Semantic changes

Word-meaning isn’t homogeneous. W.-m. never remains stable. It m.b. narrowed (specialized) or widened (expanded). W.-m. m. become better (ameliorated — elevation) & worse (pejorated).

Why do words change their meaning?

They’re determined by the social nature of the language. Their meaning changes together with the progress of human civilization. A human mind achieves a more exact understanding of the surrounding world. These causes of the semantic change — extralinguistic.Linguistic causes of semantic change are of equal importance. They are determined by the introduction of new words due to ~ we observe the so-called redistribution of meaning.

land – ground – earth – soil – country

OE “land” — отрезок суши, земля, пашня, страна.

Under the influence of w-s, ~ came later, the w-d “land” preserved only “земля, суша”.

Each social group is characterized by peculiarities of nomination. And the w-d m. acquire these peculiarities. Thus, the noun “cell” means different things for different social groups; “cell” in different contexts suggests different notions for biologists (биологическая клетка), lawyers (камера), clergy (келья), electricians (изоляция).

Ring — кольцо; кольцо для спуска (mountaineer), кольцо корзины, цирковая арена, ринг, годовое кольцо древесины (woodcutter).

Historical analysis of w-m. helps us to trace how it develops & to reveal the primary meaning of w-s, ~ in some cases so far from modern meaning(s). Thus,

legend — originally a book describing the life of saint people

left — originally meant “weak”

hospital — originally a place to receive guests

train — originally шлейф пальто, платья

nice — originally ignorant (Latin) & silly (OF), nescius—ничего не знающий

sorrow—ulcer [ ] (L.—язва)

ponder—to measure the weight (взвешивать) < Lat.

Narrowing (Specialization) — a w-d, ~ formerly represented a notion of a broader scope has come to render a notion of a narrower scope.

fugol — a bird → fowl [au] — дом. птица

meat < OE mete — еда

writan—выцарапывать текст, рисунки на камне

room < OE пространство; the remnants of the old meaning is preserved:

There isn’t enough room here.

hound < OE hund (любая порода)

deer < OE wild animal girl < a child of any sex

Generalization — the scope of the new notion is wider than that of the original one. We may connect it with the higher order of abstraction than, in the previous meaning.

stock—orig. a supply of wood (вязанка дров)

now: store of any goods

camp < OE the place of army location (a war camp)

barn < a warehouse of barley (хранилище ячменя)

pipe < OE a musical instrument

ready < OE ready for horse-riding (редингот—одежда для верховой езды)

person (L.) < the mask used by an actor

per — through (L.), sonare — звучать

All the w-s belonging to the group of generic terms (w-s, ~ are semantically wide; applicable to a great № of individual members of a big class of w-s)—w-s expressing notions in ~ abstraction & generalization are so great that they can substitute any w-d of their class.

“state” denotes the class of all states

thing, job, affair, business, object, matter — generic terms

Specialization & generalization — the result of semantic change lies in the change of the denotational component.

The result of semantic change—in the change of the connotational component → Amelioration (elevation), Pejoration (degradation)

Elevation — a semantic shift undergone by w-s due to their referents coming up the social scale; the improvement of its originally neutral or having negative connotational meaning.

marchal < чистильщик лошадей; steward < тот, кто ухаживал за свиньями

Tory < gangster, bandit; minister < servant

knight < a boy-servant; queen < any woman

gentleman—translation loan gente (Fr.)

gentle, genteel — OE high-born, noble; in the course of time it came to denote “mild, quiet, careful”

gentleman (hist.) — a man of a good family attached to a court or to the house-hall of a noble man; now: a man who shows consideration for the feelings of others.

Pejoration is connected with derogatory & scornful attitude towards persons, things & objects, lowering them in the social scale;

~ the acquirement by a w-d of some derogatory meaning.

colonius—orig: living outside the city; now: clown

ruscle < OE peasant, boor (неуклюжий, плохо-воспитанный человек; деревенщина, неотесанный мужлан) < деревенский житель MdG Bauer

knave (подлец, мошенник, плут) < мальчик, слуга, лицо незнатного происхождения

silly < happy

gossip < godsip — a sponsor at baptism—тот, кто стоит у колыбели, когда крестят ребёнка — крёстный; приближённый к богу

blackguard — шантажист < a servant, who assisted his master’s travels to a new place & taking special care of black pots

Change of meaning through ´transfer

Metaphor — a transfer of name based on association of similarity & this is actually a hidden comparison.

Poetic metaphor — always fresh & unexpected; linguistic metaphor—trite (избита, шаблонна) & dead. It is the result of long usage.

a) the usage of animals’ names for denoting people

ass — глупец, невежда

cow — неуклюжий, глупый человек, a dirty dog

A woman may be a peach (the name of a plant)

b) parts of human body → different parts of an object / thing

head — крона (of a tree), the upper part of smth.

the head of a cabbage, the head of a nail, the head of an army

hand — подлокотник, стрела (крана), ручка, рукоятка

the eye of a needle, the teeth of a saw (пила), the tongue of a shoe, the back of a chair, the heart of an apple

c) physical property (temperature, taste, measure) → intellectual properties, evaluation of emotional state of other rational properties

warm — 2) горячий, сердечный; 3) горячий, страстный, пылкий (ardent)

dry — 2) сухой, сдержанный, холодный, бесстрастный (impassive)

sharp — 2) умный, сообразительный, остроумный, проницательный;

3) ловкий (adroit), искусный;

4) раздражительный

d) physical actions → intellectual activity

to smash a cup → to smash a theory

to tie a horse to a tree → to be tied by the rules

Metaphors are based on different types of similarity of shape & function, duration of time, colour & appearance. A special type of metaphor includes transition of proper names into common ones: Venus—a beautiful female, a Scrooge — especially griddy, a Vandal—a notorious Gothic tribe → a person who destroys eth., Плюшкин.

Metonymy —a transfer of meaning based on the association of contiguity. A shift of names that are known to be in some way or another connected in reality or the substitution of the name of an attribute of the thing for the name of the thing itself.

a) animal — meat of the animal

fowl—птичье мясо, курятина;

goose, turkey, lamb

b) material — articles of it (изделия)

clay — глиняная трубка, silver — серебряные изделия

с) containing — contained

school — pupils of school

house — семейство, род, династия; 3) театр, кинотеатр; 4) публика

d) property —the subject of the property

authority — крупный специалист;

beauty — красавица;

talent — a talented person

other examples:

sack (сумка из плотной ткани) — мера сыпучих продуктов

barrel (деревянная бочка) — мера жидкостей

the crown — the British monarchy

the Kremlin — the Soviet (Russian) government

Downing street — the British government

Through metonymic transfer we may turn proper names into common ones:

Alexander Volt (Italian physicist) — volt; ampere (for measuring electricity), watt (unit for measuring electric power), ohm

Bobby (the founder of the system of the British police) → a british policeman;

Wedgwood (the founder of the production of china) → a sort of british china;

There are numerous examples of geographical names, turning into common ones, esp. with reference to various stuff & materials:

astrakhan — мех каракуля

china

damask — лучшие закалённые клинки (blades, standing for steel)

holland — the best linen (полотно)

morocco — сафьян (leather)

diesel, bikini

some of them —international: champagne, burgundi, madeira (a type of strong wine containing brandy), cheddar (a sort of cheese), a sandwich (the name of a noble man, who was in the habit of playing billiard & eating simultaneously a slice of beef between 2 slices of bread).

Дата добавления: 2014-01-11