Semantic Changes
Plan:
Page:
Foreword………………………………………………………………………………....3
Chapter
I. Semantic changes. Types of Semantic changes……………………………... 4
1.
Definition…………………………………………………
……… … ……….4
2.
Metaphor………………………………………………………………………7
3.
Metonymy……………………………………………………………………...9
4.
Other types of Semantic
changes…………………………………………….. 10
Chapter
II. Causes of semantic change…...……………………………………… … …12
Conclusion………………………………………………………………………………15
Literature…………………………………………………………………………...……16
FOREWORD
The meaning of a word can change in the course of time. Changes of
lexical meanings can be proved by comparing contexts of different times.
Transfer of the meaning is called lexico-semantic word-building. In such cases
the outer aspect of a word does not change.
The causes of semantic changes can be extra-linguistic and linguistic,
e.g. the change of the lexical meaning of the noun «pen» was due to
extra-linguistic causes. Primarily «pen» comes back to the Latin word «penna»
(a feather of a bird). As people wrote with goose pens the name was transferred
to steel pens which were later on used for writing. Still later any instrument
for writing was called « a pen».
On the other hand causes can be linguistic, e.g. the conflict of
synonyms when a perfect synonym of a native word is borrowed from some other
language one of them may specialize in its meaning, e.g. the noun «tide» in Old
English was polisemantic and denoted «time», «season», «hour». When the French
words «time», «season», «hour» were borrowed into English they ousted the word
«tide» in these meanings. It was specialized and now means «regular rise and
fall of the sea caused by attraction of the moon». The meaning of a word can
also change due to ellipsis, e.g. the word-group «a train of carriages» had the
meaning of «a row of carriages», later on «of carriages» was dropped and the
noun «train» changed its meaning, it is used now in the function and with the
meaning of the whole word-group.
Semantic changes have been classified by different
scientists. The most complete classification was suggested by a German
scientist Herman Paul in his work «Prinzipien des Sprachgeschichte». It is
based on the logical principle. He distiguishes two main ways where the
semantic change is gradual ( specialization and generalization), two momentary
conscious semantic changes (metaphor and metonymy) and also secondary ways:
gradual (elevation and degradation), momentary (hyperbole and litote).
CHAPTER I. SEMANTIC CHANGES. TYPES OF SEMANTIC CHANGES.
1.
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 Charles's 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. Paul's 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 dēor 'wild beast' > ModE deer 'wild rum,inant of a particular species' (the original meaning was
still alive in Shakespeare's 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
tæcan 'to show', 'to teach'; write <OE wrītan
'to write', 'to scratch', 'to score' (cf. Germ
reiβen)< 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 tāce,
║ 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 ox+ford,
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
generalisation
and widening of meaning. In that case the scope of the new
notion is wider than that of the original one (hence widening), whereas
the content of the notion is poorer. In most cases generalisation is combined
with a higher order of abstraction than in the notion expressed by
the earlier meaning. The transition from a concrete meaning to an abstract one
is a most frequent feature in the semantic history of words. The
change may be explained as occasioned by situations in which not all
the features of the notions rendered are of equal importance for the
message.
Thus, ready <OE ræde
(a derivative of the verb rīdan '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 hasn't 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 O'Casey 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 author's 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 life's 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
Shakespeare's 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 fær, fēr
'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 cēol '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.
Following the lead of
literary criticism linguists have often adopted terms of rhetoric for other
types of semantic change, besides metaphor and
metonymy. These are: hyperbole, litotes, irony,
e u p h e m i s m. In all these cases
the same warning that was given in connection
with metaphors and metonymy must be kept in mind: namely, there is a difference between these terms as
understood in literary criticism
and in lexicology. Hyperbole (from Gr huperballō 'exceed') is
an exaggerated statement not meant to be understood literally but expressing an
intensely emotional attitude of the speaker to what he is speaking about. The emotional tone is due to the
illogical character in which the
direct denotative and the contextual emotional meanings are combined.
A very good example is
chosen by I. R. Galperin from Byron, and one
cannot help borrowing it:
When people say "I've
told you fifty times," They mean to scold
and very often do,
The reader will note that
Byron's intonation is distinctly colloquial, the
poet is giving us his observations concerning colloquial expressions, So the
.hyperbole here is not poetic but linguistic.
The same may be said about expressions like: It's absolutely
maddening, You'll be the death of
me, I hate troubling you, It's
monstrous, It's a nightmare, A thousand
pardons, A thousand thanks, Haven't seen you for ages, I'd give the world to, I shall be eternally grateful,
I'd love to do it, etc.
