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Polysemy 

         The word polysemy means plurality of meanings. It exists only in the language, not in speech. A word, which has more than one meaning, is called polysemantic.

         Different meanings of polysemantic word may come together due to the proximity of notions, which they express. E.g. the blanket has the following meanings: a woolen covering for keeping a horse warm, a covering of any kind (a blanket of snow), covering all or most cases (used attributively), e.g. we can say: a blanket insurance policy.

         There are some words in the language, which are monosemantic, e.g. most terms, such as synonym, molecule, bronchitis, some pronouns, such as this, my, both, numerals.

         There are two processes of the semantic development of a word: radiation & concatenation. In cases of radiation the primary meaning stands in the center & the secondary meanings proceed out of it like rays. Each secondary meaning can be traced to the primary meaning. E.g. in the word face the primary meaning denotes the front part of the human head. Connected with the front position the meanings the front part of a building, the front part of a watch, the front part of a playing card were formed. Connected with the primary meaning of the word face the meanings expression of the face, outward appearance are formed.

         In case of concatenation secondary meaning of a word develops like a chain. In such cases it is difficult to trace some meanings to the primary one. E.g. in the word crust the primary meaning hard outer part of bread developed a secondary meaning hard part of anything (a pie, a cake), then the meaning harder layer over soft snow was developed, then a sullen gloomy person, then impudence were developed. Here the last meanings have nothing to do with the primary one. In such cases homonyms appear in the language. This phenomenon is called the split of polysemy.

        In most cases, in the semantic development of a word, both ways of semantic development are combined.

                                                        Homonyms 

         Homonyms are words different in the meaning but identical in sound or spelling, or both in sound & spelling.

         Homonyms can appear in the language not only as a result of the split of polysemy, but also as a result of leveling of grammar inflexions, when different parts of speech become identical in their outer aspect, e.g. care from caru & care from carian. They can also be formed by means of conversion, e.g. to slim from slim, to water from water. They can be formed with the help of the same suffix from the same stem, e.g. reader – a person who reads & a book for reading. They can be the result of forming lexical abbreviation, e.g. bio –a splinter with the meaning biology, biological as in the word biometrics; bio – a combining form with the meaning life as in the word biology; bio – a lexical shortening of the word biography with the meaning a short biography.

        Homonyms can also appear in the language accidentally, when two words coincide in their development, e.g. two native words can coincide in their outer aspects: to bear from beran (to carry) & bear from bera (an animal). A native word & a borrowing can coincide in their outer aspects, e.g. fair from Latin feria & fair from native fager (beautiful). Two borrowings can coincide, e.g. base from the French base (Latin basis) & base (low) from the Latin bas (Italian basso).

         Homonyms can develop through shortening of different words, e.g. cab from cabriolet, cabbage, cabin, COD from Concise Oxford Dictionary & cash on delivery.

                                       Classification of Homonyms 

         Walter Skeat classified homonyms according to their spelling & sound forms & he pointed out three groups: perfect homonyms, that is words identical in sound & spelling, e.g. school – косяк рыбы & школа; homographs, that is words with the same spelling but pronounced differently, e.g. bow [bau] – поклон & bow [beu] – лук; homophones, that is words pronounced identically but spelled differently, e.g. night – ночь & knight – ночь & knight – рыцарь.

         A.I. Smirnitsky suggested another classification. He added to Skeat’s classification one more criterion: grammatical meaning. He subdivided the group of perfect homonyms in Skeat’s classification into two types of homonyms: perfect, which are identical in their spelling, pronunciation & their grammar form, e.g. spring in the meanings: the season of the year, leap, a source, & homoforms which coincide in their spelling & pronunciation but have different grammatical meaning, e.g. reading – Present Participle, Gerund, Verbal noun; to lobby – lobby, to thin – thin etc.

         A more detailed classification was worked out by I.V. Arnold. She classified only perfect homonyms (according to Skeat’s classification) & suggested four criteria of their classification: lexical meaning, grammatical meaning, basic forms & paradigms.

         According to these criteria I.V. Arnold pointed out the following groups:

a)  homonyms identical in their grammatical meanings, basic forms & paradigms & different in their lexical meanings, e.g. board in the meanings a council & a piece of wood sawn thin;

b)  homonyms identical in their grammatical meanings & basic forms, but different in their lexical meanings & paradigms, e.g. to lie – lied – lied, & to lie – lay – lain;

c)  homonyms different in their lexical meanings, grammatical meanings, paradigms, but coinciding in their basic forms, e.g. light (lights) – light (lighter, lightest);

d)  homonyms different in their lexical meanings, in their basic forms & paradigms, but coinciding in one of the forms of their paradigms, e.g. a bit & bit (from to bite).

