Interrogative pronouns

Case

Old English

Middle English

Modern English

Masculine/Feminine (Person)

Nominative

hwā

who

who

Accusative

hwone / hwæne

whom

who / whom¹

Dative

hwām / hwǣm

Instrumental

Genitive

hwæs

whos

whose

Neuter (Thing)

Nominative

hwæt

what

what

Accusative

hwæt

what / whom

Dative

hwām / hwǣm

Instrumental

hwȳ / hwon

why

why

Genitive

hwæs

whos

whose²

Case

Old English

Middle English

Modern English

Singular

Nominative

iċ

I / ich / ik

I

Accusative

mē / meċ

me

me

Dative

mē

Genitive

mīn

min / mi

my, mine

Plural

Nominative

wē

we

we

Accusative

ūs / ūsiċ

us

us

Dative

ūs

Genitive

ūser / ūre

ure / our

our, ours

Case

Old English

Middle English

Modern English

Singular

Nominative

þū

þu / thou

thou (you)

Accusative

þē / þeċ

þé / thee

thee (you)

Dative

þē

Genitive

þīn

þi / þīn / þīne / thy /thin / thine

thy, thine (your)

Plural

Nominative

ġē

ye / ȝe / you

you

Accusative

ēow / ēowiċ

you, ya

Dative

ēow

Genitive

ēower

your

your, yours

Old English

Middle English

Modern English

Singular

Plural

Singular

Plural

Singular

Plural

Case

Formal

Informal

Formal

Informal

Formal

Informal

Formal

Informal

Formal

Informal

Formal

Informal

Nominative

þū

ġē

you

thou

you

ye

you

Accusative

þē / þeċ

ēow / ēowiċ

thee

you

Dative

þē

ēow

Genitive

þīn

ēower

your, yours

thy, thine

your, yours

your, yours

Case

Old English

Middle English

Modern English

Masculine Singular

Nominative

hē

he

he

Accusative

hine

him

him

Dative

him

Genitive

his

his

his

Feminine Singular

Nominative

hēo

heo / sche / ho / he / ȝho

she

Accusative

hīe

hire / hure / her / heore

her

Dative

hire

Genitive

hire

hir / hire / heore / her / here

her, hers

Neuter Singular

Nominative

hit

hit / it

it

Accusative

hit

hit / it / him

Dative

him

Genitive

his

his / its

its

Plural

Nominative

hīe

he / hi / ho / hie / þai / þei

they

Accusative

hīe

hem / ham / heom / þaim / þem / þam

them

Dative

him

Genitive

hira

here / heore / hore / þair / þar

their, theirs

Semantic

Notion

Deffenition

Examples

Semiotic

is a science of signs and/or sign systems

syntactic

is the study of meaning. It is a wide subject within the general study of language. An understanding of semantics is essential to the study of language acquisition (how language users acquire a sense of meaning, as speakers and writers, listeners and readers) and of language change (how meanings alter over time). It is important for understanding language in social contexts, as these are likely to affect meaning, and for understanding varieties of English and effects of style. It is thus one of the most fundamental concepts in linguistics

Synonym

Is forms of Greek nouns which mean, respectively, “same name”

Compassion-sympathy

As Pleased as Punch-comfortable-glad-gratified-pleased-satisfied(довольный)

Antonym

Is forms of Greek nouns which mean, respectively, “opposed (or different) name”.

big/little, clever/stupid, brave/cowardly, hot/cold, beautiful/ugly)

Meaning

Can be more or less described as a component of the word through which a concept is communicated, in this way endowing the word with the ability of denoting real object

Symbol

word

Referent

What word denotes

Thought of reference

notion

Semaseology\ Semantic

Is a branch of linguistics which specializes in the study of meaning/

Semantic structure of the word

Is the assumed structure of its inner from

Denotative component(denotation)

Is the primary or literal meaning of the word expressing the conceptual content.

Connotative component(connotation)

Is the secondary or additional meaning of the word or its implication giving a more or less full picture of the meaning.

Mouse-a kind of roden animal\a device to control computer

Transference

Is the process of development of a new meaning of the word. There are 2 types of transference:metaphor,metonymy.

Metaphor

Is the transference based on resemblance or similarity

Similarity in appearance

+mouse(a kind of rodent animal)_a device to control comp..

+eye(part of body)_eye of storm

+drop(of water)_eardrop

Similarity in position

+foot(part of body)_foot of the tree

+head(part of body)_head of the plane

Similarity in function

+hand(part of body)_hand of watch\clock

+key(to the door)_key of the success\exercise

Quality,characteristic

+star(celestial body)_movie\pop star

+fox(an animal)_that woman is very foxy

Size

+sea(large water area covering the earth)_sea of trouble

Metonymy

Is the transference based on contiguity or reladness.

