SEMANTIC CHANGES

SEMANTIC CHANGES

1. The Causes of Semantic Changes

   • extra-linguistic (historical) 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
     • e.g. Car, Latin word - 'carrus‘ ‘a four-wheeled vehicle‘ ,MoE - 'a motor car'
   • linguistic factors
     • factors acting within the language system
       • ellipsis – a change of meaning when the meaning of a word-combination is given to only one word of this combination: daily – “happening every day” – a daily newspaper, daily – “a daily newspaper”

2. Herman Paul’s classification of semantic changes

   • The main ways:
     • Gradual - specialization and generalization
       • Specialization
         • It happens when a word passes from a general sphere to some special sphere of communication (narrowing of the meaning).
           • e.g. OE steorfan – “to die” – sterven of hunger, MoE starve – “to die of hunger”
         • 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
       • Generalization
         • It is the transfer from a concrete meaning to an abstract one
           • e.g. French journey – “one day trip”, MoE journey – “a trip of any duration”
     • Momentary - metaphor and metonymy
       • Metaphor
         • It is a transfer of the meaning on the basis of comparison, similarity and is a hidden simile
           • 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 Meanings
           • 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
         • 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
       • Metonymy
         • 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
   • The secondary ways:
     • Gradual - elevation and degradation
       • Elevation
         • a transfer of the meaning when it becomes better in the course of time (ennobling of the meaning)
         • e.g. knight - a boy - a young servant - a military servant - a noble man. MoE: knight - a title of nobility given to outstanding people.
       • Degradation
         • a transfer of the meaning when it becomes worse in the course of time
         • e.g. villain originally meant “working on a villa” MoE: villain - scoundrel
     • Momentary - hyperbole and litotes
       • Hyperbole
         • a transfer of the meaning when the speaker uses exaggeration
         • e.g. a river of tears, beastly weather, paralysed with fear, a thousand pardons, I haven’t seen you for ages!
       • Litotes
         • a transfer of the meaning when the speaker expresses the affirmative with the negative or vice versa
         • e.g. not bad = good, not small = great