Homonyms and their meanings. Types of lexical homonyms

In many languages ​​of the planet there is such a thing as homonymy. It is based on the fact that words and morphemes that are the same in sound and spelling have different meanings. They are called "homonyms". Examples of them are found all over the place. We use them very often in ordinary speech.

Homonyms

Examples confirming this phenomenon are known to many. These are common words:

• "bow" in the meanings of plant and weapon;
• "escape", in one case denoting a young branch, and in another - unauthorized hasty departure.

Out of context, it is difficult to determine exactly what meaning these homonyms are used in. Example sentences with words will demonstrate this phenomenon clearly.

• Green onions are especially good in vegetable salads.
• The boy was given a toy bow and arrow for his birthday.
• The apple tree gave a young shoot, but the gardener pruned it in the fall.
• The Count of Monte Cristo escaped from prison in a creative way, replacing the prisoner's corpse with himself.

Examples of phrases will help to understand what homonyms mean:

• "green onions" and "accurate onions";
• "maiden spit" and "river spit";
• "three apples" and "three rag stain".

This phenomenon is quite entertaining, therefore it is often used by Russian language teachers as an entertainment technique in studying the subject, a way to expand vocabulary and the horizons of the students.

Games with homonyms in the classroom and extracurricular activities

To conduct this competition, you should prepare pairs of words that have the same pronunciation and spelling, but completely different meanings. Only meanings are offered to players, and the words themselves (you can use one spelling for both) are hidden under a cardboard picture that will serve as a point token, for example, a tree leaf template, an apple, a gold ingot. The participant who correctly named the homonyms receives this emblem after the correct answer as a point. At the end of the game, token points are counted up and a winner is chosen.

Homonyms are suitable for the competition, examples of which may be as follows (it should be recalled that only pictures are presented to participants and viewers, the words themselves are closed):

• "shop" as a piece of furniture and a medium-sized outlet;
• the word "lama", acting in one sense as an animal, and in another - as a Tibetan monk.

At the lesson, you can offer students one or two pairs of words. This task will take only a few minutes, and the benefits will be enormous. Indeed, in addition to the above, this type of activity generates and strengthens interest in the study of the Russian language.

Homonymy and polysemy

Many words have more than one meaning. Coinciding in spelling, they differ lexically. It is necessary to distinguish between homonyms and polysemantic words. Examples of polysemy are also quite common. For example, two words pronounced as "key" can act as homonyms in the following way:

• spring and device for opening.

But in the meanings of "violin", "spanner", "from door lock"," jar sealer ""key" is one word. This is an amazing linguistic feature, which should already be considered as a phenomenon of polysemy. Indeed, in each of the listed options, the ability of the key to open something appears: a musical string or some object. This is one word from different meanings, not different homonyms.

There are a great many examples of such polysemantic words in Russian speech. Sometimes it is quite difficult to separate them from homonyms.

Polysemy sometimes comes from the transition of the name by external resemblance. This is

• "sleeve" - ​​a separate riverbed and part of the shirt;
• "tape" - a device for a girl's hairstyle and long road, the moving part of the conveyor.

The ambiguity of these words arose from the outward similarity of some features. For example, a sleeve in clothing is separated from a common large object. And the branching of the channel resembles the same phenomenon. Actually, the word “trouser leg” could have appeared in this version, but for some reason the Russian people chose the “sleeve”.

The tape is a narrow long object. Apparently, the person who invented the conveyor saw the similarity of its moving part with a device for a girl's hairstyle. This is how the name transition, the phenomenon of polysemy, took place.

Etymological homonymy

A group of words refers to homonyms unambiguously, since their very origin is already different. Therefore, in the task “Give examples of homonyms that differ etymologically”, you need to pick up such words that came into Russian speech from different languages. To do this, look into the etymological dictionary.

These are the word "boron", denoting chemical element, and its homonym is pine forest. The first noun came into Russian speech from the Persian language, where it sounded like "borax", that is, a compound of boron. The name of the pine forest is of Slavic origin.

