Definition

Definition. The development and change of the semantic structure of a word is always a source of qualitative and quantitative development of the vocabulary.

All the types discussed depend upon some comparison between the earlier whether extinct or still in use and the new meaning of the given word. This comparison may be based on the difference between notions expressed or referents in the real world that are pointed out, on the type of psychological association at work, on evaluation of the latter by the speaker or, possibly, on some other feature.

The order in which various types are described will follow more or less closely the diachronic classifications of M. Breal and H. Paul. No attempt at a new classification is considered necessary. There seems to be no point in augmenting the number of unsatisfactory schemes already offered in literature. The treatment is therefore traditional. M. Breal was probably the first to emphasize the fact that in passing from general usage into some special sphere of communication a word as a rule undergoes some sort of specialisation of its meaning.

The word case, for instance, alongside its general meaning of circumstances in which a person or a thing is possesses special meanings in law a law suit, in grammar e.g. the Possessive case, in medicine a patient, an illness. Compare the following One of Charless cases had been a child ill with a form of diphtheria. C. P. SNOW case a patient. The Solicitor whom I met at the Holfords sent me a case which any young man at my stage would have thought himself lucky to get. Idem case a question decided, in a court of law, a law suit The general, not specialized meaning is also very frequent in present-day English.

For example At last we tiptoed up the broad slippery staircase, and went to our rooms. But in my case not to sleep, immediately at least. Idem case circumstances in which one is This difference is revealed in the difference of contexts in which these words occur, in their different valency.

Words connected with illnesses and medicine in the first example, and words connected with law and court procedures in the second, form the semantic paradigm of the word case. The word play suggests different notions to a child, a playwright, a footballer, a musician or a chess-player and has in their speech different semantic paradigms. The same applies to the noun cell as used by a biologist, an electrician, a nun or a representative of the law or the word gas as understood by a chemist, a housewife, a motorist or a miner.

In all the examples considered above a word which formerly represented a notion of a broader scope has come to render a notion of a narrower scope. When the meaning is specialized, the word can name fewer objects, i.e. have fewer referents. At the same time the content of the notion is being enriched, as it includes -a greater number of relevant features by which the notion is characterized. Or as St. Ullmann puts it The word is now applicable to more things but tells us less about them. The reduction of scope accounts for the term narrowing of the meaning which is even more often used than the term specialization.

We shall avoid the term narrowing, since it is somewhat misleading. Actually it is neither the meaning nor the notion, but the scope of the notion that .is narrowed. There is also a third term for the same phenomenon, namely differentiation, but it is not so widely used as the first two terms. H. Paul, as well as many other authors, emphasizes the fact that this type of semantic change is particularly frequent in vocabulary of professional and trade groups. H. Pauls examples are from the German language but it is very easy to find parallel cases in English.

So this type of change is fairly universal and fails to disclose any specifically English properties. The best known examples of specialization in the general language are as follows OE dзor wild beast ModE deer wild rum, inant of a particular species the original meaning was still alive in Shakespeares time as is proved by the following quotation Rats and mice and such small deer OE mete food ModE meat edible flesh, i.e. only a particular species of food the earlier meaning is still noticeable in the compound sweetmeat.

This last example deserves special attention because the tendency of fixed context to preserve the original meaning is very marked as is constantly proved by various examples. Other well-worn examples are OE fuзol bird cf. Germ Vogel ModE foal domestic birds.

The old, meaning is still preserved in poetic diction and in set expressions, like fowls of the air. Among its derivatives, fowler means a person who shoots or traps wild birds for sport or food the shooting or trapping itself is called fowling a fowling piece is a gun. OE hund dog cf Germ Hund hound a species of hunting dog. Many words connected with literacy also show similar changes thus, teach. OE tжcan to show, to teach write OE wrоtan to write, to scratch, to score cf. Germ reiвen writing in Europe had first the form of scratching on the bark of the trees.

