6.2   Homonymy

    Homonyms are generally defined as words different in meaning but either identical both in sound and spelling or identical only in sound or spelling.

 

    1. Types of Homonyms

    Based on the degree of similarity, homonyms fall into three types: perfect homonyms(完全同形同音异义词) , homographs(同形异义词)  and homophones(同音异义词) .

    1)  Perfect homonyms also known as absolute homonyms（绝对同形异义词） are words identical both in sound and spelling, e. g.

bank  n. the edge of the river, lake, etc. 

bank  n. an establishment for money business 

bear  n. a large heavy animal

bear  v. to put up with

date  n. a kind of fruit 

date  n. a boy or girl friend

    2) Homographs are words identical only in spelling but different in sound and meaning, e.g.

bow / bau/ n  bending the head as a greeting 

bow / bou/ n  the device used for shooting arrows

sow /sou/ v   to scatter seeds 

sow /sau/ n   female adult pig

    3)  Homophones are words identical only in sound but different in spelling and meaning, e.g.

son /sAn/ n   a male child of a parent

sun /SAn/ n  the heavenly body from which the earth gets warmth and light

dear /dio/ n   a loved person 

deer /dio/ n   a kind of animal

right /rait/ a   correct

'write /rait/ v   to put down on paper with a pen 

rite /rait/ n    a ceremonial procedure

Of the three types, homophones constitute the largest number and are most common.

 

2. Origins of Homonyms

    There are various sources of homonyms resulting from change in sound and spelling, borrowing, shortening, etc. .

1)  Change in Sound and Spelling

    Some homonyms are native by origin, derived from different earlier forms in Old English. The change in sound and spelling gradually made them identical in modern English, e.g.

ear  n  an organ with which to listen and hear, from eare

            (OE) 

ear  n   the grain-bearing spike of corn or wheat, from

         ær(OE)

long a   not short, from Lang (OE) 

long v   to want very much, from langian (OE)

2)  Borrowing

    As a result of heavy borrowing from other languages, many words of foreign origin coincide in sound and/or spelling with those of native origin or with those of other foreign origin, e. g.

fair  n    a market, borrowed from feria (L)

fair  a    pretty, from fæger (OE)

ball  n    a round object to play with, from beallu (OE)

ball  n   a dance party, borrowed from bailer (OF)

3)  Shortening

Many shortened forms of words happen to be identical with other words in spelling or sound, e. g.

ad  n    shortened from advertisement

add  v   to cause an increase

rock  n   shortened from rock and roll

rock  n   a large mass of stone

NOW n  from the initials of National Organization of  Women 

now  adv  at present

 

3.  Differentiation of Homonyms from Polysemants

    Perfect homonyms and polysemants are fully identical with reference to spelling and pronunciation, as both have the same orthographical(书写的；正字法的) form but different meanings. This creates the problem of differentiation. The fundamental difference between homonyms and polysemants lies in the fact that the former refers to different lexemes which have the same form and the latter the one and same lexeme which has several distinguishable meanings. One important criterion by which to differentiate them is 'etymology', i. e. homonyms are descendants of different sources whereas a polysemant is a word of the same source which has acquired different meanings in the course of development. The second principal consideration is 'semantic relatedness'(相关性). The several meanings of a single polysemous lexeme are related and can be traced back to one central meaning. On the other hand, meanings of different homonyms have nothing to do with one another. In dictionaries, a polysemant has its meanings all listed under one headword whereas homonyms are listed as separate entries.