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Changes in the connotational meaning may result in

- the deterioration (or the peiorative development) of meaning which involves a lowering in social scale connected with the appearance of a derogatory and scornful emotive tone reflecting the disdain of the upper class towards the lower ones. Ex.: boor was used to denote in OE a villager, a peasant and then acquired a derogatory, contemptuous connotational meaning and came to denote a clumsy or ill-bred fellow.

- the amelioration (or improvement) of meaning is a semantic shift undergone by words due to their referents coming up the social scale (improvement of the connotational component of meaning). Ex.: minister which in one of its meanings originally denoted a servant, an attendant, but now a civil servant of higher rank, a person administering a department of state or accredited by one state to another.

It is known that the most words have many meanings. A word having several meanings is called polysemantic word. Words having only one meaning are called monosemantic words. These are mainly terms (hydrogen, molecule, etc.). When analysing the semantic structure of polysemantic words it is necessary to distinguish two levels of analysis.

On the first level the semantic structure of a word is treated as a system of meanings.

FIRE 1. flame

2. destructive burning

3. burning material in a grate

4. the shooting from guns

5. strong emotion, angry or excited feeling, enthusiasm

The list suggests that the first meaning dominates over the other meanings conveying the content in the most general way. Meanings from the 2d to the 5th are associated with special circumstances. So the first meaning is called the main meaning, other meanings are called secondary meanings.

On the second level we should investigate semantic components within each separate meaning. Because the semantics of a word is not mere a system of meanings, each separate meaning is the subject to further subdivision and possesses the inner structure of its own.

DULL 1. uninteresting (dull book) - means deficient in interest

2. slow in understanding, stupid (dull person) - means deficient in

intellect

3. not clear or bright (dull colour, dull weather) means deficient in

colour, in light

4. not loud, not distinct (dull sound) - means deficient in sound

5. not sharp (dull knife) - means deficient in sharpness

Sometimes there is a chance of misunderstanding the meaning of a polysemantic word in isolation. The right meaning of a polysemantic word we can determine when the word is used in a certain context.

Context is a minimum stretch of speech necessary and sufficient to determine which of the possible meanings of a polysemantic word is used. Contexts may be of two types: linguistic and extra-linguistic. Linguistic contexts may be subdivided into lexical and grammatica.

Lexical context is a group of lexical items combined with the polysemantic word. Adjective heavy in isolation has a meaning "of great weight, weighty" (heavy table). When it combined with the lexical group of words denoting natural phenomena such as snow, rain, wind, it means "striking, falling with force" (heavy rain, wind, snow).

Grammatical context is a grammatical structure of the context serves to determine various individual meanings of a polysemantic word. One of the meanings of the verb to make "to force, to induce" is found only in the grammatical context possessing the structure "to make smb. to do smth.". Another meaning of this verb "to become", "to turn out to be" is observed in the context of a different structure "to make + adjective + noun" (to make a good wife).

There are cases when the meaning of the word is determined not by linguistic factors but by the actual speech situation in which the word is used (by the extra-linguistic context or context of situation). The noun ring in such context may possess the meaning "a circlet of precious metal" or "a call on the phone" depending on the actual situation in which this word is used.

Homonyms are words which are identical in sound-form and spelling or in one of these aspects but different in meaning

Bank 1. a shore

2. institution for receiving, changing and saving money

English vocabulary is rich in homonyms. There are many different classifications of homonyms.

Classification of homonyms according to type of meaning

1. lexical homonyms are words with different lexical meaning. Ex.: seal – a sea animal; seal – a design printed on paper. Part of speech and grammatical meanings of all forms are identical (noun, common case, singular) but lexical meanings are different

2. lexico-grammatical homonyms are words with different lexical and grammatical meanings. Ex.: seals (Common Case Plural of the noun a seal); seals (Present Simple 3d person Singular of the verb to seal). Parts of speech and grammatical meanings of all forms and lexical meanings are different.