Tracing these semantic changes the scholars can, as it were, witness the development of culture. In the above examples the new meaning superseded the earlier one. Both meanings can also coexist in the structure of a polysemantic word or be differentiated locally. The word token OE tвce, Germ Zeichen originally had the broad meaning of sign. The semantic change that occurred in it illustrates systematic interdependence within the vocabulary elements.

Brought into competition with the borrowed word sign it became restricted in use to a few cases of fixed context a love token, a token of respect, a token vote, a token payment and consequently restricted in meaning. In present-day English token means something small, unimportant or cheap which represents something big, important or valuable. Other examples of specialization are room, which alongside the new meaning keeps the old one of space corn originally meaning grain, the seed of any cereal plant locally the word becomes specialized and is understood to denote the leading crop of the district hence in England corn means wheat, in Scotland oats, whereas in the USA, as an ellipsis for Indian corn, it came to mean maize. As a special group belonging to the same type one can mention the formation of proper nouns from common nouns chiefly in toponymies, i.e. place names.

For instance, the City, the business part of London the Highlands the mountainous part of Scotland Oxford University town in England from oxford, i.e. a place where oxen could ford the river the Tower of London originally a fortress and palace, later a state prison, now a museum. In the above examples the change of meaning occurred without change of sound form and without any intervention of morphological processes.

In many cases, however, the two processes, semantic and morphological, go hand in hand. For instance, when considering the effect of the agent suffix -ist added to the noun stem art- we might expect the whole to mean any person occupied in art, a representative of any kind of art, but usage specializes the meaning of the word artist and restricts it to a synonym of painter. The process reverse to specialisation is termed generalisationand widening of meaning.

In that case the scope of the newnotion is wider than that of the original one hence widening, whereasthe content of the notion is poorer.

In most cases generalisation is combined with a higher order of abstraction than in the notion expressed bythe earlier meaning. The transition from a concrete meaning to an abstract one is a most frequent feature in the semantic history of words. Thechange may be explained as occasioned by situations in which not all the features of the notions rendered are of equal importance for themessage. Thus, ready OE rжde a derivative of the verb rоdan to ride meant prepared for a ride. Fly originally meant to move through the air with wings now it denotes any kind of movement in the air or outer space and also very quick movement in any medium. The process went very far in the word thing with its original meanings cause, object, decision, meeting, and the decision of the meeting, that which was decided upon. Cf. Norwegian storting parliament.

At present, as a result of this process of generalisation, the word can substitute nearly any noun, and receives an almost pronominal force.

In fact all the words belonging to the group of generic terms fall into this category of generalization. By generic terms we shall mean non-specific, non-distributive terms applicable to a great number of individual members of a big class of words. The grammatical meaning of this class of words becomes predominant in their semantic components. Notice the very general, character of the word business in the following Donald hasnt a very good manner of interviews.

All this good-manner business, Clun said, they take far too much notice of it now in my opinion A. WILSON , It is sometimes difficult to distinguish the instances of generalization proper from generalization combined with a fa-ding of lexical meaning ousted by the grammatical or emotional meaning that take its place. These phenomena are closely connected with the peculiar characteristics of grammatical structure typical of each individual language. One observes them, for instance, studying the semantic history of the English auxiliary and semi-auxiliary verbs, especially have, do, shall, will, turn, go, and that of some English prepositions and adverbs which in the course of time have come to express grammatical relations.

The weakening of lexical meaning due to the influence of emotional force is revealed in such words as awfully, terribly, terrific, smashing. 2. Metaphor. Specialization and generalization are thus identified on the evid- ence of comparing logical notions expressed by the meaning of words.

If, on the other hand, the linguist is guided by psychological considerations and has to go by the type of association at work in the transfer of the name of one object to another and different one, he will observe that the most frequent transfers are based on associations of similarity or of contiguity. As these types of transfer are well known in rhetoric as figures of speech called metaphor Gr meta change and phero bear and metonymy Gr metonymia from meta and onoma name and the same terms are adopted here. A metaphor is a transfer of name based on the association of similarity and thus is actually a hidden comparison.