Some linguists believe that the existence of the phenomenon of homonymy should be recognized only where the very etymology of words differs.

The same linguists do not see homonymy in the noun "ether" as organic matter and in the meaning of "broadcasting and television". After all, historically both words have a common etymology. They came from the ancient Greek root αἰθήρ, which means "mountain air". And if the task says: “Give examples of homonyms,” and the respondent uses the word “ether” in two meanings, then these scientists will consider the answer incorrect.

Disputes of linguists about polysemy and homonymy

However, not everyone can offhand determine the historical origin of words. Often this requires special dictionaries. Therefore, most people see that the meanings of the word "ether" are completely different and classify them as homonyms. Therefore, some linguists also do not see ambiguity here. The explanatory dictionary also refers them to different words with different meanings.

Examples of homonyms that cause controversy among linguists are as follows:

• “braid” in the meaning of a hairstyle and a mowing tool, since some argue that there is a transition of the name here according to external similarity (thin and long);
• "pen" as a tool for writing, a device for opening, turning on, since some people determine polysemy by the fact that they have something in common in the mode of action (they write and open with their hands);
• "feather" in the sense of "pen" and as a skin horn formation of birds and some dinosaurs, considering that the first meaning came to the word from the historical way of writing with bird feathers.

Some linguists refer to homonymy all words in which polysemy can be traced. They consider polysemy only a special case.

Full homonyms

Linguists divide words that have the same pronunciation and spelling and have different meanings into two groups. One category includes those belonging to one grammatical category full lexical homonyms. Examples of these: "scythe", "tongue", "escape", "key" and others. In all their forms, these words coincide both in spelling and in pronunciation.

Incomplete or partial homonyms

There are also words that coincide only in some forms. These are grammatical homonyms. Examples of this phenomenon often refer to different parts speeches:

• "three" - 2nd person singular verb imperative mood with the initial form "rub" and "three" - a cardinal number;
• “oven” is an indefinite verb and “oven” is a noun female singular;
• "saw" is a feminine singular past tense verb and "saw" is a feminine singular noun.

Grammatical homonymy is also observed in words belonging to the same part of speech. For example, the verbs of the 1st person singular of the present tense "fly". The first word is defined as an action related to medicine. Already the infinitive will sound like "treat". And the second verb has initial form"fly" refers to the act of flying.

Partial homonymy is observed in words of the same grammatical category. This happens when words differ in only one form. For example, two nouns "weasel" - an animal and a manifestation of tenderness - do not coincide only in the genitive case plural. These homonyms will look like “weasels” and “weasels” in this form.

Homonyms and homophones

Some confuse the phenomenon of homonymy with others. For example, homophones are words that sound the same but have different meanings but are spelled differently. These are not homonyms! Examples of words that are homophones show this feature.

• “Cat” is a pet, and “code” is most often a certain set of characters or sounds.

Everyone will notice that these words should be written in different ways. But by ear to catch the difference is almost impossible. The word "code" must be pronounced with a stunning final consonant. This is where the sound similarity comes from.

Homonymy and homography

There are other linguistic phenomena similar to the one we are considering. For example, homographs are interesting because they are the same in spelling, but are pronounced differently, most often due to stress. They are also not homonyms. Examples of homograph words are as follows:

• gate - gate;
• castle - castle;
• smell - smell.

Homographs are also interesting for composing tasks for contests and games. With the help of picture riddles in which homographs are encrypted, linguistic activities can be diversified.

graphic homonyms- see homographs...

Homonyms- (from Greek ὁμός identical and ονομα name) different in meaning, but identical in spelling and sounding units of the language (words, morphemes, etc.). The term was introduced by Aristotle. Not to be confused with homophones. Contents 1 Classification 2 Examples 2.1 Words ... Wikipedia

graphic homonyms- see homographs... Terminological dictionary-thesaurus on literary criticism

homonymy- Homonyms (from Greek ὁμός identical and ονομα name) different in meaning, but identical in spelling and sounding units of the language (words, morphemes, etc.). The term was introduced by Aristotle. Not to be confused with homophones. Contents 1 Classification 2 Examples 2.1 Words ... Wikipedia

