Реферат Homonyms in Modern English

of unrelated homonyms will be much smaller than for an uneducated person. The knowledge of etymology and cognate languages ​​will always help to supply the missing links. It is easier, for instance, to see the connection between beam 'a ray of light' and beam 'the metallic structural part of a building' if one knows the original meaning of the word, ie 'Tree' (OE beam, Germ Baum), and is used to observe similar metaphoric transfers in other words. The connection is also more obvious if one is able to notice the same element in such compound names of trees as hornbeam, white beam, etc. The conclusion, therefore, is that in diachronic treatment the only rigorous criterion is that of etymology observed in explanatory dictionaries of the English language where words are separated according to their origin, for example, in the words match1 'a piece of inflammable material you strike fire with '(from OFr mesche , Fr meche ) and match (from OE gemcecca 'fellow'). is interesting to note that out of 2540 homonyms listed in a dictionary only 7% are due to disintegration of polysemy, all the others are etymologically different. One must, however, keep in mind that patterned homonymy is here practically disregarded. This underestimation of regular patterned homonymy tends to produce a false division. Actually the homonymy of nouns and verbs due to the processes of loss of endings on the one hand and conversion on the other is one of the most prominent features of dissent-day English. . It may be combined with semantic changes as in the pair long (adj.) - long (verb). The explanation is that when it seems long before something comes to you, you long for it (long (adj.) comes from OE lang , whereas long (v.) comes from OE langian , so that the excision Me longs means 'it seems long to me' . opposite process of morphemic addition can also result in homonymy. This process is chiefly due to independent word-formation with the same affix or to the homonymy of derivational and functional affixes. The suffix-er forms several words with the same stem: trail - trailer 'a creeping plant' vs. trailer 'a caravan', ie 'a vehicle drawn along by another vehicle'. The suffix-s added to the homonymous stems-arm-gives arms (n.) 'Weapon' and

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