Grammatical and Lexical Ambiguity - раздел Философия, Теоретические материалы По лексикологии современного Английского языка Ambiguity
A Word Is Ambiguous If It Has More Than One Sense O...
Ambiguity
A word is ambiguous if it has more than one sense or more than two synonyms that are not synonyms to each other. A sentence is ambiguous if it has two or more paraphrases which are not synonymous to each other. E.g. club - 1. Institution, group of people. 2. Thick stick made out of wood. These
are two distinct senses and they are not synonymous to each other. There is ambiguity at a word level and ambiguity at a sentence level. Other examples of word level ambiguity are: bat, bear, level etc. these have at least two different I meanings.
Structure of grammatical ambiguity
There are several definitions about the structure of grammatical ambiguity. If a sentence has even one ambiguous word it has to be ambiguous or vice-versa. If a sentence hasn't got an ambiguous word then it is not ambiguous. E.g. A kind young man helped me to cross the street; kind could be a type of something or nice. While cross one can also be angry with somebody or mad at somebody. There are two ambiguous words in this sentence-Агшй? and cross which are homonyms (the same form but different meaning) but in this context they are very explicit in the meaning.
E.g. I observed John in the garden.
This sentence hasn't got ambiguous words but is itself ambiguous. It can be either: / was in the garden observing John or John was in the garden and I observed him. Another definition of ambiguity is that all the sentences that contain an ambiguous word are ambiguous. Some sentences that contain an ambiguous word may be ambiguous or not. The right definition of ambiguity is: some sentences that contain ambiguous words are ambiguous and some are not. Some sentences which do not contain an ambiguous word are ambiguous and some are not. The sentences that contain no ambiguous words and are still ambiguous are called structural grammatical ambiguity. E.g. Visiting relatives can be a nuisance where visiting can either be relatives that visit or to visit relatives.
Ambiguity at a syntactic level.
e.g. I saw her duck -I.I saw a duck belonging to her (as a noun). 2.1 saw her lower her head (as a verb).
Referential Versatility
There are some words that derive their meaning from the context and have no meaning of their own if isolated. E.g. here, there, how or then, I, you, me, etc. They should not be mixed with ambiguity.
Lexical ambiguity normally comprises both homonymy and polysemy. 36
Homonymy means different lexical meaning with the same form. It is a sense relation that occurs with items which share the form (have the same form) but have different sense (meaning) that are not related to each other, they are totally different and distinct in meaning.
Polysemy is a lexical phenomenon where two lexemes have the same form and different but related sense. They have something in common, e.g.:
iron 1. Metal. 2. Instrument made out of metal.
fork 1. Instrument for eating 2. A rode that branches in two paths resem- bling a fork;
but: pupil 1. A young student 2. Part of the eye.
The first two examples were examples of polysemy while the third one is an example of homonymy. The meanings of the third one are different and unrelated but have common origin and during the time they drifted apart in meaning. Therefore a word should be defined synchronically because one can never be sure of the etymology of the word, e.g. mouth 1. Part of a face 2. Part of a river where it touches the sea.
The Origin of Homonymy
89 % of the homonyms are monosyllabic lexemes, the origin of which is due to the monosyllabic analytic nature of English vocabulary (short words developed different meaning).
There are two main sources of homonymy:
1. Convergent nature of the homonymy where two words that have the
same form, e.g. OE gesund - healthy - sound (safe and sound).
OE sund - swimming - sound (straits)
Lat. Sonus - sound (sense detected by the ears).
This shows that three distinct forms ended up in one form.
2. Divergent nature of homonvmy occurs when the words have one
common etymological source but during the course of time their meaning split
or diverged. E.g.; pupil - a young student,.pupil - part of the eye. What hap
pened with this word is that the forms survived but there was semantic disinte
gration.
Patterned Homonymy
Lexical items that are the same in form share the same elements of meaning but belong to different speech class and they are patterned hornonyms. Usually
they have different grammatical categories, e.g. act could be a noun or a verb. In the sentence “I think that this could be good” that is a conjunction while in “That man over there” that is a demonstrative.