Homonym- This term has other meanings, see Homonym (meanings). Homonyms (other Greek ὁμός identical + ὄνομα name) are different in meaning, but the same in sound and spelling units of the language (words, morphemes, etc.). The term has been introduced ... ... Wikipedia

ambiguous term

Ambiguous term- A term (from lat. terminus limit, border) is a word or phrase that accurately and meaningfully names a concept and its relationship with other concepts within a special sphere. Terms serve as specializing, restrictive designations ... ... Wikipedia

homographs- (from Greek homos the same + grapho I write) different words matched in spelling (but not in pronunciation). Rubric: language. figuratively means of expression Synonym: graphic homonyms Antonym/correlative: homonyms Genus ... Terminological dictionary-thesaurus on literary criticism

Expressive means of language- - a concept that is defined differently in the specialized literature due to the ambiguous interpretation of the category of expressiveness (see: Expressiveness of speech). In the works of some researchers V. s. identified with stylistic figures(see, for example... Stylistic encyclopedic Dictionary Russian language

Homonyms are words that are identical in sound composition, but not related in meaning: lezginka (dance) - lezginka (woman); rook (piece in chess) - rook (ship); ambassador (method of procurement of products) - ambassador (diplomat). The same external sound-letter and grammatical form of homonyms makes communication difficult, since distinguishing their meaning is possible only in context, in combination with other words. Homonyms whose examples show this cannot be understood without context: profitable proposition- impersonal offer; buds open - cure buds; right hand- right (innocent).

Types and examples of homonyms in Russian

Complete lexical homonymy is the coincidence of words related to the same part of speech in all forms: month (calendar) - month (luminary), assembly of a car (from the verb to collect) - assembly on fabric (fold), motive (musical) - motive (behavior), read (book) - read (adults, parents), outfit (order) - outfit (clothing), note (diplomatic) - note (musical). Incomplete lexical homonymy implies a coincidence in spelling and sounding of words belonging to the same part of speech, not in all forms: stingray (wheel; inanimate) - stingray (to the river; inanimate) - stingray (fish; animate); dig a hole perfect view- bury) - bury the medicine (perfect form - bury); cancer (river animal) - cancer (disease, has only a single number).

There are homonyms, examples of which can be seen below, associated with grammatical and sound change: mouth - gender (pronounced as [mouth]); three (from the verb to rub) - three (number); pair (boots) - (clubs) pair; oven (pies) - (Russian) oven.

Homonyms: examples and types by structure

1. root. They have a non-derivative basis: marriage (factory) and marriage (happy), peace (reigns in the family and the state) and peace (the Universe).
2. Derivative homonyms are the result of word formation: drill (drill song) and drill forest.

Phonetic, grammatical and graphic homonyms: examples of use

Homophones (phonetic homonyms) are words that are identical in sound composition, but different in spelling (letter composition): mushroom and flu, code and cat, fort and ford, illuminate and consecrate, people and fierce.

Homographs (letter, graphic homonyms) are words that have the same alphabetic composition, but differ in pronunciation: shelves - shelves, horns - horns, atlas - atlas, soar - soar (the stress in these words falls on different syllables).

Homoforms - coincidence of grammatical forms of one word or different words: window glass (noun) - glass on the floor (verb time to go - summer time; hunting (for predators) and hunting (desire); popsicle ice cream - frozen meat (noun and adjective) ; return in the spring - enjoy the spring (adverb and noun); flow on the floor - close up the leak (verb and noun).

Pun and homonyms: examples of words and casual statements

It is necessary to be careful in the use of homonyms, since in some situations homonymy can distort the meaning of the statement and lead to comedy. For example, the words of the commentator football match: "In today's match, the players left without goals" - can be understood in two ways. And even writers are not immune from such speech incidents:

• "Have you heard?"
• "One cannot be indifferent to evil."

Homonyms are words that sound and are spelled the same, but have nothing in common in meaning. The term comes from the Greek language: homos - "same", onima - "name". Let's say onion- plant and onion- weapons for throwing arrows, drown stove and sink ships.