It presents a method of description which likens one thing to another by referring to it as if it were some other one. A cunning person, for instance, is referred to as a fox. A woman may be called a peach, a lemon, a cat, a goose, etc. In a metonymy, this referring to one thing as if it were some other one is based on association of contiguity.

Sean OCasey in his one-act play The Hall of Healing metonymically names his personages according to the things they are wearing Red Muffler, Grey Shawl, etc. Metaphor and metonymy differ from the two first types of semantic change, i.e. generalization and specialization, inasmuch .as they do not originate as a result of gradual almost imperceptible change in many contexts, but come of a purposeful momentary transfer of a name from one object to another belonging to a different sphere of reality.

In all discussion of linguistic metaphor and metonymy it must be borne in mind that they are different from metaphor and metonymy as literary devices. When the latter are offered and accepted both the author and the reader are to a greater or lesser degree aware that this reference is figurative, that the object has another name. The relationship of the direct denotative meaning of the word and the meaning it has in the literary context in question is based on similarity of some features in the objects compared.

The poetic metaphor is the fruit of the authors creative imagination, as for example when England is called by Shakespeare in King Richard II this precious stone set in the silver sea, or when A. Tennyson writes What stamps the wrinkle deeper on the brow To view each loved one blotted from lifes page. In a linguistic metaphor, especially when it is dead as a result of long usage, the thing named often has no other name. In a dead metaphor the comparison is completely forgotten, as for instance in the words gather, source and shady in the following example dealing with some information gathered that one or two of their sources were shady, and some not so much shady as irregular in a most unexpected way. SNOW The meaning of such expressions as a sun beam or a beam of light are not explained by-allusions to a tree, although the word is actually derived from OE beam tree Germ Baum, whence the meaning beam a long piece of squared timber supported at both ends has also developed.

The metaphor is dead. There are no associations with hens in the verb brood to meditate often sullenly, though the direct meaning is to sit on eggs. There may be transitory stages a bottleneck any thing obstructing an even flow of work, for instance, is not a neck and does not belong to a bottle.

The transfer is possibly due to the fact that there are some common features in the narrow top part of the bottle, a narrow outlet for road traffic, and obstacles interfering with the smooth working of administrative machinery.

Metaphors, H. Paul points out, may be based upon very different types of similarity, for instance, similarity of shape head of a cabbage, the teeth of a saw. This similarity may be based on a similarity of function. The transferred meaning is easily recognized from the context the head of the school, the key to a mystery. The similarity may be supported also by position foot of a page, of a mountain, or behaviour and function bookworm, wirepuller.

The word whip a lash used to urge horses on is metaphorically transferred to an official in the British Parliament appointed by a political party to see that members are present at debates, especially when a vote is taken, to check the voting and also to advise the members on the policy of the respective party, etc. In the kg of the table the metaphor is motivated by the similarity of the lower part of the table and the human limb in position and partly jn shape and function.

Anthropomorphic metaphors are among the most frequent. The way in which the words denoting parts of the body are made to express a variety of meanings may be illustrated by the following head of an army, of a procession, of a household arms and mouth of a river, eye of a needle, foot of a hill, tongue of a bell and so on and so forth. The transferred meaning is easily recognized from the context her feet were in low-heeled brown brogues with fringed tongues.

PLOMER Numerous cases of metaphoric transfer are based upon the analogy between duration of time and space, e.g. long distance long- speech a short path a short time. The transfer of space relations upon psychological and mental notions may be exemplified by words and expressions concerned with understanding to catch to grasp an idea to take a hint, to get the hang of to throw light upon. This metaphoric change from the concrete to the abstract is also represented in such simple words as score, span, thrill.

Score comes from OE scoru twenty from ON skor twenty and also notch. In OE time notches were cut on sticks to keep a reckoning. As score is cognate with shear, it is very probable that the meaning developed from the twentieth notch that was made of a larger size. From the meaning line or notch cut or scratched down many new meanings sprang out, such as number of points made by a player or a side in some games, running account, a debt, written or printed music, etc. Span from OE spann maximum distance between the tips of thumb and little finger used as a measure of length, came to mean full extent from end to end of a bridge, an arch, etc. and a short distance.