3. grammatical homonyms are words which are different in grammatical meaning only. Ex.: brother’s (Possessive Case Singular of the noun a brother); brothers (Common Case Plural of the noun a brother). Asked (Past Simple of the verb to ask); asked (participle II of the verb to ask)

Classification of homonyms according to sound-form, graphic form and meaning

1. homophones are words identical in sound-form but different both in spelling and in meaning. Ex. Sea – see, son – sun

2. homographs are words identical in spelling but different both in their sound-form and meaning. Ex. Tear [ti ] – tear [t ]; lead [li:d] – lead [led]

3. perfect homonyms or homonyms proper are words identical both in spelling and in sound-form but different in meaning (homographs - homophones). Ex. Case – case

Sources of homonyms

· phonetic changes – as a result of such changes 2 or more words which were pronounced different may develop identical sound-forms and then become homonyms

night – knight

These words were not homonyms in the OE because the initial letter k in the second word was pronounced

· borrowing

borrowed word may in the final stage of its phonetic adaptation doublicate the form of either a native word or borrowing

bank – a shore – native word

an institution – French borrowing

match - матч – native word

спичка – French borrowing

· shortening

fan - from fanatic fan - веер

doc - from doctor dock – док, пристань

· conversion

a water – to water

· split of polysemy

two or more homonyms can originate from the different meanings of the same word when the semantic structure of the polysemantic word breaks into several parts. Ex.: flower – flour – originally they were one word (flour) meaning the flower and the finest part of wheat

Synonyms are 2 or more words belonging to the same part of speech and possessing one or more identical or nearly identical meanings but different in morphemic composition, phonemic shape, shades of meaning.

Criterion of synonymity

Identity of meaning is not a criterion of synonymity because there are few complete synonyms. Words synonymous in some contexts may display no synonymity in others because synonyms are words with the same denotational meaning but different in connotational.

To look

Denotational meaning Connotational meaning

Stare in surprise or curiosity

glare with anger

gaze with wonder or admiration

So the definition of synonyms proceeding from the contextual approach: synonyms are words which can replace each other in any given context without the slightest alteration in the denotational or connotational meaning. But this approach causes the criticism for many reasons. Words interchangeable in any given context are very rare. So a more acceptable definition of synonyms seems to be the following: synonyms are words which different in their sound form, but similar in the denotational meaning or meanings and interchangeable at least in some contexts.

Types of synonyms

1. ideographic synonyms –synonyms which differ in shades of meaning, i.e. between which a semantic difference is statable.

Lonely - alone

Both words denote being apart from others, but lonely besides the general meaning implies feeling sad because of the lack of sympathy and companionship. Alone doesn’t suggest any sadness at being by oneself

2. stylistic synonyms which are different in stylistic characteristics. Ex.: hope, expectation, anticipation

anticipation and expectation are formal literary words used only by educated speakers, whereas hope is stylistically neutral

3. absolute synonyms which coincide in all their shades of meaning and their stylistic characteristic

noun - substantive

Each synonymic group has a dominant element. The synonymic dominant is the most general term of its kind potentially containing the specific features rendered by all the other members of the group

hope, expectation, anticipation

hope - is not only a belief but a desire that some event would happen (stylistically neutral); expectation - of good or of evil (formal literary); anticipation - pleasurable expectation of smth good (formal literary)

experience, undergo, sustain, suffer

depart, leave, quit, retire, clear out

get, obtain, acquire, gain, win, earn

inquire, question, interrogate, ask

The general characteristics of the synonymic dominant

1. high frequency in usage

2. broad combined ability

3. broad general meaning

4. lack of connotations

There are many cases of similarity between words easily confused with synonymy but in fact essentially different from it.

1. Lexical variants are examples of free variation in language, in so far as they are not conditioned by contextual environment but are optional with the individual speaker. They are different from synonyms because they are characterized by similarity in phonetical or spelling form and identity of both meaning and distribution. E.g. directly [di'rektli] and [dai'rektli], whisky and whiskey, economic and economical

2. Paronyms are words that are kindred both in sound form and meaning and therefore liable to be mixed but in fact different in meaning and usage and therefore only mistakenly interchanged. E.g. ingenious (clever) - ingenuous (frank, artless), to affect (to influence, to have an effect upon) - to effect (to bring about, to result in, to produce).

3. Malapropism is a word misapplied through the habit of using learned and sonorous language without understanding it. E.g. Wishing to tell her niece that she should forget about her penniless suitor Mrs. Malaprop (from the comedy The Rivals) recommended her to illiterate instead of to obliterate. To illiterate (no such verb exists, only adjective illiterate is a synonym for uneducated) so she should use to obliterate (to efface entirely).

Sources of synonyms