sources of homonyms: change in sound and spelling, borrowing, etc.
Change in sound and spelling. Some homonyms are native by origin, derived from different earlier forms in Old English. The change in sound and spelling gradually made them identical in modern English.
Borrowing. As a result of heavy borrowing from other languages, many words of foreign origin coincide in sound and/or spelling with those of native origin or with those of other foreign origin.
Shortening. Many shortened forms of words happen to be identical with other words in spelling or sound.
8 - The fundamental difference between homonyms and polysemants lies in the fact that the former refers to different words which happen to share the same form and the latter is the one and same word which has several distinguishable meanings.
One important criterion is to see their etymology. homonyms are from different sources whereas a polysemant is from the same source which has acquired different meanings in the course of development.
The second principal consideration is semantic relatedness. The various meanings of a polysemant are correlated and connected to one central meaning to a greater or lesser degree, On the other hand, meanings of different homonyms have nothing to do with one another.
In dictionaries, a polysemant has its meanings all listed under one headword whereas homonyms are listed as separate entries.
9 - Synonymy is one of the characteristic features of the vocabulary of natural languages. Synonyms can be defined as word different in sound and spelling but most nearly alike or exactly the same in meaning. Synonyms might be defined as ‘‘one of two or more words in the English language which have the same or very nearly the same essential meaning. In other words, synonyms share a likeness in denotation as well as in part of speech.
10 - Synonyms can be classified into two major groups: absolute synonyms and relative synonyms.
Absolute synonyms also known as complete synonyms are words which are identical in meaning in all its aspects. both in grammatical meaning and lexical meaning, including conceptual and associative meanings. It is observed that absolute synonyms are rare in natural languages and some people even hold that such synonyms are non-existent. Absolute synonyms are restricted to highly specialized vocabulary.
Relative synonyms also called near-synonyms are similar or nearly the same in denotation, but embrace different shades of meaning or different degrees of a given quality.
11 - Sources of Synonyms:
Borrowing. Modern English is extremely rich in synonyms, which come from different sources. Dialects and regional English, Figurative and euphemistic use of words, Coincidence with idiomatic expressions
12 - The differences between synonyms boil down to three areas: denotation, connotation, and application.
Difference in denotation. Synonyms may differ in the range and intensity of meaning. Some words have a w |
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