Notes on semantic change
Types of figurative language
| Type
| The figurative and literal meaning are related by ...
| Example
|
| Metaphor
| Analogy (conceptual similarity)
| sharp for 'intelligent' (a sharp mind handles mental stuff
like problems the way a sharp knife handles physical stuff like cheese)
|
| Metonymy
| Contiguity (more or less accidental association)
| digit for 'number (especially in an array)' (people used to
count numbers on their fingers)
|
| Synecdoche (pars pro toto)
| Part for whole (or vice versa)
| head for 'animal', as in 50 head of cattle
|
| Irony
| Polarity reversal
| nice in a nice mess
|
Common instances of metonymy:
- Body parts for units of measurements based on those body parts
- Objects in nature for their typical colors
- Names of locations (toponyms) for institutions, industries,
or activities typically carried out at the location.
In general, the broadening of a term's meaning involves figurative
language of the types listed above. But there are also instances where
the basis of the broadening is very idiosyncratic (though arguably still
falling under the very general umbrella of metonymy). We'll see some
examples below.
Other sources of meaning change
| Contextual vagueness leading to misunderstanding
| peruse 'read thoroughly' > 'skim'
|
| want 'lack' > 'desire'
|
| Bleaching
| terribly 'frighteningly' > 'very'
|
-
Bleaching very often affects intensifiers.
-
It's only the intensifier function that's affected (adverbs are
bleached, but the corresponding adjectives aren't).
-
The original meaning of the affected words is often negative
(awful, terrible, etc., arguably excessive, though
not vast).
-
There must be some psycholinguistic connection with one of the functions
of cursing (as we'll later on in the course) - the emphatic function.
What do you think the connection might be?
Semantic chain shifts
|
| 'living flesh'
| 'flesh as food'
| 'nourishment'
|
| Older English
| flesh
| meat
| food
|
| Modern English
| flesh
| meat
| food
|
|
| 'walk'
| 'run'
| 'jump, leap'
| 'hop'
|
| Proto-Germanic
|
|
| hlaupan-
|
|
| Standard German
| gehen
| laufen
| springen
| hüpfen
|
| Southern German
| laufen
| springen
| hüpfen
|
Iterations
Hidden body parts
What body parts are involved in the etymology of the following words?
- bonfire
- chef
- chief
- daisy
- digital
- maneuver
- impediment
- inoculate
- isosceles
- linguistics
- octopus
- pentagon
- per capita
- sangfroid
- window
Semantic change from a single source, or more than one source?
For each item on the list below, consider the two (or more) meanings. In
some cases, the items have two distinct spellings, each associated with
its own meaning.
- For each item on the list, are the meanings associated with a single
etymon that has undergone semantic change, or with more than one
distinct etymon? Give the etymon(s) in question and the associated
meaning(s).
- For each case of semantic change, describe the relationship between
the literal and the figurative meaning.
Example:
-
tongue, 'oral muscle' vs. 'language'
- Both meanings go back to OE tunge (OED Online, Etymonline),
which can be traced further back at least to Germanic (OED Online) or
even to PIE (Etymonline).
-
Metonymy. The tongue is involved in producing most sounds of
spoken language.
Aside: In English, the literal sense of 'tongue' remains salient enough
so that sign languages can't be referred to as sign tongues. In this
respect, English differs from languages where the word for 'tongue' is
also the ordinary word for 'language'. In French, for instance, the word
is langue, and the French name for French Sign Language
is Langue des Signes Française.
Some especially salient examples:
- flour vs. flower
- left, right directional vs. political sense (progressive
vs. conservative)
- premises 'basis for conclusion in logic' vs. 'house or building'
- stor(e)y 'narrative' vs. 'floor of a building'
Other examples:
- arm(s) 'human forelimbs' vs. 'weapons'
- bank 'edge of river' vs. 'financial institution'
- blue 'color between green and violet' vs. 'sad'
- board 'piece of wood' vs. 'meals as part of a residential arrangement'
- bud 'small protuberance' vs. 'friend'
- calf 'young bovine' vs. 'lower leg in human'
- chair 'piece of furniture' vs. 'person who runs an
organization or meeting'
- chest 'upper torso' vs. 'piece of furniture'
- complement vs. compliment
- corn 'grain' vs. 'painful callus'
- cure 'heal' vs. 'prepare leather'
- dress 'put on clothes' vs. 'prepare food (such as salad)'
- ear 'organ of hearing' vs. 'fruit-bearing stalk of grain'
- eye 'organ of seeing' vs. 'center of storm'
- fair 'just' vs. 'beautiful, light-complexioned (archaic)'
- fan 'cooling device' vs. 'enthusiastic supporter'
- fresh 'not stale' vs. 'mildly rude'
- general 'high-ranking military officer' (n.) vs. 'opposite
of special' (adj.)
- gentle 'not cruel' vs. 'noble, upper-class'
- hip 'body part just below waist' vs. 'fruit of rose'
vs. 'up-to-date' (adj.)
- host 'inviter of guests' vs. 'group of (armed) individuals'
- impertinent 'irrelevant' vs. 'mildly rude'
Auto-antonyms
The following two items are what we might call auto-antonyms (that is,
one and the same form has more or less opposite meanings). Answer the
same questions as for the preceding section.
- cleave 'split' vs. 'be tightly attached to'
- let 'permit' vs. 'prohibit'
- moot 'debatable' vs. 'not worth debating'
- table, v. 'take off agenda' (U.S.) vs. 'put on agenda' (British)
On a related note: public school 'school financed by tax money'
(i.e. not a private school) vs. British 'boarding school, as
opposed to private tutor' (i.e., very much a private school).
Faux amis ('false friends')
What's the semantic relation between the English words and their foreign
faux amis?
-
English actual 'real, not imaginary' vs. French actuel,
German aktuell, etc. 'current'
- English gift vs. German Gift 'poison'
Miscellaneous
-
How has the meaning of the following words changed?
-
What has gone wrong in with the following example?
-
The notion of 'moon' underlies both croissant and lunatic.
Explain. What is the basis for the relationship between 'moon' and each
of the two words of interest (metaphor, metonymy, synedoche, etc.)?
-
The following words all have a literal meaning and a figurative meaning.
The figurative meanings are all from the same domain. How are the two
meanings related?
- bento box
- döner
- hamburger
- hot dog
- kebab
- meatballs