In I.V. Arnold’s classification there are also patterned homonyms, which, differing from other homonyms, have a common component in their lexical meanings. These are homonyms formed either by means of conversion, or by leveling of grammar inflexions. These homonyms are different in their grammatical meanings, in their paradigms, but identical in their basic forms, e.g. warm – to warm. Here we can also have unchangeable patterned homonyms which have identical basic forms, different grammatical meanings & a common component in their lexical meanings, e.g. before – an adverb, a conjunction, a preposition. There are also homonyms among unchangeable words, which are different in their lexical & grammatical meanings, but identical in their basic forms, e.g. for – для & for – ибо.

 

                                              Synonyms

 

Synonyms are words different in their outer aspects, but identical or similar in their inner aspects. In English there are a lot of synonyms, because there are many borrowings, e.g. hearty (native) – cordial (borrowing). After a word is borrowed it undergoes desynonymization, because absolute synonyms are unnecessary for a language. However, there are some absolute synonyms in the language, which have the same meaning & belong to the same style, e.g. to moan, to groan; homeland, motherland etc. In cases of desynonymization one of the absolute synonyms can specialize in its meaning & we get semantic synonyms, e.g. city (borrowed) – town (native). The French borrowing city is specialized in its meaning. In other cases native words can be specialized in their meanings, e.g. stool (native), chair (French).

Sometimes one of the absolute synonyms is specialized in its usage & we get stylistic synonyms, e.g. to begin (native) – to commence (borrowing). Here the French word is specialized. In some cases the native word is specialized, e.g. welkin (bookish), sky (neutral).

Stylistic synonyms can also appear by means of abbreviation. In most cases the abbreviated form belongs to the colloquial style, & the full form to the neutral style, e.g. examination, exam.

         Among stylistic synonyms we can point out a special group of words, which are called euphemisms. These are words used to substitute some unpleasant or offensive words, e.g. the late instead of dead, to perspire instead of to sweet etc.

         On the other hand, there are slang synonyms. They are expressive, mostly ironical words serving to create fresh names for some things that are frequently used. For the most part they sound vulgar, cynical & harsh, aimed at creating ridicule, e.g. money may be called beans, brass, dibs, dough; the slang synonyms for the word head are: attic, brain-pan, hat peg, nut, upper storey; the slang synonyms for the word mad are: daft, potty, balmy, loony, bonkers, touched, nutty etc.

         It has been stated that not once after a slang word has been used in speech for a certain period, people get accustomed to it & it ceases to produce a shocking effect. The most vital words are then accepted into the literary vocabulary, e.g. bet, chap, guy, sham, humbug, hitchhiker & many others.

         Stylistic synonyms can be connected with different strata of modern society, we can identify to what group a person belongs by the vocabulary, which is used in his speech. U-people (upper class) & non-U people (non-upper class) use different words to denote identical notions, e.g. U-people say luncheon, non-U people say lunch or dinner; U-people say serviette napkin, non-U people say; U-people say cycle, non-U people say bike.

         There are also phraseological synonyms; these words are identical in their meanings & styles but different in their combinability with other words in the sentence, e.g. to be late for a lecture but to miss the train; to visit museums but to attend lectures; teachers question their pupils, judges interrogate witnesses etc.

         There are also contextual or context-dependent synonyms, which are similar in meaning only under specific distributional conditions. It may happen that the difference between the meanings of two words is contextually neutralized. E.g. buy & get are not synonyms in the following examples: I’ll go to the shop & buy some bread & I’ll go to the shop & get some bread. The verbs bear, stand & suffer are semantically different & cannot substitute each other, except when used in the negative form: I can’t stand is equal to I can’t bear.

          In each group of synonyms there is a word with the most general meaning, which can substitute any word in the group. Such words are called synonymic dominants, e.g. piece is the synonymic dominant in the group slice, lump, morsel. The verb to look is the synonymic dominant in the group to stare, to glance, to peep. The adjective red is the synonymic dominant in the group purple, scarlet, crimson.

          When speaking about the sources of synonyms besides borrowing, desynonymization & abbreviation, we can also mention the formation of phrasal verbs, e.g. to give up – to abandon, to cut down – to diminish. Very many compound nouns denoting abstract notions, persons & events are correlated with such phrasal verbs. We have such synonyms pairs as: arrangement – layout, reproduction – playback, treachery - sell-out etc. Conversion can also serve to form synonyms: laughter – laugh, commandment – command. There are also cases of different affixation: anxiety – anxiousness, effectivity – effectiveness. The last two cases can be treated as lexical variants but not synonyms. Variants can also be phonetical (vase [veiz] – [va:z]) & graphical (to-morrow – tomorrow).

