evelopment of two or more different words. The latter is the most potent factor in the creation of homonyms. p align="justify">. The most debatable problem of homonymy is the demarcation line between homonymy and polysemy, ie between different meanings of one word and the meanings of two or more phonemically different words.
. The criteria used in the synchronic analysis of homonymy are:
) the semantic criterion of related or unrelated meanings;
) the criterion of spelling;
) the criterion of distribution, and
) the criterion of context.grammatical and lexico-grammatical homonymy the reliable criterion is the criterion of distribution. In lexical homonymy there are cases when none of the criteria enumerated above is of any avail. In such cases the demarcation line between polysemy and homonymy is rather fluid. 'p>. The problem of discriminating between polysemy and homonymy in theoretical linguistics is closely connected with the problem of the basic unit at the semantic level of analysis.applied linguistics this problem is of the greatest importance in lexicography and also in machine translation. Homonyms are words different in meaning but identical in sound or spelling, or both in sound and spelling. Homonyms can appear in the language not only as the result of the split of polysemy, but also as the result of leveling of grammar inflexions, when different parts of speech become identical in their outer aspect, eg «Care» from «care» and «care» from «careen». They can be also formed by means of conversion, eg «To slim» from «slim», «to water» from «water». They can be formed with the help of the same suffix from the same stem, eg «Reader» - a person who reads and a book for reading.can also appear in the language accidentally, when two words coincide in their development, eg two native words can coincide in their outer aspects: «to bear» from «beran»/to carry/and «bear» from «bera»/an animal /. A native word and a borrowing can coincide in their outer aspects, eg «Fair» from Latin «feria» and «fair« from native fagen/blond /. Two borrowings can coincide e.g. «Base» from the French «base»/​​Latin basis/and «base»/​​low/from the Latin «bas»/Italian «basso» /. Can develop through shortening of different words, eg «Cab» from «cabriolet», «cabbage», «cabin». A more detailed classification was given by I.V. Arnold. He classified only perfect homonyms and suggested four criteria of their classification: lexical meaning, grammatical meaning, basic forms and paradigms.to these criteria IV Arnold pointed out the following groups :) homonyms identical in their grammatical meanings, basic forms and paradigms and different in their lexical meanings, eg «Board» in the meanings «a council» and «a piece of wood sawn thin» ;) homonyms identical in their...
