Homonyms in the English language and their specific features Znobishcheva Masha 29 lyceum, 9 G

The general purposes: 1) To study different sources of homonyms. 2) To study classifications of homonyms. 3) To help students use homonyms in the course of studying English.

Mona: Wherever Im down in the dumps I buy new clothes Lisa: So thats where you get them! To be in the dumps means to be in bad mood. The second meaning of the word dump is the place where the rubbish is kept.

Sources of Homonyms 1) Phonetic changesPhonetic changes 2) BorrowingBorrowing 3) ConversionConversion 4) ShorteningShortening 5) Words which were made by sound-imitationWords which were made by sound-imitation

Phonetic changes Night and knight, for instance, were not homonyms in Old English as the initial k in the second word was pronounced, and not dropped as it is in its modern sound word.

Borrowing In the group of homonyms rite n.-to write v.- right adj. The second and the third words are of native origin whereas rite is a Latin borrowing (Lat. – ritus). Bank (shore) is a native word and bank (a financial institution) is an Italian borrowing.

Conversion Comb, noun-to comb, verb Pale, adjective-to pale, verb Make, noun-to make, verb Homonyms, which are the same in sound and spelling but refer to different categories of parts of speech, are called lexico-grammatical homonyms.

Shortening Fan( an enthusiastic admirer of some kind of sport, celebrities etc) n. is a shortening produced from fanatic. Its homonym is a Latin borrowing fan (piece of paper by waving it you feel cooler)

Words which were made by sound-imitation Bang, n.(a loud, sudden, explosive noise) This word was made by sound-imitation. Bang, n.(a fringe of hair combed over the forehead)

Homonyms proper Homophones Homographs

Homonyms proper A tailor guarantees to give each of his customers a perfect fit. The joke is based on homonyms. 1)Fit-perfectly fitting clothes. 2)Fit-a nervous spasm. Homonyms which are the same in sound and spelling are traditionally termed homonyms proper.

Homophones Waiter! Yes, sir! Whats this? Its bean soup, sir. Never mind what it has been. I want to know what it is now. Bean and been are homophones. As the example shows they are the same in sound but different in spelling.

Homographs To lead [li:d]- to conduct on the way, go before to show the way. Lead [led]- a heavy, rather soft metal. Homographs are words which are the same in spelling but different in sound.

Classification of Homonyms 1) Full homonymsFull homonyms 2) Partial homonyms a) Simple lexico-grammatical homonymsSimple lexico-grammatical homonyms b) Complex lexico-grammatical homonymsComplex lexico-grammatical homonyms c) Lexical homonymsLexical homonyms

Full homonyms Match, n.-a game, a contest Match, n.-a short piece of wood used for producing fire. Full homonyms are words which represent the same category of parts of speech and have the same paradigm.

Simple lexico-grammatical homonyms To found, v. Found, v. ( Past Indefinite, Past Participle of to find) Simple lexico-grammatical homonyms are words which belong to the same category of parts of speech. Their paradigms have one identical form, but it is never the same form.

Complex lexico-grammatical homonyms Rose, n. Rose, v. (Past Indefinite of to rise) Complex lexico-grammatical homonyms are words of different categories of parts of speech which have one identical form in their paradigms.

Lexical homonyms To hang, v. (hung, hung) To hang, v. (hanged, hanged) Partial lexical homonyms are words of the same category of parts of speech which are identical only in their corresponding forms.

Conclusion The studying of the homonymy is very important for the English language because this phenomenon in the English language is very common. One of the values of becoming familiar with homonyms is that they help to make language visible. Homonyms help students to be flexible and effective users of language.

Thanks for attention!