Consider types of homonyms.

1. Some words are spelled the same but pronounced differently: lock and lock, p'arit(linen, vegetables) and steam(in the clouds), st`oit(bread in the store) and worth it(car, tree). Such words are called homographs , which in Greek means "spelling the same way."

2. There are words that are pronounced the same way, but they need to be written differently. For instance, pond and rod, metal and metal, five and span. This homophones , translated from Greek - "the same sounding".

Among the homophones there are many such pairs that do not coincide in all their forms, but in some or even one. If you start changing words by cases and numbers, then you immediately find a difference in their sound. Let's say by the pond, to the pond – two rods, hit with a rod. Word " three" can also be a numeral ( three apples, three things) and verb ( three strong!). But not all forms of these words will match: to rub, ter – three, three. The same forms of different words are called homoforms .

Homonyms can be a hindrance in linguistic communication, they are especially difficult for a translator. In this case, the context helps, because in natural conversation, words are rarely used in isolation. From the context, it is easy enough to guess what meaning is meant: This is a very simple example. - Simple equipment is quite expensive.

§ 51. Homonymy and its types

The polysemy of words is a large and multifaceted problem, various issues of lexicology are associated with it, in particular, the problem of homonymy. Homonyms – words that sound the same but have different meanings. The relationship between polysemy and homonymy is historically conditioned. With the development of the language, “the same inner shell of the word is overgrown with shoots of new meanings and meanings” [Vinogradov V. V. 1947: 14]. Homonyms in a number of cases arise from a polysemy that has undergone a process of destruction: fist- hand with clenched fingers and fist- a wealthy peasant, a good strong owner, and then fist - peasant exploiter (class definition). The problem of distinguishing between polysemy and homonymy is complex; linguists offer various criteria for breeding these phenomena. There are several approaches.

O.S. Akhmanova built the distinction between polysemy and homonymy, first of all, taking into account the nature of the relationship of the word with objective reality. If each of the meanings is an independent name of a certain object of the surrounding world and is independent of any other object, then these meanings belong to different homonymous words. For example: hail (city) and hail (precipitation); scythe (hairstyle), scythe (shallow) and scythe (tool).

E. M. Galkina-Fedoruk was of the opinion that the distinction between polysemy and homonymy should be carried out by selecting synonyms. If the synonyms have nothing in common, then these are homonyms: boron (drill) - boron (coniferous forest) - boron (chemical element).

A number of scientists, without rejecting the named criteria, also suggested taking into account derivational features: for example, reaction as a term of different sciences has different derivational rows: reaction (biol., chem.) reagent, reactive, reactivity; reaction(polit.) - reactionary, reactionary, reactionary.

Homonyms often have different syntactic compatibility, different forms of control: care from work and care for a child, for flowers; change plan, but change homeland. However, these delimitation criteria are not universal, so sometimes there are discrepancies in dictionaries. The sources of homonymy are as follows:

Homonyms are a product of the breakdown of polysemy: drying - drying and drying - type of product (steering wheel).

Derivative homonyms: to buy (from the verb "buy") and (from the verb "to bathe").

The consequence of the historical change in the sound image of different words: IS (available) and ЂST (to eat) coincided in sound by the middle of the 18th century: the sound “ê” (closed) or the Old Russian diphthong “ye” (transmitted in writing by the letter Ђ “yat”) became pronounced like [e], so the pronunciation of words ceased to differ. In 1918, a spelling reform was carried out, some letters were abolished, including the letter Ђ, and the above words coincided not only in sound, but also in spelling. Let's take another example. Word Lynx(animal) in ancient times it sounded “ryd” and was the same root with the words blush, red; then "ds" was simplified into "s". Word Lynx how the running of a horse goes back to the Old Russian “rist” (cf. the lists), later the final “t” “disappeared, and the “r” hardened.

The richest source of homonymy are borrowed words, for example: tour (bull - Old Russian) and tour (from French): waltz tour, beam (ravine - from Turkic languages) and beam (log - from German), marriage (marriage - Russian) and marriage (flaw - from German) and others.

