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The causes, nature and results оГ semantic change
Not only the stock of words changes (discussed above in Chapter 3) but each facet of а lexical unit (its form and meaning) goes through modification over time. Meanings of lexical units, especially words, are the most unstable of all language components that change over time. They are far more unstable than sounds, grammatical forms, or syntactic arrangements. Very often semantic changes of words are accompanied by changes in their sound/written or grammatical form.
One should distinguish between causes, nature and results of change of meaning.
)t. Causes for change of meaning
The causes for word meaning changes may be either extralinguistic or may be induced by the language system itself.
linguistic cause is at work when word meaning changes due to change in the he related object or in concepts about it. The meaning of the word paper. s not connected anymore with papirus — the plant from which it formerly was this disconnection is reflected in the modern definition of this word: 'substance е~ from wood fiber, rags, etc., used for writing, printing, drawing, wrapping, с.' Achievements in physics and changes in the concept of atom changed the 'this word, too. The atom is по longer believed to be indivisible as it was when
named it. The вате can be said about practically all the words denoting people' s understanding of the world structures that can be traced to ancient en more recent days (car, pen, window, and table).
change тау соте about through the social phenomena of taboos [fr. tabu 'sacred, forbidden to general use'] and euphemisms jfr. Gk еи-'good' 'speech'] — avoiding particular words and using others instead. For example, are forbidden to 'take the Lord s пате in vain' or use curses which are have magical power. Thus emphatic Oh, Lordh changed into Oh, Воу!, hell hntn into darn.
causes for meaning change are also of great importance.
m is differentiation of synonyms. When а new word is borrowed it may erfect synonym for the existing one. Brought into competition with а foreign ative word or both of them may change their meaning. They have to be xl; otherwise one of them will die. Thus, the word land in ОЕ meant both >f earth' s surface' and 'the territory of nation'. When the word country was от Old French and became its synonym, the meaning of the native word lund ed to 'solid part of earth', its second meaning remained mainly in compound,! names, like Scotland, England, Finland.
analogy is another linguistic cause that is often responsible for changes in ng. Analogical formations regularizing forms (like forms in the Past Indefinite r forms for plural nouns with -s) are also active in regularizing meaning t. Words similar in their primary meanings usually exhibit similar semantic t. Colour adjectives, for example, white, black, blue, red, and yellow may inings for 'emotional state': as in white 'notably ardent: PASSIONATE' /игу; sad, gloomy, or calamitous' despair; blue '1оч in spirits: MELANCHOLY' Hushed with anger or embarrassment' jucе. They also have sense for 'ethical as in white 'free from moral impurity'. INNOCENT; а black 'thoroughly л1: WICKED' deed; blue 'PURITANICAL; PROFANE, I
NDECENT' jokes; ig to show а profit' stutentent; уейои 'MEAN, COWARDLY') and 'relating r e.g., и earing white, black, Ыие, red, or yellow), though individual semantic t of а word is not excluded.
linguistic cause for change of meaning is а process of ellipsis: the word label;ferred from one concept to another contextually associated with it, and thus lead to а change of meaning (for example, brothel 'whore' was used in the Word combinations brothel house 'whore house', but then ceased to mean 'whore' only, в„ change of meaning via ellipsis took place here; from the words that have recently changed their meaning a soft тау be mentioned that appeared 6от и softn»are).
ф. Nature of еЬваае of meaning
The nature of change of word meaning is determined by the secondary application of the word form to пате а different yet related concept.
Ttus secondary use of the word for lexicalizing а different though related category may be called lexical-semantic naming. Lexical-semantic naming is the most economical way pf lexicalization as it reuses nominative means available in а language.
The psychological bases for lexical-semantic naming that leads to change of word meaning are similar structure of concepts and а permanent state of activity of the Ьитап mind that provide overwhelming psychological processes of conceptual association of similarity and contiguity.
%hen associations of similarity become vehicles for lexicalization Ъу the same word labels they are usually termed as metaphor (face of а person апй /асе of а clock; neck of
a body and neck of а bottle). Metaphor is based on hidden comparison that fixes common semantic features between the concepts.
There are lots of examples of using lexical-semantic naming based on similarity of concepts (metaphorical naming) (She is а fox; Не is а shark; This vehicle is а eaterpillar. The place ivhere а stream enters а 1атдет body о~на1ет is called 'mouth').
Ядд1ап~у is usually based on such perceptible qualities as 'SHAPE', 'SIZE', 'STRUCTURE', 'COLOUR' as well as on the similarity of more abstract qualities like
~CTION', 'ORIGIN' and even 'EVALUATION' of entities (something as bad as indeed, beast or dog may be called by these words). Several features or the whole situation
may serve as the basis for metaphoric transference of а name, as it is, for example, in the сазе of autumn for 'а period оГ maturity or incipient decline' (in the autumn of her life).
In English as well as in any other languages there are numerous cases of synesthesia — а specific kind of lexical-semantic naming of а concept viewed similar to another due to activation of another sensation biologically related to it, like VISION — TOUCHING» that makes possible висЬ а word combination as hot colours; VISION — HEARING realized in the word combinatio
n high sound; ТАИТЕ — SMELL as seen in sour smell.
%hen the associations of contiguity become vehicles for lexical-semantic naming of concepts coexisting in space and in time or related logically or contextually, they аде
y referred to as metonymy. Thus the noun crown be used metonymically for qgh; the noun bench 7оуийс~игу.
>sic types of concept relations for metonymic naming are:
'whole — part' (Wе have 10 heads here);
'count — mass' (Wе ate rabbit)
— 'material — obj ect оГ it' (She is wearing а/ох);
— 'container — containee' (I ate Я ее plates);
— 'object — а unit of measure' (This horse саше one neck ahead);
'figure — ground' (The Ьоу broke the wtndow['the window glass]);
— 'place — people' (The city is asleep);
— 'producer — product' (We bought а hoover).
ete nouns offer the clearest examples of metaphor and metonymy, especially when rity and contiguity take place between static physically perceived properties (и neck ody/of и bottle). Yet, metaphor and metonymy are observed in words of all parts of >, like in verbs: to flу '1. to move in or pass through the air with wings (birds /7у), 2. we through the air or before the wind (flags fly), 3. to move or разя swiftly яопю Яу); in adjectives: black '1. of the colour black (и black dress), 2. having dark ~ап and eyes (a black Irishman), 3. dressed in black'.
:s similarity and contiguity, lexical-semantic naming тау be based on hierarchical впи between concepts. One example of using lexical-semantic naming for lization of а hierarchically related concept is the word cat which is |п English not ~ пате of а certain kind of domesticated animal, but also the term for а whole class ling tiger, lion, panther, etc. The word dog is used in English not only as а general for а certain domesticated animal irrespective of its sex (They have а dog) but also ыпе for the male species (Is it а dog or а bitch?).
е nature of word meaning change is provided by metaphoric or metonymic relations > and more concepts lexicalized by the same word form.
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