34.Synchronic and diachronic approaches to polysemy

DIACHRONIC APPROACH TO POLYSEMY

If polysemy is viewed diachronically it is understood as the growth and development or as a change in semantic structure of the word. Polysemy in diachronic term implies that a word may retain its previous meaning or meanings and at the same time acquire one or several new ones.

According to this approach in the semantic structure of a word two types of meaning can be singled out: the primary meaning and the secondary meaning.

In the course of a diachronic semantic analysis of the polysemantic word table we find that of all the meanings it has in Modern English, the primary meaning is ‘a flat slab of stone or wood’, which is proper to the word in the Old English period (OE. tabule from L. tabula); all other meanings are secondary as they are derived from the primary meaning of the word and appeared later.

The main source of polysemy is a change in the semantic structure of the word. Semantic changes result as a rule in new meanings being added to the ones already existing in the semantic structure of the word. Some of the old meanings may become obsolete or even disappear, but the bulk of English words tend to an increase in number of meanings.

SYNCHRONIC APPROACH TO POLYSEMY

Synchronically polysemy is understood as the coexistence of various meanings of the same word at a certain historical period of the development of the English language. In the course of a synchronic semantic analysis of the world table all its meanings represent the semantic structure of it. The central (basic) place in the semantic structure occupies the meaning ‘a piece of furniture’. This emerges as the central (basic) meaning of the word, and all other meanings are marginal (minor) meanings.

The central meaning occurs in various and widely different contexts, marginal meanings are observed only in certain contexts. There is a tendency in modern linguistics to interpret the concept of the central meaning in terms of the frequency of occurrence of this meaning. The word table in the meaning of ‘a piece of furniture’ possesses the highest frequency of value and makes up the highest percent of all uses of this word.

35. Semantic structure of a word. Word paradigm.

The semantic structure of the word does not present an indissoluble unity (that is, actually, why it is referred to as "structure"), nor does it necessarily stand for one concept. It is generally known that most words convey several concepts and thus possess the corresponding number of meanings. A word having several meanings is called polysemantic, and the ability of words to have more than one meaning is described by the term polysemy. Two somewhat naive but frequently asked questions may arise in connection with polysemy:

Is polysemy an anomaly or a general rule in English vocabulary?

Is polysemy an advantage or a disadvantage so far as the process of communication is concerned?

Let us deal with both these questions together. Polysemy is certainly not an anomaly. Most English words are polysemantic. It should be noted that the wealth of expressive resources of a language largely depends on the degree to which polysemy has developed in the language. Sometimes people who are not very well informed in linguistic matters claim that a language is lacking in words if the need arises for the same word to be applied to several different phenomena. In actual fact, it is exactly the opposite: if each word is found to be capable of conveying, let us say, at least two concepts instead of one, the expressive potential of the whole vocabulary increases twofold. Hence, a well-developed polysemy is not a drawback but a great advantage in a language. On the other hand, it should be pointed out that the number of sound combinations that human speech organs can produce is limited. Therefore at a certain stage of language development the production of new words by morphological means becomes limited, and polysemy becomes increasingly important in providing the means for enriching the vocabulary. From this, it should be clear that the process of enriching the vocabulary does not consist merely in adding new words to it, but, also, in the constant development of polysemy. The system of meanings of any polysemantic word develops gradually, mostly over the centuries, as more and more new meanings are either added to old ones, or oust some of them (see Ch. 8). So the complicated processes of polysemy development involve both the appearance of new meanings and the loss of old ones. Yet, the general tendency with English vocabulary at the modern stage of its history is to increase the total number of its meanings and in this way to provide for a quantitative and qualitative growth of the language's expressive resources. When analysing the semantic structure of a polysemantic word, it is necessary to distinguish between two levels of analysis.

36.Change of word meaning. Elevation and degradation of meaning

Elevation

Elevation or amelioration refers to the process by which words rise from humble beginnings to positions of importance. Some words early in their history signified something quite low or humble, but changed as time went by to designate something agreeable or pleasant. Take a common term nice for example. Its original meaning was 'ignorant', then changed to 'foolish' and now elevated to mean 'delightful, pleasant'. Marshal and constable meant a `keeper of horses', but now have risen to a 'high-ranking army officer' and 'policeman' respectively. More examples:

Word Old Meaning Elevated Meaning

angel messenger messenger of God

knight servant rank below baronet

earl man count

governor pilot head of a state

fond foolish affectionate

minister servant head of a ministry

No one today would resent being described as shrewd or nimble, yet these words were at one time highly pejorative. A shrewd person used to be associated with 'evil' or 'wickedness', and a nimble one was thought to be good at taking things without permission. Chamberlain, now a 'high official of royal courts', was formerly a 'servant'. Similarly, success in its early past just meant 'result'.

The characteristics of elevation can be summarized as follows: elevation = change from pejorative to appreciative meaning from negative to positive meaning from unimportant to important meaning from negative to neutral meaning.

Degradation Degradation or pejoration of meaning is the opposite of semantic elevation. It is a process whereby words of good origin fall into ill reputation or non-affective words come to be used in derogatory sense. Observation shows that it is much more common for word meanings to change in denotation from neutral to pejorative than it is for them to go the other way. Many words which were once names for the common people in the Middle Ages have taken on bad meanings. A boor was merely a 'peasant' and has now degraded to a 'rude, ill-mannered person'. Churl used to be a 'peasant' or 'free man' has come to denote 'uncultivated or mean person'. A wench was a 'country girl' and now means 'prostitute'. Hussy formerly merely a 'housewife' have been downgraded into a 'woman of low morals', and villain a 'person who worked in a villa' has become an 'evil or wicked person or scoundrel'. The words that follow have undergone the same process.

Word Old Meaning Degraded Meaning

silly happy foolish

knave boy dishonest person

lewd ignorant lecherous

criticize appraise find fault with

lust pleasure sexual desire

villain worker at a villa wicked person/scoundrel

cunning skillful sly

queen homosexual wife

The characteristics of degradation are summarized as follows: degradation/pejoration = change from appreciative to pejorative from positive to negative from important to unimportant from neutral to negative.

Elevation: It refers to the process by which words rise from humble beginnings to positions of importance. E.g. fond -- (old meaning) foolish, (elevated meaning) affectionate, governor --(old meaning) pilot, (elevated meaning) head of a state.

Degradation it is the opposite of semantic elevation. E.g. silly -- (old meaning) happy, (degraded meaning) foolish. criticize -- (old meaning)appraise, (degraded meaning) find fault with.

37.Change of word meaning. Extension and narrowing of meaning. Extension (generalization): it is the name given to the widening of meaning which some words undergo. E.g. mill – (old meaning) place for grinding, (extended meaning) place where things are made. butcher – (old meaning) one who kills goats, (extended meaning) one who kills animals.

Narrowing (specialization): it is the opposite of widening meaning. E.g. liquor --(old meaning) liquid, (specialized meaning) alcoholic drink. wife -- (old meaning) woman, (specialized meaning) a married woman.