The most important difference between a poetic
hyperbole and a linguistic one lies in the
fact that the former creates an image, whereas in the latter the denotative meaning quickly fades out and the corresponding exaggerating words serve only as general
signs of emotion without specifying
the emotion itself. Some of the most frequent emphatic words are: absolutely! awfully! terribly! lovely!
magnificent! splendid! and so on.
The reverse figure is called
litotes (from Gr lītos
'plain', 'meagre') or understatement. It. might be defined as expressing the affirmative by the negation of its contrary: e.g. not bad or
not half bad for 'good', not
small for 'great', no coward for 'brave'. Some understatements do
not contain negations: rather decent; I could do with a cup of tea. It
is, however, doubtful whether litotes should be considered under the heading of semantic change at all, because as a
rule it creates no permanent change in the semantic structure of the
word concerned. The purpose of
understatement is not to deceive but to produce a stronger impression on the hearer.
Also taken from rhetoric is the term irony, i.e. expression of one's meaning by words of opposite meaning,
especially a simulated adoption of
the opposite point of view for the purpose of ridicule. One of the meanings of the adjective nice is
'bad', 'unsatisfactory'; it is marked off
as ironical and illustrated by the example: You've got us into a nice mess! The same may be said about the adjective pretty: A pretty mess you've made of it!
Changes depending on the
social attitude to the object named, connected
with social evaluation and emotional tone, are called amelioration and pejoration of meaning. Amelioration
or
elevation is a semantic shift undergone by words due to their referents coming up the social scale. For
instance OE cwen 'a woman'> ModE queen, OE cniht 'a
young servant' > ModE knight. The words steward and stewardess
(the passengers' attendant on ships and airliners) have undergone a great amelioration. Steward <
OE stigweard from stigo 'a sty' and weard 'a ward', dates back
from the days when the chief wealth
of the Saxon landowner was his pigs, of whom the stigweard had to
take care. The meaning of some words has been elevated through associations with aristocratic life or
town life. This is true about such adjectives as civil, chivalrous, urbane.
The reverse process is pejoration or degradation; it involves a lowering in social scale connected with the appearance of
a derogatory and scornful emotive tone reflecting the disdain of the upper classes towards the lower ones. A knave <
OE cnafa \\ Germ Knabe meant at first 'boy', then
'servant', and finally became a term of abuse and scorn. Another example of the
same kind is blackguard. In the lord's retinue
of Middle Ages 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 similar history
is traced for the words boor, churl,
clown, villain.
Euphemism (Gr euphemismos from eu 'well' and pheme
'speak') is the substitution of
words of mild or vague connotations for expressions rough, unpleasant or for some other reasons
unmentionable.
Within the diachronic
approach the phenomenon has been repeatedly classed by many linguists as taboo. This standpoint is hardly
acceptable for modern European
languages. With primitive peoples taboo is a prohibition meant as a safeguard against supernatural forces. Names of ritual objects or animals were taboo because
the name was regarded as the
equivalent of what was named. S. Ullmann returns to the conception - of
taboo several times illustrating it with propitiatory names given in the early periods of language development to such
objects of superstitious fear as the bear (whose name originally meant
'brown') and the weasel. He treats both
examples as material of comparative semantics. The taboo influence behind the circumlocutions used to name these animals becomes quite obvious when the same phenomenon
is observed in similar names in
various other languages. There is no necessity to cite them here as they are given in any book on general
linguistics. It should be borne in mind that taboo has historical relevance. No
such opposition as that between a
direct and a propitiatory name for an animal, no matter how dangerous, can be found in present-day
English.
With peoples of developed
culture, euphemism is intrinsically different,
has nothing to do with taboo and is dictated by social usage, moral tact and
etiquette. Cf. queer 'mad', deceased 'dead', perspire v
'sweat'.
From the semantical point
of view euphemism is important because meanings with unpleasant connotations
appear in words formerly neutral, as a result of their repeated use instead of other words that are for some reason unmentionable.
The material of this chapter shows that semantic
changes are not arbitrary. They proceed in
accordance with the logical and psychological laws of thought, otherwise changed words would never be understood and could not serve the purpose of communication. The
various attempts at classification
undertaken by traditional linguistics, although inconsistent ( and often subjective, are useful, since they
permit the linguist to find his way
about an immense accumulation of semantic facts. However, they say nothing or almost nothing about the causes of
these changes.
