10.3. Interlingual Homonymy and Paronymy

Mistakes in the translation, caused by the cases of interlingual homonymy and paronymy, are especially dangerous. Thus the word of one language can be associated with one and even with a few words of another language. These pairs of words are called homonyms, for example:

Ukrainian word краб is homonymous in relation to English crab: 1. дике яблуко and synonymous to English crab: 2. краб.

The words which have identical sounding and written form, which belong to the same part of speech and differ in lexical meanings, should be distinguished from polysemantic words. Such words are called complete homonyms.

For example: noun spring – весна, spring – пружина and spring – джерело. These words have different meanings and in no way are connected with each other. There are many homonyms in modern English, especially among monosyllables, for example:

noun match – сірник, match – матч, змагання, match – пара

verbs: to miss – схибити, to miss сумувати, etc.

There are still other homonyms, which though coincide in sounding and writing, but differ among themselves and in meaning, and grammatically (belong to different parts of speech), e.g.:

flat – квартира (noun) – flat – плоский (adjective);

mean – середина (noun) – mean – мати на увазі (verb); mean – підлий (adjective);

rose – троянда (noun); rose – встав (verb in Past Indefinite).

Apart from homonyms, in English there are words which are very similar in prononciation, but having different written forms and meanings. These are the so-called paronyms, e.g.:

seize and cease, conscience and consciousness, career and carrier, corps and corpse. Paronyms are the words connected etymologically, as well as the words that got closer in form accidentally. Practical and special difficulties are presented in differentiation of the paronyms, which are semantically identical, but simultaneously are synonyms or false synonyms, i.e. we should differentiate between the following paronyms: rise, raise; lie, lay; crush, crash.

The differentiation of some paronyms is also hampered by the existence of similar in form, but different in meaning the Ukrainian word. These are the following paronyms:

policy and politics (compare Ukr. політика); physics and physique (compare Ukr. фізика); material and materiel (compare Ukr. матеріал).

Interlingual paronyms are sometimes also based on interlingual paronymy English words specially and especially cause difficulties with English people themselves, and therefore, certainly, with Ukrainians, too (compare Ukr. спеціально) and in this case they have two-way character. But in many a case interlingual paronymy is one-sided: for example confusion between history – story by analogy with the word історія is possible for the Ukrainian, and not for the Englishman.

Misunderstanding caused by interlingual homonymy is more dangerous, that it seems at the first sight: English mackintosh –непромокальний плащ, дощовик is quite often translated into Ukrainian as „макінтош”, marmalade – джем з апельсинів, лимонів – as „мармелад”, decade – десятиріччя – as „декада”, genial – добрий, товариський – as „геніальний”. Interlingual paronymy can also cause a mistake even with an experienced author, which the following example testifies of:

„Я приїхав до Оксфорду в кінці серпня, коли у студентів були вакансії... Повторюю, був час канікул.”

Here the use of the word вакансії instead of вакації is caused by the association with English vacation – канікули.