Homonyms are divided into full, or proper lexical homonyms, and incomplete homonyms, among which, in turn, several types are distinguished. TO proper lexical homonyms include, for example: English: flaw1 – crack; flaw2 – gust of wind; Russian: light1 - energy; light2 - the world, the universe. These words have the same sound, spelling and refer to the same part of speech. The types of incomplete homonyms are as follows:

1. Homophones - words and forms of different meanings, coinciding in sound, but differing in spelling:

meadow (field) - bow (shooting tool), ball (dance party) - score (score).

2. homographs - words that are different in meaning and sound, but the same in spelling:

atlas (fabric) - atlas (a collection of geographical maps), castle - castle.

3. homoforms (morphological homonyms) - words that coincide in sound and spelling in one or more grammatical forms:

swarm (n.) of bees - swarm (vb.) pit, expensive (n.) - expensive (adj.), new saw (n.) - drank (vb.) coffee, tourniquet (v.) grass - medical tourniquet ( n.).

Adjacent to homonyms paronyms – words that are similar in sound and spelling, but different in meaning. They are sometimes mistakenly used one instead of the other: a subscription (the right to use something) and a subscriber (a person who has a subscription); effective (productive) and spectacular (conspicuous); a secretive (closed) person and a hidden (invisible) mechanism and many others.

Homonyms are words that are different in meaning but have the same sound and spelling.

Word homonym came from the Greek homos - identical + onima - name.

Most homonyms are among nouns and verbs.

Example:

1. DEFEND - protect (defend a friend).

2. DEFEND - to stand (to stand in line).

3. DEFEND - to be at some distance from someone, something. (the airport is five kilometers away from the city).

Reasons for the appearance of homonyms in the language

random word match:

Example:

1. ONION - loans. Garden plant with a spicy taste.

2. ONION - claim.-rus. A hand-held weapon for throwing arrows, made from a flexible, resilient rod (usually wooden) tied into an arc with a bowstring.

coincidence in the formation of new words:

Example:

SEND - send with an order. The person doing the task 1. AMBASSADOR .

SALT - preserve something in a salt solution. Method of salting products - 2. AMBASSADOR .

loss of semantic connection between the meanings of a polysemantic word.

Example:

This happened in ancient times with the word LIGHT :

LIGHT - 1) lighting, 2) earth, world, universe.

These meanings have become so distant that they have lost their semantic connection. Now they are two different words.

1. LIGHT - radiant energy that makes the world around us visible.

2. LIGHT - Earth, world, universe.

Homonyms must be distinguished from polysemantic words. The meanings of homonyms are clear only in phrases and sentences. A single word GENUS unclear. But, if you introduce it into a phrase, it becomes clear what is at stake:

Example:

ancient genus , male genus .

Types of homonyms

Often homonyms, homoforms, homophones and homographs are used in puns - witty expressions, jokes.

Example:

You are NOT MINE this umbrella, because it is NOT MINE, you lost it MUMB.

Use homonyms, homoforms, homophones and homographs in your speech should be very careful. Sometimes they lead to unwanted ambiguity.

Example:

Yesterday I visited the Poetry DAY. Day poetry? Or bottom poetry?

Homonyms are words that have the same sound and spelling but are different in meaning. In the lexical system of the Russian language, there are words that sound the same, but have completely different meanings. In lexicology, two types of homonymous words are distinguished - complete and incomplete (or partial).

Full homonyms are words that match in all grammatical forms, for example: Lavka (1) - “bench” and Lavka (2) - “ small room for trade". In other words, other types of homonymy should be distinguished from lexical homonyms, both full and partial.

Such words are called homoforms. In relation to words belonging to the same parts of speech, linguistics often distinguishes between homonymy and polysemy. Finally, some linguists consider all separate meanings of polysemantic words to be homonyms. In this case, polysemy is a special case of homonymy.