CHAPTER II. CAUSES OF
SEMANTIC CHANGE
In comparison with
classifications of semantic change the problem of
their causes appears neglected. Opinions on this point are scattered through a
great number of linguistic works and have apparently never -been collected into anything complete. And yet a thorough understanding of the phenomena involved .in semantic change is impossible unless the whys and wherefores become known. This is of primary importance as it may lead eventually to a clearer, interpretation of language development. The
vocabulary is the most flexible part of the language and it is precisely its semantic aspect that responds
most readily to every change in the
human activity in whatever sphere it may happen to take place.
The causes of semantic
changes may be grouped under two main headings, linguistic and
extralinguistic ones. Of these the first group has suffered much greater neglect in the past and it is not surprising
therefore that far less is known of
it than of the second. It deals with changes due to the constant
interdependence of vocabulary units in language and speech, such as differentiation between synonyms, changes taking place in
connection with ellipsis and with fixed contexts, changes resulting from ambiguity in certain contexts, and some
other cases.
Semantic change due to the
differentiation of synonyms is a gradual change
observed in the course of language history, sometimes, but not necessarily, involving the semantic assimilation of loan words.
Consider, for example, the words time and tide.
They used to be synonyms. Then tide took on its more limited
application to the periodically shifting waters,
and time alone is used in the general sense.
Another example of semantic
change involving synonymic differentiation is the word twist.
In OE it was a noun, meaning 'a rope' whereas the verb thrawan
(now throw) meant both 'hurl' and 'twist'. Since the appearance in the Middle English of the verb twisten
('twist') the first verb lost
this meaning. But threw in its turn influenced the development of casten (cast), a Scandinavian borrowing.
Its primary meaning 'hurl', 'throw' is now present only in some set
expressions. Cast keeps its old meaning
in such phrases as cast a glance, cast lots, cast smth. in one's teeth.
Twist has very many meanings, the latest being 'to dance the twist'
Fixed context may be
regarded as another linguistic factor in semantic change. Both factors are
at work in the case of token. When brought into competition with the
loan word sign, it became restricted
in use to a number of set expressions such as love token, token of respect and
so became specialized in meaning. Fixed context has this influence not only in phrases but in compound
words as well. OE mete meant
'food', its descendant meat refers only to flesh food except in the set expression meat and drink and the
compound sweetmeats.
No systematic treatment has
so far been offered for the syntagmatic semantic changes
depending on the context. But such cases do exist showing that investigation of
the problem is important.
One of these is ellipsis. The qualifying words of
a frequent phrase may be omitted: sale
comes to be used for cut-price sale, propose for to propose marriage, to be expecting for to be expecting a baby. Or vice versa,
the kernel word of the phrase may seem redundant: minerals for mineral
waters. Due to ellipsis starve which originally meant 'die'
(cf. Germ sterben) came to substitute the whole phrase die of
hunger, and also began to mean 'suffer from lack of food' and even in colloquial use 'to feel hungry'. Moreover as there are many words with
transitive and intransitive
variants naming cause and result, starve came to mean 'to cause to
perish with hunger'.
English has a great variety
of these regular coincidences of different aspects,
alongside with cause and result, we could consider the coincidence of subjective and objective, active and passive aspects especially frequent in
adjectives. E.g. hateful means 'exciting hatred' and 'full of hatred';
curious—'strange' and 'inquisitive'; pitiful— 'exciting compassion'
and 'compassionate'. Compare the different use of the words doubtful and healthy in the following: to be doubtful :: a
doubtful advantage, to be
healthy :: a healthy climate.
The extralinguistic causes
are determined by the social nature of the language:
they are observed in changes of meaning resulting from the development of
the notion expressed and the thing named and by the appearance of new notions
and things. In other words, extralinguistic causes
of semantic change are connected with the development of the human mind as it moulds reality to conform with
its needs.
Languages are powerfully
affected by social, political, economic, cultural
and technical change. The influence of those factors upon linguistic phenomena
is studied by sociolinguistics. It shows that social factors can influence even structural features of linguistic units, terms of
science, for instance, have a number of specific features as compared to words
used in other spheres of human activity.
The word being a linguistic
realization of notion, it changes with the progress
of human consciousness. This process is reflected in the development of
lexical meaning. As the human mind achieves an ever more exact understanding of the world of reality and
the objective relationships that
characterize it, the notions become more and more exact reflections of
real things. The history of the social, economic and political life of people, the progress of culture and
science bring about changes in notions and things influencing the semantic
aspect of language. For instance, OE eorpe meant 'the ground under
people's feet', 'the soil' and 'the
world of man' as opposed to heaven that was supposed to be inhabited first by
Gods and later on, with the spread of Christianity, by God, his saints and the souls of the dead. With the
progress of science earth came to
mean the third planet from the sun and the knowledge of it was constantly enriched.
