Homonyms: Words of the Same Form

(pp. 166 – 175)

1. Which words do we call homonyms?

2. The traditional classification of homonyms.

3. The classification of homonyms suggested by Professor A.I.Smirnitsky.

4. Sources of homonyms.

5. Homonymy and polysemy.

1. Homonymsare words which are identical in sound and spelling (or, at least, in one of these aspects), but different in their meaning, e.g.: bank, n. – a shore; bank, n. – an institution for receiving, lending, exchanging money.

If groups of synonyms and pairs of antonyms are created by the vocabulary system and can be regarded as the treasury of the language’s expressive resources, homonyms are accidental creations, and therefore purposeless. In the process of communication they are more of an encumbrance, leading sometimes to confusion and misunderstanding.

2. Homonyms which are the same in sound and spelling are traditionallytermed homonyms proper: spring – весна, spring – пружина, spring – источник, родник.

The second type of homonyms is called homophones – these are words the same in sound but different in spelling: night – ночь, knight – рыцарь; peace – мир, piece – кусок, right – правый, write – писать, rite – обряд.

The third type of homonyms is called homographs. These are words which arethe same in spelling but different in sound:bow – лук, bow – поклон; tear n –слеза, tear v –рвать; wind n – ветер, wind v – заводить часы.

3. Professor A.I.Smirnitsky classified homonyms into two large classes: I. Full lexical homonyms, II. Partial homonyms.

Full lexical homonyms are words which represent the same category of parts of speech and have the same paradigm, e.g. match, n – a game, a contest; match, n – a short piece of wood used for producing fire.

Partial homonyms are subdivided into three subgroups:

A. Simple lexico-grammatical partial homonyms are words which belong to the same category of parts of speech. Their paradigms have one identical form, but it is never the same form, as will be seen from the examples: (to) found, v - found, v (Past Simple, Past Part. of to find); to lay (класть, положить), v (Past Simple – laid) - lay, v (Past Simple of to lie) – лежать.

B. Complex lexico-grammatical partial homonyms are words of different categories of parts of speech which have one identical form in their paradigms. E.g. rose, n – rose, v (Past Simple of to rise); left, adj. – left, v (Past Simple, Past Part. of to leave)

C. Partial lexical homonyms are words of the same category of parts of speech which are identical only in their corresponding forms. E.g. to lie (lay, lain), v – to lie (lied,lied),v – лгать.

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