Understanding Homonyms and Antonyms: A Linguistic Analysis

Categories: Language

Homonyms, defined by sources [1, 74] and [2, 464], are words that share the same form but differ in meaning and how they are used.

The term "homonymous" comes from the Greek words "homos" meaning "the same" and "onoma" meaning "name," accurately representing the idea of sharing a name but having different meanings. In traditional categorization, homonyms are split into two groups: Homonyms proper, which have identical sound and spelling (e.g. ball - ball, hail - hail), and partial homonyms that are further classified.

Homographs have the same spelling but different pronunciations, such as bow/bou/-bow/bau/, lead /led/– lead/li:d/.

Homophones, words that sound the same but have different spellings, include examples like key – quay and sow – sew [1, 74]. Homonyms can be categorized based on the type of meaning they have.

In this case one should distinguish between:

  • Lexical homonyms which belong to the same part of speech, e.
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    g. plane n. – plain n., light a. – light a..

  • Grammatical homonyms which belong to different parts of speech, e.g. row v. – row n., weather n. – whether conj..
  • Homoforms which are identical only in some paradigm constituents, e.g. scent n. – sent (Past Ind. and Past Part. of send), seize v. – sees (Pr.Ind., 3d p.sing. of see) [1, 74].

Professor A.I. Smirnitsky classified homonyms into two large classes:

Full homonyms are words that are in the same part of speech category and have the same paradigm, such as wren n. (a member of the Women’s Royal Naval Service) – wren n. (a bird).

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Partial homonyms are subdivided into three subgroups:

  • Simple lexico-grammatical partial homonyms are words, which belong to the same category of parts of speech. Their paradigms have only one identical form, but it is never the same form, e.g. (to) found v. - found v. (past indef., past part. of to find), (to) lay .v - lay .v (past indef. of to lie).
  • Complex lexico-grammatical partial homonyms are words of different categories of parts of speech, which have identical form in their paradigms, e.g. rose n. - rose v. (past indef. of to rise), maid n - made v (past indef., past part. of to make).
  • Partial lexical homonyms are words of the same category of parts of speech which are identical only in their corresponding forms, e.g. to lie (lay, lain) v. - to lie (lied, lied) v., to hang (hung, hung) v. - to hang (hanged, hanged) v [1,74].

Examples:

  • “It’s made out of wood. The skaters would normally perform their stunts and tricks there,” May explains (5, 12).
  • “A half – pipe can be dangerous. Skateboarders wear protective gear,” May points out. “Staying safe is important,” Buzz agrees. “Now where is my notebook?”(5, 13).
  • “Good luck!” Buzz tells May. “Go take the lead in this competition!” “I feel nervous”, May says. “My legs feel as if they are made of lead” (5, 24).
  • “May I sail with you in May?” (9, 31).
  • Mouse: Deer, I’m very glad to have such dear friends (6, 12).
  • But he’s unable to see that Oscar prefer his presence to his presents once in a while…(11).
  • “It’s my birthday present to him.” “I can fill in,” Ollie says. “I’d be happy to present the Big Air Jam, with Buzz” (5, 18).
  • “Dad, buy me a ball!” “Bye, Osc, I’m in a hurry,” answered Mark and hung on (11, 135)
  • “What a nice scent, Nicky! Hilary Duff “With love?” asked Ally. “Ughmn. My father sent it to me last Christmas,” said Nicky climbing the ladder (11, 66)
  • “I’d like to go to the sea. I think it’s amazing to see the autumn sunset,” said Carolyn a bit enigmatically (12, 45).

Antonyms

According to sources [1, 73] and [3, 58], antonyms are words with directly opposite meanings. They can be defined as words whose meanings are opposite to each other. Antonyms can be classified into two main groups.

  • Root antonyms (those which are different root), e.g. long – short, up – down, to start – to finish, etc.
  • Affixal antonyms (in which special affixes or their absence express semantic opposition), e.g. hopeful – hopeless, happy – unhappy, appear – disappear, etc. [1, 73].
  • “Flash Wiggins makes scoring look easy,” Harold tells Cassy. “But beating the goalie is difficult” (8, 210).
  • “Krupp and Smythe worked together to even the score,” Harold adds. “Nothing can tear them apart!” (8, 77).
  • “You can help me make this rough ice smooth again!” says the driver (8, 93).
  • Father Bear “I’m Father Bear, and I sit in this great big chair.” Baby Bear “I’m Baby Bear and I sit in that little chair” (10, 23).
  • “Ah, but sometimes it is more courageous to do the right thing, than rebel and do the wrong thing, you know,” she said softly, meeting my eye (11, 119).
  • He blushed and suddenly paled from nerves at the situation he was in (11, 25).
  • “Oh, no, Nicky!! For you it’s hard, but for me…it’s very easy. I have known him for ages” (11, 81).
  • “And then we couldn’t sleep in the spacious room after being promised. But I suppose, it will be better to sleep in narrow rooms” (4, 211).
  • Anne had a young, brighter face and more delicate features than the others; Marilla saw at her and felt herself old enough to change her life (4, 267).
  • “I can; and A-n-n looks dreadful, but A – n – n - e looks so much more distinguished, but call me Cordelia! It looks wonderful!” (4, 43).

List of literature

  • Anna Prokos. Half-Pipe Homonyms / Prokos Anna. – Gareth Stevens, 2009. – 27 p.
  • Any Talbot. Deer and His Dear Friends: a tale from India / Talbot Any. – Benchmark Education Company, 2006. – 16 p.
  • Catherine Alliot. The Real Thing / Alliot Catherine. – Headline Book Publishing, 1996. – 471 p.
  • Claudia Pattison. Wow! / Pattison Claudia. – Pan Books, 2001. – 374 p.
  • Judy Goodard. Fun with homonyms / Goodard Judy. – Industry Way Westminster, 2005. – 43 p.
  • Karma Wilson. Bear stays up for Christmas / Wilson Karma. – Margaret K. McElderry Books, 2011. – 40 p.
  • Melissa Nathan. Learning Curve / Nathan Melissa. – Arrow Books, 2006. – 549 p.
  • Robert Waller. The Bridges of Madison County / Waller Robert. – Great Britain: Mandarin Paperbacks, 1995. – 171 p.
Updated: Feb 21, 2024
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Understanding Homonyms and Antonyms: A Linguistic Analysis. (2016, Nov 01). Retrieved from https://studymoose.com/homonyms-and-antonyms-essay

Understanding Homonyms and Antonyms: A Linguistic Analysis essay
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