1. Semantic change. Extralinguistic changes (change of notion, weakening of the first meaning, development of new meanings) and linguistic changes (the conflict of synonyms, ellipsis). Herman Paul. Prinzipien des Sprachgeschichte.
2. Main ways: gradual semantic changes (specialization and generalization) and momentary conscious semantic changes (metaphor and metonymy). Secondary ways: gradual (elevation and degradation), momentary (hyperbole and litotes).
Exercises to Seminar 6
I. Find the synonymous terms in the list:
1. amelioration 2. differentiation of synonyms 3. degradation 4. extension 5. elevation 6. worsening 7. restriction 8. melioration 9. pejoration 10. generalization 11. discrimination of synonyms 12. broadening 13. deterioration 14. widening 15. specialization 16. degeneration 17. narrowing 18. Bettering.
II. Read the words stories and identify the results of their semantic development. The results are: a. generalization; b. specialization; c. amelioration; d. pejoration.
1. The noun picture used to refer only to a representation made with paint. Today it can be a photograph or a representation made with charcoal, pencil or any other means.
2. The adjective nice from the Latin nescius for ignorant at various times before the current definition became established meant foolish, then foolishly precise, then pedantically precise, then precise in a good way and then its current definition.
3. Worm was a term for any crawling creature, including snakes.
4. From 1550 to 1675 silly was very extensively used in the sense deserving pity and compassion, helpless. It is a derivative of the Middle English seely from the German selig, meaning happy, blissful, blessed, holy as well as punctual, observant of season.
5. The earliest recorded meaning of the word pipe was a musical wind instrument. Nowadays it can denote any hollow oblong cylindrical body.
6. Radiator was used for anything that radiated heat or light before it was applied specifically to steam heat or a vehicle and an aircraft.
7. Consider blackguard. In the lords retinue of the Middle Ages was served among others the guard of iron pots and other kitchen utensils, black with soot. From the immoral features attributed to these servants by their masters comes the present scornful meaning of the word blackguard a scoundrel.
8. Revolutionary, once associated in the capitalist mind with an undesirable overthrowing of the status quo, is now widely used by advertisers as a signal of desirable novelty.
9. The word saloon originally referred to any large hall in a public place. The sense a public bar was developed by 1841.
10. Lewd started out denoting those who were lay people as opposed to clergy. Since the clergy were educated and the lay people, by and by, were not, it then came to denote those who were ignorant, and from there to obscene, clearly with worse connotations.
11. The verb kidnap has come into wide use in the meaning to take a child away illegally and usually by force, in order to demand especially money for their safe return. Now it implies any person, not only a child.
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12. Crafty, now a disparaging term, originally was a word of praise.
13. Target originally meant anything that is fired at and figuratively any result aimed at.
14. The word lean no longer brings to mind emaciation but athleticism and good looks.
15. Voyage in earlier English meant a journey, as does the French voyage, but is now restricted mostly to journeys by sea.
16. The word hussy means today an ill-behaved woman, a jade, a flirt. Yet in Middle English, it denoted a perfectly reputable woman (a housewife).
17. Butcher dates from the 13 century as a term denoting the person who prepared and cut up any kind of meat. Previously it referred to a specialist in goats meat, often salted because it was tough this fact indicates how low the consumption of beef had been in the Middle Ages.
18. The adjective shrewd formerly meant malicious, wicked; cunning, deceitful. Then it came to mean sharp-witted; having practical common sense.
III. The same word can develop both metaphorical and metonymical meanings. Analyse these phrases with the words from the thematic group Parts of the Body and in each case determine the type of meaning which the word realizes in the second phrase: a) metaphorical, b) metonymical.
Head
1. the head of a girl the head of a cabbage
2. the head of a girl to count heads
3. the head of a girl the head of a household
Eye
4. the eye of a man the eye of a potato
5. the eye of a man to have an eye for fashion
Mouth
6. the mouth of a boy the mouth of a cave
7. the mouth of a boy another mouth to feed
Tongue
8. the childs tongue his native tongue (Spanish)
9. the childs tongue the tongue of a bell
10. the childs tongue No tongue must ever tell the secret
Heart
11. the heart of a person the heart of the matter
12. the heart of a person brave hearts
Hand
13. hands of a man factory hands
14. the hand of a man the hand of a clock
Foot
15. the foot of a soldier the foot of a mountain
16. the foot of a soldier foot (infantry)
IV. Metaphors are based upon various types of similarity. Identify the feature or features of similarity in each case:
a) shape; b) function; c) age; d) colour; e) position.
1. the drop of milk diamond drops
2. the heart of a man the heart of a city
3. black shoes black despair
4. the neck of a man the neck of a bottle
5. green grass a green man
6. the teeth of a boy the teeth of a comb
7. the key to a door the key to a mystery
8. the tail of an animal the tail of a coat.
