SEMANTIC CHANGES - created from Mind Map

Page 1

The Causes of Semantic Changes

Herman Paul’s classification of semantic changes

extra-linguistic (historical) factors

linguistic factors

various changes in the life of the speech community

changes in economic and social structures

changes in culture, knowledge, technology, arts

changes of ideas, scientific concepts, way of life

factors acting within the language system

The main ways:

The secondary ways:

Gradual - specialization and generalization

Momentary - metaphor and metonymy

Specialization

Generalization

It happens when a word passes from a general sphere to some special sphere of communication (narrowing of the meaning).

The meaning of a word can specialize when it remains in general usage

It happens in the language when two absolute synonyms come into conflict

One of the synonyms can become specialized in its meaning

Specialization can result from the omission of the attribute and the retention of the noun in the meaning of the whole word combination

It is the transfer from a concrete meaning to an abstract one

Metaphor

Metonymy

It is a transfer of the meaning on the basis of comparison, similarity and is a hidden simile

Similarity of Meanings

Trite metaphor (dead metaphor) is the result of its long usage in the language, and it is very often the only way to name an object

A comparison is a logical operation, we compare objects of the same class

A simile is an artistic comparison (if we compare objects of different, mostly distant classes on the basis of associations)

similarity of shape – e.g. head of a cabbage, teeth of a saw, bottleneck

similarity of position – e.g. foot of a page, of a mountain

similarity of function, behavior – e.g. a bookworm, a (minute) hand

similarity of colour – e.g. orange, hazel, chestnut

complex similarity – e.g. a leg of a table – similarity in shape, position, function

It is a way of transforming the meaning on the basis of contiguity(близость, смежность). Synecdoche is the simplest case of metonymy by which a part is made to stand for the whole or the whole for a part.

Types of Metonymy

the name of an instrument for an agent (e.g. a pen — 'a writer', swords — 'soldiers', a violin — 'a violinist', a saxophone — 'a saxophonist')

the name of the author for his works (e.g. Have you read Byron?)

the name of some person may become a common noun – e.g. sandwich (Lord Sandwich), boycott (the Boycotts)

geographical names may be used for things produced there – e.g. china (porcelain), astrakhan (a sheep fur)

the name of a painter is used for his masterpieces – e.g. a Matisse (a painting by Matisse)

names of inventors very often become terms to denote things they invented – e.g. watt, om, diesel

Gradual - elevation and degradation

Momentary - hyperbole and litotes