Name of separate past a whole thing or vice versa

+lend me a hand

+2 heads are better than 1

Generalization\ broadening

Is the extension of semantic capacity of a word during the process of historical development of the word.

To arrive\to come

To visit\to attend

Specialization\narrowing

Is the restriction of semantic capacity of a word during the process of historical development of the word.

Deer-olen’\an animal,kind of meat, kind of man

Queen\wife,woman,wife of king.

Degeneration\degradation

It is means developing from positive to negative meaning.

Duck –a bird\a girl,who push the lips

Dark wood-a dark place\a person,who know nothing (his head like as dark wood)

Elevation

It means developing from negative to positive

Homonyms

Two or more words identical in sound and spelling but different in meaning, distribution and in many cases origin

 fast in such combinations as run fast ‘quickly’ and stand fast ‘firmly’.

common

They most often used

Proper homonyms

Homonyms proper are words, as I have already mentioned, identical in pronunciation and spelling, like fast and liver above. Other examples are:

    The important point is that homonyms are distinct words: not different meanings within one word.

back n ‘part of the body’ – back adv ‘away from the front’ – back v ‘go back’;ball n ‘a gathering of people for dancing’ – ball n ‘round object used in games’; bark n ‘the noise made by dog’ – bark v ‘to utter sharp explosive cries’ – bark n ‘the skin of a tree’ – bark n

‘a sailing ship’; base n ‘bottom’ – base v ‘build or place upon’ – base a ‘mean’; bay n ‘part of the sea or lake filling wide-mouth opening of land’ – bay n ‘recess in a house or room’ – bay v ‘bark’ – bay n ‘the European laurel’.

homophones

 Homophones are words of the same sound but of different spelling and meaning:

air – hair; arms – alms; buy – by; him – hymn; knight – night; not – knot; or – oar; piece – peace; rain – reign; scent – cent; steel – steal; storey – story; write – right and many others. “How much is my milk bill?”

“Excuse me, Madam, but my name is John.”

    On the other hand, whole sentences may be homophonic: The sons raise meat – The sun’s rays meet. To understand these one needs a wider context. If you hear the second in the course of a lecture in optics, you will understand it without thinking of the possibility of the first.

Homographs

 Homographs are words different in sound and in meaning but accidentally identical in spelling

 bow [bou] – bow [bau]; lead [li:d] – lead [led]; row [rou] – row [rau]; sewer [‘soue] – sewer [sjue]; tear [tie] – tear [tee]; wind [wind] – wind [waind] and many more.

B. Classification given by A.I. Smirnitsky

Full homonyms

    Full lexical homonyms are words, which represent the same category of parts of speech and have the same paradigm.

• Match n – a game, a contest

• Match n – a short piece of wood used for producing fire

• Wren n – a member of the Women’s Royal Naval Service

• Wren n – a bird

 Partial homonyms

 Partial homonyms are subdivided into three subgroups:

1. Simple lexico-grammatical partial homonyms are words, which belong to the same category of parts of speech. Their paradigms have only one identical form, but it is never the same form

2. Complex lexico-grammatical partial homonyms are words of different categories of parts of speech, which have identical form in their paradigms.

C. Partial lexical homonyms are words of the same category of parts of speech which are identical only in their corresponding forms.

А.

• (to) found v-  found v (past indef., past part. of to find)

• (to) lay v-lay v (past indef. of to lie)

• (to) bound v- bound v (past indef., past part. of to bind)

В.

• Rose n-Rose v (past indef. of to rise)

• Maid n-Made v (past indef., past part. of to make)

• Left adj-Left v (past indef., past part. of to leave)

• Bean n-Been v (past part. of to be)

• One num-Won v (past indef., past part. of to win)

to lie (lay, lain) v

to lie (lied, lied) v

 to hang (hung, hung) v

to hang (hanged, hanged) v

 to can (canned, canned)

             (I) can (could)

 Borrowing

is source of homonyms. A borrowed word may, in the final stage of its phonetic adaptation, duplicate in form either a native word or another borrowing.

in the group of homonyms rite, n – to write, v – right, adj the second and the third words are of native origin whereas rite is a Latin borrowing (<Lat. ritus).

 conversion

which are the same in sound and spelling but refer to different categories of parts of speech, are called lexico-grammatical homonyms.

comb, n – to comb, v; pale, adj – to pale, v; to make, v – make, n comb, n – to comb, v; pale, adj – to pale, v; to make, v – make, n are numerous in the vocabulary.

  Shortening

is a further type of word building, which increases the number of homonyms. 

Fan, n in the sense of ‘enthusiastic admirer of some kind of sport or of an actor, singer, etc.’ is a shortening produced fromfanatic. Its homonym is a Latin borrowing fan, n which denotes an implement for waving lightly to produce a cool current of air.

First page of Beowulf in Cotton Vitellius A. xv