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Patterns of Semantic Change in Formation of English Synonyms LITHUANIAN UNIVERSITY OF EDUCATIONAL SCIENCES FACULTY OF PHILOLOGY DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH PHILOLOGY KAMILIA PUNCEVIČ PATTERNS OF SEMANTIC CHANGE IN FORMATION OF ENGLISH SYNONYMS MA THESIS Academic advisor: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Eglė Petronienė Vilnius, 2016 LIETUVOS EDUKOLOGIJOS UNIVERSITETAS FILOLOGIJOS FAKULTETAS ANGLŲ FILOLOGIJOS KATEDRA ANGLŲ KALBOS SINONIMŲ REIKŠMIŲ KAITOS DĖSNINGUMAI Magistro darbas Magistro darbo autorė Kamilia Puncevič Patvirtinu, kad darbas atliktas savarankiškai, naudojant tik darbe nurodytus šaltinius (Parašas, data) Vadovas doc. dr. Eglė Petronienė (Parašas, data) 2 CONTENTS ABSTRACT………………………………………………………………………….4 INTRODUCTION…………………...……………………………………………….5 1. KEY CONCEPTS IN THE STUDIES OF SYNONYMY………………………...7 1.1. The Concept and Criteria of Synonymy in English...……………..……..9 1.2. Classification of Synonyms………...……………………………………12 1.3. Sources of Synonyms…..…………………………………………….….15 2. HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE………..….17 3. SEMANTIC CHANGE IN ENGLISH………………………………………..…..20 3.1. The Concept of Semantic Change..…………..………………………….20 3.2. Causes of Semantic Change.....………………….………………………21 3.3. Classifications of Semantic Change....…………………………….…….21 4. ANALYSIS OF SEMANTIC CHANGE IN SYNONYMY……..……………….25 4.1. Quantitative analysis…………………………………………………….26 4.2. Qualitative analysis……………………………………………….……..39 4.2.1. Semantic changes of OFFER, READ and their synonyms……39 4.2.2. Semantic changes of LARGE, GREAT and their synonyms.....42 4.2.3. Semantic changes of WORLD, TIME and their synonyms.......45 4.2.4. Patterns of formation of meaning……………………………..48 CONCLUSIONS……………………………...……………………………………..53 SUMMARY…………………………………………………………………………54 REFERENCES...……………………………………………………………………55 APPENDICES …………......……………………………………………………….58 3 Abstract The development of a language is stimulated by linguistic, historical and social causes and results in changes at all language levels. Language contact and loanwords basically cause the formation of synonyms. English synonyms not only vary etymologically, but also exhibit a variety of semantic changes they underwent to be anchored in the English vocabulary. This paper addresses the question what is the relationship between the origin of words, the period of time, part of speech the words within synonymic group belong to and the type of semantic changes the words undertake. To test the relationship, the most frequently used twenty-three headwords of the English language were chosen from the wordlist in the British National Corpus. The twenty-three synonymic groups made total of 122 words. The paper set out to point out their diachronic features and analyze the formation of meaning of words within a synonymic group. The aim of the research was achieved by employing qualitative and quantitative research methods. The research focused on two traditions of changes in meaning - amelioration and pejoration as well as broadening and narrowing -- proposed and defined by a number of linguists: Kleparski (1988), Kiełtyka (2006), Grygiel and Kleparski (2007) Yu, Ren (2013). After the primary meanings of the words were found out, changes in the meanings of synonymous words by comparison to the modern meanings were identified; then, the patterning of the changes of word meanings within a synonymic group was established. Chai square and ANOVA quantitative methods were used to identify and compare the semantic changes the synonymous words originating from one and the same language underwent. The analysis has revealed the archetypal patterns of semantic change relating to the period of time when the words within synonymic groups started functioning in the English language. Also, the analysis showed that there is a tendency of broadening of meaning of words within synonymic groups in English. 4 Introduction The theory of Semantic Change explains how linguistic expressions may change their meaning over time. It was the principal achievement of the 19th century linguists when they not only realized the importance of linguistic change more clearly than their predecessors, but also put its scientific investigation by means of the comparative method (Ivic, 2015). Some linguists in the early 20th century maintained an active interest in language change of various forms including semantic (Riddel, 1999). Evaluating the history of the English language it can be inferred that from the semantic point of view, the influence of other languages on English resulted in formation of synonyms; besides other effects on vocabulary. Native lexical items and borrowings undergo particular changes in meaning to function in the language and thus enter synonymic word groups. Semantic changes have long been studied to identify their