Homoforms (grammatical homonyms) are different words that coincide in separate grammatical forms. In biological taxonomy, the word homonym refers to the coincidence of the names of biological taxa. HOMONYMS - (from the Greek homos - the same + onima - name). Words that belong to the same part of speech and sound the same but have different meanings. The reasons for the appearance of homonyms in the language are different.

So the homonyms onion (plant) - onion (tool) appeared; peace (universe) - peace (silence, absence of war); v Old Russian these words were pronounced and spelled differently. A change in vowels in an unstressed position leads to the consonance of the words rinse and caress, lick and climb, old-timer and guarded. 4. When new words are formed from the roots and affixes available in the language, many homonyms also appear.

However, the divergence of the meanings of a polysemantic word occurs very slowly, and therefore the appearance of homonyms is not always recognized as a completed process. modern science criteria for distinguishing between homonymy and polysemy have been developed, helping to separate the meanings of the same word and homonyms that arose as a result of a complete break in polysemy. 1. A lexical way of distinguishing between polysemy and homonymy is proposed, which consists in identifying synonymous relations between homonyms and polysemantics.

See what "full homonyms" are in other dictionaries:

There are times when synonyms for different values words do not enter into synonymous relations with each other when the homonymous words have not yet diverged during word formation. However, in different dictionaries, sometimes the same words are presented differently.

12. Highlight homonyms, homoforms, homographs, homophones in sentences. Fomina M.I. offers a more extensive definition: lexical homonyms are two or more words of different meanings that coincide in spelling, pronunciation and grammatical design. In the broad sense of the word, homonyms are sometimes called different language units that coincide in sound.

They should be distinguished from phenomena that lexicology does not study, although it mentions them, comparing them with homonyms. 1) Phonetic homonymy - the coincidence of words only in sound: Pond - rod, Carry - lead, Code - cat Such words are called homophones. The proximity of paronymic words in sound and the common root in them is the main source of errors in their use.

This example shows that paronyms differ not only in meaning, but also in compatibility with other words. Homonymy is a random coincidence of words, while polysemy is the presence of different historically related meanings for a word. However, another part of linguists draws the line between polysemy and homonymy in a different way.

Coinciding words related to different parts of speech, all or almost all Russian linguists unconditionally refer to homonyms. An example of such homonyms are the verb "to flow" (to flow) and the noun "to flow" (to flow). For example, the verbs fly and treat coincide in the form of the 1st person singular of the present tense - I fly. Homoform examples. Homonym - This term has other meanings, see Homonym (meanings).

Homonyms can be words that entered the Russian language from other languages ​​​​and accidentally coincided in sound. known various forms lexical homonymy, as well as related phenomena at other levels of the language (phonetic and morphological). For example, incomplete homonyms: factory (1) - 'industrial enterprise' (metallurgical plant) and factory (2) - 'device for driving a mechanism' (clock factory).

Types of lexical homonyms. Other types of homonymy. Paronyms

Homoforms by their nature go beyond the vocabulary, as they belong to a different level of the language and should be studied in the section of morphology. 1. As a result of borrowing foreign words, there may be a formal coincidence in the sound and spelling of the word “alien” and native Russian.

2. Words that entered the Russian language from different source languages ​​\u200b\u200bmay turn out to be consonant. 5. Homonyms also appear in the language as a result of the coincidence of a newly formed abbreviation with a long-known full-value word. Initially, the letter yat was written in the first of them, and not e. Similarly, the word once (1) (meaning ‘once upon a time’) was also written with the letter yat. Now it is a homonym for once (2) meaning ‘no time’.

1. homoforms - words that coincide only in one grammatical form (less often in several)

However, with the replacement of raw materials for the production of paper (it began to be made from wood), a semantic splitting of a polysemantic word into homonyms took place. One of them (meaning cotton and products made from it) is given in dictionaries in a separate dictionary entry marked obsolete. The transformation of polysemy into homonymy in such cases should not be in doubt.

With incomplete (partial) lexical homonymy, the coincidence in sound and spelling is observed for words belonging to the same part of speech, not in all grammatical forms. The basis for the recognition of these forms different forms, although coinciding in sound, is that they agree with nouns that appear in different cases (moreover, the same append.