. the leg of a table has a similarity to a human leg in its shape, position and function. Many metaphors are based on parts of a human body, e.g. an eye of a needle, arms and mouth of a river, head of an army. A special type of metaphor is when Proper names become common nouns, e.g. philistine - a mercenary person, vandals - destructive people, a Don Juan - a lover of many women etc.

Metonymy. It is a transfer of the meaning on the basis of contiguity. There are different types of metonymy: a) the material of which an object is made may become the name of the object , e.g. a glass, boards, iron etc; b) the name of the place may become the name of the people or of an object placed there, e.g. the House - members of Parliament, Fleet Street - bourgeois press, the White House - the Administration of the USA etc; c) names of musical instruments may become names of musicians, e.g. the violin, the saxophone; d) the name of some person may become a common noun, e.g. «boycott» was originally the name of an Irish family who were so much disliked by their neighbours that they did not mix with them, «sandwich» was named after Lord Sandwich who was a gambler. He did not want to interrupt his game and had his food brought to him while he was playing cards between two slices of bread not to soil his fingers. e) names of inventors very often become terms to denote things they invented, e.g. «watt» , «om», «rentgen» etc f) some geographical names can also become common nouns through metonymy, e.g. holland (linen fabrics), Brussels (a special kind of carpets) , china (porcelain) , astrachan ( a sheep fur) etc.