          Synonymy has its characteristic patterns in each language. The peculiar feature of English is the contrast between simple native words which are stylistically neutral, literary words borrowed from French & learned words of Greco-Latin origin, e.g.:

        to ask                                to question                           to interrogate

        belly                                  stomach                               abdomen

        to gather                            to assemble                         to collect

        empty                                devoid                                 vacuous

       to end                                 to finish                               to complete

       to rise                                 to mount                              to ascend

       teaching                             guidance                              instruction

          Thus, synonymy in English is closely connected with borrowing words from other languages.

Antonyms

         Antonyms are words belonging to the same part of speech, identical in style, expressing contrary or contradictory notions.

         V.N. Comissarov in his dictionary of antonyms classified them into two groups: absolute or root antonyms (late – early) & derivational antonyms (to please – to displease). Absolute antonyms have different roots & derivational antonyms have the same roots but different affixes. In most cases negative prefixes form antonyms (un-, dis-, non-). Sometimes they are formed by means of antonymous suffixes –ful & -less (painful – painless).

          The number of antonyms with the suffixes -ful & - less is not very large, & sometimes even if we have a word with one of these suffixes its antonym is formed not by substituting –ful by –less, e.g. successful – unsuccessful (the antonym of the adjective with the suffix –ful is formed by means of the prefix un-), selfless – selfish (the antonym of the adjective with the suffix –less is formed with the help of the suffix –ish). The same is true about antonyms with negative prefixes, e.g. to man (укомплектовывать людьми) is not an antonym of the word to unman (лишать мужества), to disappoint is not an antonym of the word to appoint.

         The difference between derivational & root antonyms is not only in their structure, but in semantics as well. Derivational antonyms express contradictory notions; one of them excludes the other, e.g. active – inactive. Absolute antonyms express contrary notions. If some notions can be arranged in a group of more than two members, the most distant members of the group will be absolute antonyms, e.g. ugly, plain, good-looking, pretty, beautiful, the antonyms are ugly & beautiful.

        Semantically antonyms are divided into two large groups.

1.               The first group antonyms comprises the so called contradictories or contradictory antonyms which are mutually opposed and deny each other, e.g. “alive” means “not dead” and, so, is opposed to “dead”; “single” means “not married” and so is opposed to “married”. Contradictories exist in pairs, the relation between the members of which is that of polarity.

2.               The other group comprises contrary antonyms or contraries which have less rigid boundaries and which allow for casual inclusions, e.g. in the antonymic pair “hot – cold” there is possibility of intervention by “warm”, because “cold” may be opposed not only to “warm” as well. 

         Leonard Lipka in the book Outline of English Lexicology describes different types of oppositeness, & subdivides them into three types:

a)  complementarity, e.g. male – female, married – single,

b)  antonyms, e.g. good – bad,

c)  converseness, e.g. to buy – to sell. 

In his classification he describes complementarity in the following way: the denial of the one implies the assertion of the other, & vice versa. John is not married implies that John is single. The type of oppositeness is based on yes/no decision. Incompatibility only concerns pairs of lexical units.

Antonymy is the second class of oppositeness. It is distinguished from complementarity by being based on different logical relationships. For pairs of antonyms like good/bad, big/small only the second one of the above mentioned relations of implication holds. The assertion containing one member implies the negation of the other, but not vice versa. John is good implies that John is not bad, but John is not good does not imply that John is bad. The negation of one term does not necessarily implies the assertion of the other.

An important linguistic difference from complementarities is that antonyms are always fully gradable, e.g. hot, warm, tepid, cold.

Converseness is mirror-image relations or functions, e.g. husband/wife, pupil/ teacher, precede/follow, above/below, before/after etc. John bought the car from Bill implies that Bill sold the car to John. Mirror-image sentences are in many ways similar to the relations between active & passive sentences. Also in the comparative form: Y is smaller than X, and then X is larger than Y.

Not every word in a language can have antonyms. This type of opposition can be met in qualitative adjectives & their derivatives, e.g. beautiful – ugly, to beautify (украшать) – to uglify (уродовать), beauty – ugliness. It can be also met in words denoting feelings & states, e.g. respect – scorn, to respect – to scorn, respectful – scornful, to live – to die, alive – dead, life – death. It can be also met among words denoting direction in space & time, e.g. here – there, up – down, now – never, before – after, day – night, early –late etc.

If a word is polysemantic, it can have several antonyms, e.g. the word bright has the antonyms dim, dull, sad.