V. The metonymical change may be conditioned by various connections, such as spatial, temporal, causal, symbolic, instrumental, functional, etc. Establish the model of transfer in each case:
a) material article made from it; b) part whole; c) instrument product; d) symbol thing symbolized; e) receptacle content; f) place people occupying it.
1. an excellent horse a detachment of horse
2. a new kettle The kettle is boiling
3. nickel (a metal) nickel (a coin)
4. a beautiful crown She refused the crown
5. to lead him by the hand He has a legible hand
6. a large industrial town The whole town is furious about the councils education policy.
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VI. Analyze the meanings of the italicized words. Identify the result of changes of the denotational aspect of lexical meaning in the given words.
Model: loan: a gift from a superior; a thing borrowed a sum of money which is borrowed, often from a bank, and has to be paid back, usually together with an additional amount of money that you gave to pay as a charge for borrowing.
The result of the change of the denotational aspect of lexical meaning of the word loan is that the word became more specialized in meaning (restriction of meaning, specialization).
1) camp: a place where troops are lodged in tents a place where people live in tents or hunts; 2) girl: a small child of either sex a small child of the female sex; 3) bird: a young bird a creature with wings and feathers which can usually fly in the air; 4) arrive: reach the shore after a voyage reach a place at the end of a journey or a stage in a journey; 5) deer: any quadruped ( ) a hoofed grazing or browsing animal, with branched bony antlers that are shed annually and typically borne only by the male; 6) rug: rough woolen stuff a small carpet; 7) barn: a place for keeping barley a large farm building used for storing grain, hay, or straw or for housing livestock; 8) glide: to move gently and smoothly fly with no engine; 9) room: space a part or division or a building enclosed by walls, floor, and ceiling; 10) fly: move with wings to move through the air or in the outer space; 11) artist: a master of the liberal arts ( ) a person who produces paintings or drawings as a profession or hobby; 12) champion: a fighting man a person who has defeated or surpassed all rivals in a competition, especially a sporting contest; 13) campaign: armys operations in the field a connected set of actions intended to obtain a particular result, in military operations, in politics and business.
VII. Analyze the meanings of the italicized words. Identify the result of the changes of the connotational aspect of lexical meaning in the given words.
Model: villain: a feudal serf, peasant cultivator in subjection to a lord a person guilty or capable of a crime or wickedness.
The result of the change of the connotational aspect of lexical meaning of the word villain is that the word acquired a derogatory emotive charge (deterioration of meaning).
1) cunning: possessing erudition or skill clever in deceiving; 2) knight: manservant noble courageous man; 3) fond: foolish, infatuated ( ) loving, affectionate; 4) gang: a group of people going together an organized group of criminals; 5) marshal: manservant attending horses an officer of the highest rank in the armed forces; 6) coarse: ordinary, common rude or vulgar; 7) minister: a servant a head of a government department; 8) enthusiasm: a prophetic or poetic frenzy (, ) intense and eager enjoyment, interest, or approval; 9) violent: having a marked or powerful effect using or involving physical force intended to hurt, damage, or kill someone or something; 10) gossip: a godparent, a person related to one in God the one who talks scandal; tells slanderous stories about other people.
VIII. Below is a list of expressions with the word red. In each case, try to find a plausible motivation for the use of the word and argue whether we have more to do with a linguistic metaphor or metonymy or more with a conceptual metaphor or metonymy.
(a) a redhead (= someone with red hair)
(b) red herring (= something that is not important, but distracts one from things that are important)
(c) He was caught red-handed (= in the act of doing something wrong).
(d) He was beginning to see red (= he was getting very angry).
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(e) This was a red-hot (= very exciting) project.
(f) red politics (= extremely left-wing, communist ideas)
IX. Which word in each of the following brief passages seems to have changed its meaning since the passage was written?
Thy head is as full of quarrels as an egg is full of meat. (Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, III. i.20)
And when I brought out the baked apples from the closet, and hoped our friends would be so very obliging as to take some, Oh! said he directly, there is nothing in the way of fruit half so good, and these are the finest looking home-baked apples I ever saw in my life. [...] And Im sure by his manner, it was no compliment. (Jane Austen, Emma, Ch. 27)
And he commanded us to preach unto the people, and to testify that it is he which is ordained of God to be the judge of quick and dead. (Acts X.42)
Recommended Literature:
I.V. Arnold. The English Word. ., 1986, pp. 6077.
G.B.Antrushina. English lexicology. ., 1999, pp 147166.
R.S.Ginzburg. A course in Modern English Lexicology. ., 1979, pp. 2933.