Partial homonyms
These are items with a different meaning but in one of their word forms they share the form and can be homonyms. E.g. axis (singular) - axes (plural); axe (s) - axes (p). These two function as homonyms only in their plural form. E.g. but (conj.), butt - end of a cigarette. Used as verbs these two can be in sentences such as : Don't but me or He butted me all the time and He butted his cigarettes fended them/ The last two examples are partial homonyms.
Homophony
Homophons as a case of homonymy, i.e. different forms have different meaning and are pronounced identically. E.g. buy, by and bye; night - knight or you to -you too.
Homography
Homographs have the same spelling but different pronunciation, e.g. tear (n) - tear (v); lead (n) - lead (v).
Все темы данного раздела:
Lexicology as a Science
The term consists of Greek morphemes:
lexis logos
(word, phrase) (learning).
Lexicology studies words and phrases, i.e. vocabulary of a language.
Vocabulary
Two Approaches to Language Study
Synchronic (syn = together, chronos = time).
The synchronic approach is concerned with the vocabulary of a language at a given period of time.
Diachronic (dia = thro
The Real Difficulty Is in the Vocabulary
The fact that the languages commonly learnt by Europeans belong mostly to the same Aryan stock, and have besides a large vocabulary in common of borrowed Latin, French, and greek words, is apt to b
Some Basic Assumptions
The most characteristic feature of English is its mixed character. While it is wrong to speak of the mixed character of the language as a whole, the com-posite nature of the English vocabulary cann
Words of Native Origin
Words of native origin consist for the most part of very ancient elements - Indo-European, Germanic and West Germanic cognates. The bulk of the Old English word-stock has been preserved, although s
Borrowings in the English Language
In its 15 century long history the English language has come in long and close contact with several other languages, mainly Latin, French and Old Norse (or Scandinavian). The great influx of borrow
Degree of Assimilation
Completely assimilated words do not differ from the native ones in pronunciation, spelling, frequency, semantic structure and sphere of application. It is difficult to distinguish them from
Morphemes. Their Structural and Semantic Classifications
A great many words have a composite nature and are made up of smaller units each having sound form and meaning. These are called morphemes, e.g. teach-er, help-less-ness, sports-man.
Like
Historic Changeability of Word-Structure
Language is never stable: it undergoes changes on all its levels: phonetic, morphological, lexical, phraseological, etc.
As for some morphemes, in the course of time they may become fused
Prefixation
Prefixation is the formation of words with the help of prefixes. There are about 51 prefixes in the system of Modern English word-formation.
Prefixes may be classified into several groups
Suffixation
Suffixation is the formation of words with the help of suffixes.
Diachronic Approach
Native suffixes:-ness, -ish, -dom, -hood, -ing, etc.
Foreign suffixes: -ation,
Structure of Compound Words: Their Inseparability
Compounds are structurally and phonetically inseparable. Structurally compounds are characterized by the specific order and arrangement of stems. The order in which the two stems are
Meaning of Compound Words. Motivation in Compounds
Semantically the majority of compounds are motivated units: their meaning is derived from the combined lexical meanings of their components. The semantic centre of the compound is the lexic
Classification of Compounds
According to the degree of semantic independence of stems; according to the part of speech; according to the means of connection of stems; according to the types of stems.
According to
Definition. Treatment of Conversion
Conversion (to convert - превращать) - is highly productive in replenishing the English word-stock with new words. The term «conversion» refers to numerous cases of phonetic identity of two words
Semantic Relations between Conversion Pairs
As one of the two words within a conversion pair is semantically derived from the other, it is of great theoretical and practical importance to determine the semantic relations between the words re
Traditional and Occasional Conversion
Modern English vocabulary is exceedingly rich in conversion pairs. Conversion in Modern English is extremely productive: new conversion pairs appear in fiction, newspaper articles and in oral com
Graphical Shortening
These are signs representing words and wordgroups of high frequency of occurrence in written speech: scientific books, articles, advertisements, letters, etc.