The word space from the meanings of
'extension' or 'intervening distance' came to mean 'the limitless expanse in
which everything exists' and more recently
came to be used especially in the meaning of 'outer space'. Atoms (Gr.
atomos 'indivisible' from a 'not' and tomos 'cut') were formerly thought to be indivisible
smallest particles of matter and were
usually associated in layman's speech with smallness. The word could be metaphorically used in the meaning of 'a
tiny creature'. When atoms were found to be made up of a positively charged
nucleus round which negatively
charged electrons revolve, the notion of an atom brought about connotations of discrete (discontinuous)
character of matter. With the
advances made since science has found ways of releasing the energy hidden in the splitting of the atomic
nucleus, the notion is accompanied
with the idea of immense potentialities present, as, for instance, in the phrase Atoms for peace. Since the
advent of the atomic bomb the adjective atomic distinctly
connotes in the English language with the threat
of a most destructive warfare (atomic bomb, atomic warfare).
The tendency to use
technical imagery is increasing in every language, thus
the expression to spark off in chain reaction is almost international. Some expressions tend to become somewhat obsolete: the English used to talk of people being galvanized into activity, or going full
steam ahead but the phrases sound out dated now.
The changes of notions and
things named go hand in hand. As they are conditioned by
changes in the economic, social, political and cultural
history of the people, the extralinguistic causes of semantic change might be conveniently subdivided in accordance with these. Social relationships are at work in the cases of elevation and pejoration of
meaning discussed in the previous section where the
attitude of the upper classes to their social inferiors
determined the strengthening of emotional tone among the semantic components of
the word.
Euphemisms may be dictated
by publicity needs—hence ready-tailored
and ready-to-wear clothes instead of ready-made.
The influence of mass-advertising on language
is growing; it is felt in every level of the language. Innovations
possible in advertising are of many different types.
A kind of orange juice, for instance, is called Tango. The justification of the name is given in the advertising text
as follows: Get this different
tasting Sparkling Tango. Tell you why: made from whole oranges. Taste those oranges. Taste the tang in Tango.
Tingling tang, bubbles— sparks. You drink it straight. Goes down great.
Taste the tang in Tango. New
Sparkling Tango. The reader will
see for himself how many expressive connotations are introduced by the
salesman in this commercial name in an effort to attract the buyer's attention.
Economic causes are
obviously at work in the semantic development o! the
word wealth. It first meant 'well-being', 'happiness' from weal from
OE wela whence well. This original meaning
is preserved in the compounds commonwealth and commonweal. The present meaning became possible due to the role played by money both in feudal and bourgeois society. The chief wealth of the early inhabitants of Europe being the cattle, OE
feoh
means both 'cattle' and 'money', likewise Goth faihu; Lat. pecu
meant 'cattle' and pecunia meant 'money'. ME fee-house is
both a cattle-shed and a treasury.
The present-day English fee most frequently means the price paid for services to a lawyer or a physician.
It appears to develop jointly from
the above mentioned OE feoh and the Anglo-French fe, fie, fief, probably
of the same origin, meaning 'a recompense' and 'a feudal tenure'. This
modern meaning is obvious in the following example: Physicians of the utmost Fame/Were called at once; but when they came/ They answered as they took their fees,/
"There is no cure for this disease." (BELLOC)
CONCLUSION
We have dialled in detail
with various types of semantic change. This is necessary not only because of the
interest the various cases present in
themselves but also because a thorough knowledge of these possibilities
helps one to understand the semantic structure of English words at the present stage of their development. The
development and change of the semantic structure of a word is always a
source of qualitative and quantitative development of the vocabulary.
The constant development of industry,
agriculture, trade and transport bring into being new objects and new notions.
Words to name them are either borrowed or created from material already
existing in the language and it often happens that new meanings are thus
acquired by old words.
LITERATURE:
1. Rinaburg R. “A course in Modern
English”. Moscow 1976.
2. Griberg S. I. “Exercises in Modern
English”. Moscow 1980.
3. Antrushina. “English Lexicology”.
1985.
4. Kunin A. “English Lexicology” Moscow
1972.
5. Mednikova E. M. “Seminars in English
Lexicology” Moscow “Vyshaja shkola” 1978.
6. Cruise. “Lexical semantic” Cambridge University
press 1995.
7. “English Word Formation” Cambridge University
press 1996.