Thrill from ME thriven to pierce developed into the present meaning to penetrate with emotion. Another subgroup of metaphors comprises transitions of proper names into common ones an Adonis, a Cicero, a Don Juan, etc. When a proper name like Falstaff is used referring specifically to the hero of Shakespeares plays it has a unique reference.

But when people speak of a person they know calling him Falstaff they make a proper name generic for a corpulent, jovial, irrepressibly impudent person and it no longer denotes a unique being. Cf. Don Juan as used about attractive profligates. To certain races and nationalities traditional characteristics have been attached by the popular mind with or without real justification. If a person is an out-and-out mercenary and a hypocrite into the bargain they call him a Philistine, ruthlessly destructive people are called Vandals. 3.Metonymy If the transfer is based upon the association of contiguity it is called metonymy.

It is a shift of names between things that are known to be in some way or other connected in reality. The transfer may be conditioned by spatial, temporal, causal, symbolic, instrumental, functional and other relations. Thus, the word book is derived from the name of a tree on which inscriptions were scratched ModE book OE boc beech.

ModE win. OE winnan to fight the word has been shifted so as to apply to the success following fighting. Cash is an adaptation of the French word caisse box from naming the container it came to mean what was contained, i.e. money the original meaning was lost in competition with the new word safe. Spatial relations are also present when the name of the place is used for the people occupying it. The chair may mean the chairman, the bar the lawyers, the pulpit the priests.

The word town may denote the inhabitants of a town and the word house the members of the House of Commons or of Lords. Cello, violin, saxophone are often used to denote not the instruments but the musicians who play them. A causal relationship is obvious in the following development ModE fear ME feere OE fжr, fзr danger, unexpected attack. States and properties serve as names for objects and people possessing them youth, age, authorities, forces.

The name of the action can serve to name the result of the action ModE kill ME killen to hit on the head, ModE stay Germ schlagen Emotions may be named by the movements that accompany them to frown, to start. There are also the well-known instances of symbol for thing symbolized the crown for monarchy the instrument for the product hand handwriting receptacle for content, as in the word kettle, and some others. Words for the material from which an article is made are often used to denote the particular article glass, iron, copper, nickel are well known examples.

The pars pro toto where the name of a part is applied to the whole may be illustrated by such military terms as the royal horse for cavalry and foot for infantry, and the expressions like want to have a word with you. The reverse process is observed when OE cзol a ship develops among other variants into keel a barge load of coal. A place of its own within metonymical change is occupied by the so-called functional change.

The type has its peculiarities in this case the shift is between names of things substituting one another in human practice. Thus, the early instrument for writing was a feather or more exactly a quill OE pen, from OFr penne, from It penna, from Lat. penna feather. We write with fountain-pens that are made of different materials and have nothing in common with feathers except the function, but the name remains. The name rudder comes from OE roper oar Germ Ruder oar. The shift of meaning is due to the shift of function the steering was formerly achieved by an oar. The steersman was called pilot with the coming of aviation one who operates the flying controls of an aircraft was also called pilot.

For more cases of functional change see also the semantic history of the words filter, pocket, spoon, stamp, sail. Common names may be derived from proper names also metonymically, as in macadam and diesel, so named after their inventors. Many physical and technical units are named after great scientists volt, ohm, ampere, watt, etc. There are also many instances in political vocabulary when the place of some establishment is used not only for the establishment itself or its staff but also for its policy the White House, the Pentagon, Wall Street, Downing Street, Fleet Street.

Examples of geographic names turning into common nouns to name the goods exported or originating there are exceedingly numerous, e.g. astrakhan, bikini, boston, cardigan, china, tweed.

Garments came to be known by the names of those who brought them into fashion mackintosh, raglan, wellingtons. 4.