Letters:
St - Stree
Lexical Shortening
Lexical Abbreviation
It is natural that in the course of time and language development some graphical abbreviations should penetrate into the sphere of oral speech and turn into lexical ab
Historical Approaches to the Study of Word Meaning
Ancient Greece – Nature vs. Convention
In ancient Greece and Rome the study of language was a part of philosophy. The ancient Greeks first tackled the study of lan
Referential Theory of Meaning
The major thesis of this theory was that the word meaning is the actual referent. The meaning of a tree is the actual referent that occurs or the object in the world. This approach encounter
Conceptual Theory of Meaning - De Saussure
Concepts are not individual occurrences but a whole set of occurrences. The concept is in our mind and it is not an image. First we conceptualise. Then we need to lexicalise the concept, the
Grammatical Meaning
The branch of lexicology that is devoted to the study of meaning is known as semasiology.
Meaning is one of the most difficult problems in the theory of language and it has been the topic
Lexical Meaning
Besides grammatical meaning words have lexical meaning. The words go, goes, went, going, gone, having different grammatical meanings, have one and the same semantic component denoting the pr
Denotational and Connotational Meaning
The lexical meaning is not homogeneous either, it consists of:
- denotational meaning (semes) - component of the lexical meaning that makes communication possible; the basis of
Division of Vocabulary into Different Layers
Stylistically words can be subdivided into formal, neutral and informal layers. The formal and informal layers contain a number of subgroups. The main aspect of the formal layer is its booki
Formal Vocabulary
Literary words are chiefly used in writing and in polished speech:
1. common literary words (learned words) - mostly polysemantic, used in books of elevated style and in books o
Informal Vocabulary
The informal part is traditionally subdivided into literary colloquial (cultivated speech), familiar colloquial, low colloquial (illiterate speech). Literary colloquial is used by educated
Change of Meaning as a Linguistic Phenomenon
In the course of the historical development of a language, the meaning of words change, e.g.: glad had the meaning of bright in OE; husband had the meaning of master of the house-hold
Causes of Semantic Change
There are two groups of causes of semantic change: extralinguistic (historical) and linguistic factors.
Extralinguistic causes
In nation's social life,
Nature of Semantic Change: Metaphor and Metonymy
To answer the question «how new meanings develop» we must investigate the inner mechanism of this process. A necessary condition of any semantic change, no matter what the cause, is some connecti
Results of Change of Meaning
Results of semantic change can be generally seen in the changes of the denotational meaning of the word - restriction and extention of meaning, or in the change of its connotational component - ame
Monosemantic and Polysemantic Words
In the course of historic development of the English language words have undergone many changes. When we analyse the semantic structure of the words we notice that they are not units of a single me
Primary and Secondary Meanings
By diachronic approach we distinguish the primary meaning: table - a flat slab of stone and wood (плита), and secondary meanings (all the other meanings): стол, пища, таблица
Basic and Minor Meanings
Synchronically we understand polysemy as the coexistence of different meanings of the same word at a certain historical period of the development of the English language. Here the problems a
Classification of Synonyms
Acad. V.V. Vinogradov established the following classification of synonyms: ideographic, stylistic, ideographic-stylistic, contextual, absolute (total).
Ideographic synonyms a
Types of Connotations
A more modern and effective approach to the classification of synonyms may be based on the definition describing synonyms as words differing in connotations:
- connotation of degree or
Superstitious Taboos
A special source of synonymy is the so-called euphemism (eu - well, phemi -1 speak).
Euphemism is a way of speaking by which an unpleasant, improper _or offensive thing is designated by
Social Taboos
Euphemism is a frequent occurrence in Modem English, it is a wider phenomenon than a taboo was, and it has spread to many spheres of life. Such euphemisms can be called social taboos.