causes and classify the types (Riddel, 1999); however, this research focuses only on two traditions that distinguish the following changes in meaning: amelioration and pejoration; broadening and narrowing. These particular changes are chosen for the analysis as some scholars reckon that ‘broadening’ and ‘narrowing’ are the main kinds of semantic change; while others (e.g. metonymy, litotes, pejoration, amelioration etc.) are merely subtypes (Campbell, 2004). As far as changes in meanings such as ‘pejoration’ and ‘melioration’ often excite people (e.g. silly which meant ‘happy, innocent, pitiable’ but later came to mean ‘foolish, stupid’); these semantic changes were chosen for the analysis as separate kinds of semantic change (Campbell, 2004). Taking into consideration that the language evolves slowly, but it is a continuous and unavoidable process, there is necessity of more extensive investigations on semantic change (Riemer, 2010). Consequently, the research question guiding this study is: • What is the relationship between the origin of a word and the types of semantic change the word undergoes? • What is the relationship between the part of speech of a word and the types of semantic change the word undergoes? • What is the relationship between the time (historical period) a word enters the language and the types of semantic change the word undergoes? The aim of the research is to set the patterns of the development of meaning of words within a synonymic group. To achieve the aim, the following objectives of the research were set: 5 • to reveal the etymological variety of English synonyms, • to determine the semantic changes words of similar meanings undergo in their historical development, • to establish the factors determining the change of meaning of words having similar meanings. Novelty of the research The research is topical because it is intended to add a new dimension to the investigation of English synonyms: by incorporating the two approaches – synchronic and diachronic – the analysis reveals the sources, relationship and patterns of development of meaning of words within synonymic groups in the English language. Significance of the research The research contributes to the historical semantics studies of language by reviving the ways of how the meaning of the lexicon of a language develops. The results of this study can be used as the background material for further research into synonymy and semantic change. From the practical point of view, this study could be useful for teaching semantic potential of the language. Methods of the research The analysis sets out to analyze English synonyms from the diachronic point of view. The aim of the research is achieved by employing qualitative and quantitative research methods. First of all, the analytical-descriptive method is used as the entries are analyzed and their origin and development of their meanings is described. Then, the quantitative method is adopted, which helps to establish the most common patterns of formation of meaning of synonymy in English and relationship between semantic changes and such variables as parts of speech, origin, the period of time. 6 The scope of the research The research is based on 23 headwords, which were chosen according to their frequency of occurrence from the list in the British National Corpus. The headwords were derived from the research-based project Word Frequencies in Written and Spoken English: Based on the British National Corpus (Leech, Rayson & Wilson, 2001). On the list of the most frequently used words in English, the development of meaning throughout the history of some words was unknown; for this reason, these words were omitted. As a result, the selected 23 words include the following notional parts of speech: nouns, verbs and adjectives. Their synonyms, which count 99 words, are derived from Webster’s New Dictionary of Synonyms and Oxford Learner’s Thesaurus. The qualitative analysis of all 23 synonymic groups is carried out. The Etymological dictionary (www.etymonline.com) is used for the analysis of development of meaning of 23 synonymic groups (all in all 122 words). 23 synonymic groups appeared to be enough and were chosen in order to obtain tangible results and to establish the prevailing patterns of semantic change and relationship between semantic changes and such variables as parts of speech, origin, the period of time. 7 1. KEY CONCEPTS IN THE STUDIES OF SYNONYMY In language study, there are numerous terms to consider. The present work is related to lexicology, historical linguistics, synonymy, semantics and linguistic change. Lexicology combines a number of different areas of interest; consequently, it is closely connected with historical linguistics as it is focused not only on the study of the relationships between various words and the labeling of types of
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