21. Semantic change and transference of meaning.

Semantic change is the process of development of a new meaning or any other change of meaning.

Extra-linguistic causes of semantic changes:

historical, e.g. a pen ‘any instrument for writing’ < Lat. penna ‘a feather of a bird’; supper ‘the last meal of the day’ < Fr. souper < PIE *sup ‘to drink in sips’;

social, e.g. a live wire ‘one carrying electric current’ > ‘a person of intense energy’, a feed-back ‘the return of a sample of the output of a system’ > ‘response’, to spark off in chain reaction, a launching pad;

psychological, e.g. a don ‘a university teacher, a leader, a master’ > ‘the head of Mafia family or other group involved in organised crime’, bikini.

ellipsis is the omittance of one of the components in a word-group; the meaning is transferred to the other component, e.g. a presale view > a presale; to study works by Ch. Dickens > to study Dickens;

differentiation of synonyms, i.e. a gradual change of the meanings of synonyms which develop different semantic structures, e.g. autumn – harvest, a deer – a beast – an animal;

fixed context results from synonymic differentiation when one of the synonyms becomes to be restricted in use to a number of set expressions and compound words, e.g. meat originally ‘food’ (mincemeat, nutmeat, sweetmeat, meat and drink) > ‘edible flesh’;

linguistic analogy occurs when one of the members of a synonymic set acquires a new meaning and the other members of this set change their menaings in the same way, e.g. to snack – to bite.

Metaphor is the transference of name based on the association of similarity between two referents and thus is actually a hidden comparison. Models of metaphorical transference:

similarity of shape, e.g. the head of a cabbage, the nose of a plane etc;

similarity of colour, e.g. orange for colour and fruit, black despair etc.;

similarity of function, e.g. the wing of a plane, the hand of a clock etc.;

similarity of age, e.g. a green man etc.;

similarity of position, e.g. the leg of the table, the foot of a hill etc.;

similarity of behaviour or qualities of animals, e.g. a bookworm, a pig, a rat etc.;

similarity in temperature, e.g. cold reason, warm heart etc.;

transition of proper names into common nouns, e.g. a Rockefeller, a Cinderella, a Judas, a Don Juan, an Adonis etc.

Metonymy is the transference of name based on the association of contiguity (суміжність). Models of metonymical transference:

the part the whole (synecdoche), e.g. to be all ears;

the place people occupying it, e.g. The White House, The Pentagon;

the material the object made from it, e.g. a glass, an iron;

the container the thing contained, e.g. the kettle is boiling;

a geographical name a common noun, e.g. madeira, bourbon, champagne, sardine, labrador;

the instrument the agent, e.g. the best pens of the day;

the sign the thing signified, e.g. gray hair ‘old age’;

the symbol the thing symbolised, e.g. the crown ‘the monarchy’.

Changes in the denotative component of meaning:

generalisation (broadening, extension) is the widening of a word’s range of meanings, e.g. a fellow ‘a partner or shareholder of any kind’ > ‘a man; a person in the same group’; ready ‘prepared for a ride’ > ‘prepared for anything’; rich ‘powerful’ > ‘wealthy’ etc.;

specialisation (narrowing, restriction) is the reduction in a word’s range of meanings, often limiting a generic word to a more specialised or technical use, e.g. lord ‘the master of the house, the head of the family’ > ‘a man of noble rank’; a disease ‘any inconvenience’ > ‘an illness’; to sell ‘to give’ > ‘to deliver for money’ etc.

Changes in the connotative component of meaning:

amelioration (elevation) of meaning occurs as a word loses negative connotations or gains positive ones, e.g. a knight ‘a boy, youth’ > ‘a noble, courageous man’; fond ‘foolish, silly’ > ‘loving, affectionate’; pretty ‘tricky, sly wily’ > ‘pleasing to look at, charming and attractive’ etc.;

pejoration (degradation) of meaning occurs as a word develops negative connotations or loses positive ones; it is frequently due to social prejudice and often involves words for women and foreigners, e.g. vulgar ‘common, ordinary’ > ‘coarse, low, ill-bred’; silly ‘happy’ > ‘foolish’. A word can have its meaning deteriorate in several directions at once, e.g. a cowboy – (in BrE) ‘an incompetent or irresponsible workman or business’ (cowboy plumbers); (in AmE) ‘a driver who does not follow the rules of the road’; ‘a factory worker who does more than the piece-work norms set by the union or fellow-workers’.

A euphemism (Gr. éu ‘well’, phēmi ‘speak, glorify’; euphēmia ‘a word or phrase used in place of a religious word or phrase that should not be spoken aloud’) is a vague or indirect reference to the taboo topics:

death, e.g. to join the majority, to kick the bucket, pass away, to check out, to take a leave of life, to pay nature’s last debt, to be beyond the veil etc.;

human weaknesses, e.g. to be tired and emotional, to be chemically affected (to be drunk), to have a weakness for horses (gambling) etc.;

mental deficiency, e.g. to be intellectually challenged, to be thick in the head, funny farm etc.;

pregnancy, e.g. to be eating for two, lady-in-waiting, in the family way, on the nest, in the interesting way, to have a bun in the oven etc;

age, e.g. God’s waiting room, the golden age etc.;

politics, e.g. less fortunate elements (the poor), the economic tunnel (the crisis) etc.