The Definition of Antonymy
Antonymy is a lexical opposition of meaning. The words are different in form and opposite in meaning. It is also a relative phenomenon (same lexical field identical in style) and it has cont
Types of Antonymy
Complementary (contradictory/binary) antonymy. Complementary antonyms come in pairs that exhaust all the possibilities within a mixed lexical filed. One denies the other and together they m
Kinds of Antonyms
Absolute/root vs. Derivational antonyms..Absolute (root) antonyms such as: hot - cold, short - long are lexically words. The derivational antonyms are
formed by addin
The Definition of Neologism
The vocabulary does not remain the same, but changes constantly. New notions come into being, requiring new words to name them. On the other hand, some notions and things become outdated and the wo
Kinds of Neologisms
The intense development of science and industry, changes in economy, social and political life introduced a great number of new words, denoting new notions in these fields. Prof. I.R.Galperin calle
Ways of Word-Forming of Neologisms
The bulk of neologisms in English are formed according to the productive models of word-building in the given period and with the help of word-stock of the language. So, the greater part of literar
Archaisms
The vocabulary of a language never remains stable. There are constant changes in the semantic structure of any language. Words appear, undergo a number of phonetic and semantic changes and finally
Some Basic Features of Word-Groups
Words put together to form lexical units make phrases or word-groups. One must recall that lexicology deals with words, word-forming morphemes and word-groups.
The degree of structural and
Structure of Word-Groups
Structurally word-groups can be considered in different ways. Word-groups may be described as for the order and arrangement of the component-members. E.g., the word-group to read a book can
Motivation in Word-Groups
Word-groups like words may be also analysed from the point of view of their motivation. Word-groups may be called as lexically motivated if the combined lexical meaning of the group is deducible
Criteria of Stability and Lack of Motivation
Phraseological units are habitually defined as non-motivated word-groups that cannot be freely made up in speech but are reproduced as ready-made units; the other essential feature of phrase
General Classification of Phraseological Units
Taking into consideration mainly the degree of idiomaticity phraseological units may be classified into three big groups. This classification was first suggested by Acad. V. V. Vinogradov. These g
Structural Classification
Phraseological units may be defined as specific word-groups functioning as word-equivalents; they are equivalent to definite classes of words. The part-of-speech meaning of phraseological units is
Genetic (Etymological) Classification
Phraseological units are created from free word-groups. But in the course of time some words - constituents of phraseological units may drop out of the language; the situation in which the phraseol
Proverbs
Besides phraseological units - word-equivalents, the language has set-phrases which are equivalents of sentences. They are proverbs, sayings, aphorisms,
e.g.:custom is the second nature -
STANDARD ENGLISH. NATIONAL VARIANTS AND LOCAL DIALECTS
Standard English is the official language of Great Britain used in its literary form. Regional varieties possessing a literary form are called national variants. Local dialects are
AMERICAN ENGLISH
The variety of English spoken in the USA has received the name of American English. The term variant or variety appears most appropriate for several reasons. American English cannot be calle
Canadian English
English appeared in Canada in the 17th cent. with the British colonizers, who met there not only the native people - Red Indians and Eskimos, but with the French colonizers as well, who
Australian English
The Australian Commonwealth – the British dominion – was founded in 1901; before that the states were independent colonies, ruled separately by the British Government.
In the 20th
New Zealand English
New Zealand is one of the farthest former dominions of Great Britain, and from the first days of its development is economically closely connected with Australia. Their relations found reflection i
Problems in Lexicography
1. Selection of head words - selection of the items included in the dictionary is done according to the type and size (general, pocket dictionary).
2. Arrangement of lexical entrie
H.Sweet about Dictionaries
Study of the Vocabulary
It will, perhaps, be most convenient to begin with that aspect of the dictionary which makes it the reverse of the grammar. From this p
Procedures of Linguistic Investigation
Acquaintance with the currently used procedures of linguistic investigation is of considerable importance both for language learners and for prospective teachers as it gives them the possibility
Contrastive Analysis
Contrastive linguistics attempts to find out similarities and differences in languages. Detailed comparison of the structure of a native and a target language is called contrastive analy
Statistical Analysis
Statistical analysis has considerable importance not only because of its precision but also because of its relevance to certain problems of communication engineering and information theory.
Distributional Analysis
Distributional analysis in its various forms is widely used nowadays by lexicologists. By distribution we understand the occurrence of a lexical unit relative to other lexical units of the same
CONCISE DICTIONARY OF LINGUISTIC TERMS
Краткий словарь-справочник лингвистических терминов
Аббревиатура (abbreviation)- слово, образованное из названий начальных букв или из начальных звуков слов, входящих в и
CONTENTS
Introduction: the object of lexicology..........................................
Etymological survey of the English language..............................
I. Word structure and wo
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