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Chapter – 2
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Chapter 2
SEMANTIC SPACE
2.0 Introduction:
This chapter focuses on ‗semantic space‘ which is used in the craft of
translation. First question arises in one‘s mind that what is semantic space and
follows with another question why it is useful in translation studies.
To answer the first question ‗semantic space‘ can be defined as ‗a set of words
related in meaning‘. To make it more specific, ‗a set of words which cover a
certain conceptual area and which bear certain specifiable relations to one another‘
The words in a semantic space share a common semantic property. Most often,
fields are defined by subject matter, such as body parts, landforms, diseases,
colors, foods, or kinship relations.
Cultural attitudes to particular areas of human activity can often be seen in the
choices of metaphor used when that activity is discussed. A useful linguistic
concept to be aware of here is that of semantic space, sometimes called just space,
or space of meaning.
A distinction can usefully be drawn between a lexical field, as part of the
vocabulary of a specific language at a specific stage in its history, and a
conceptual field, postulated either as a linguistic universal or established across a
range of languages or stages in the history of a language. E.g. a conceptual field of
kinship was represented in Urdu by a lexical field which is different from any of
those representing the same conceptual field in English or the other languages.
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A general and intuitive description is that words in a semantic field are not
synonymous, but are all used to talk about the same general phenomenon. A
meaning of a word is dependent partly on its relation to other words in the same
conceptual area. The kinds of semantic fields vary from culture to culture and
anthropologists use them to study belief systems and reasoning across cultural
groups.
To answer the second question ‗why‘ it is useful, it is because without semantic
space means, lack of word-meaning range and it is really hard to translate words
which is having the variety of meanings of a word, which cannot be handle easily.
So for the sake of good translation, translator must have the knowledge and
understanding of the usefulness of different shades of words, range of words and
their range of meaning. To make the work much more affective and close to
source language (L1) which is translated to target language (L2).
To fulfill this aim, it requires the tremendous knowledge of source language (L1)
and as well as target language (L2). At the same time it also requires the
comprehension of the different cultures of L1 and L2. In other words it can be said
that in translation it is not the words which are translated, but there are cultures
which are translated from source language (L1) to target language (L2).
Therefore for the sake of the understanding and knowledge of types of words/
phrases/ sentence and their meaning this chapter has been divided into following
sections;
2.1 Ambiguity; lexical and syntactic
2.2 Homonymy
2.3 Polysemy
2.4 Theme, Functional and Semantics
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2.5 Conclusion
2.1 Ambiguity: Lexical and Syntactic
Definition
Ambiguity is a condition where information can be understood or interpreted in
more than one way and is distinct from vagueness, which is a statement about the
lack of precision contained or available in the information. Context may play a
role in resolving ambiguity. For example the same piece of information may be
ambiguous in one context and unambiguous in another.
Furthermore ambiguity means ‗doubtfulness of meaning‘, or
uncertainty of intention, that makes a document capable of being understood in
two or more senses.
A word, phrase, or sentence is ambiguous if it has more than one meaning. The
word 'light', for example, can mean not very heavy or not very dark. Words like
'light', 'note', 'bear' and 'over' are ‗lexically‘ ambiguous. They induce ambiguity in
phrases or sentences in which they occur, such as 'light suit' and 'The duchess can't
bear children'.
However, phrases and sentences can be ambiguous even if none of their
constituents is. The phrase 'porcelain egg container' is ‗structurally‘ ambiguous, as
is the sentence 'The police shot the rioters with guns'. Ambiguity can have both a
lexical and a structural basis, as with sentences like 'I left her behind for you' and
'He saw her duck'.
The notion of ambiguity has philosophical applications. For example, identifying
an ambiguity can aid in solving a philosophical problem. Suppose one wonders
how two people can have the same idea, say of a unicorn. This can seem puzzling
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until one distinguishes 'idea' in the sense of a particular psychological occurrence,
a mental representation, from 'idea' in the sense of an abstract, shareable concept.
On the other hand, gratuitous claims of ambiguity can make for overly simple
solutions. Accordingly, the question arises of how genuine ambiguities can be
distinguished from spurious ones. Part of the answer consists in identifying
phenomena with which ambiguity may be confused, such as vagueness, unclarity,
inexplicitness and indexicality.
Types of ambiguity:
William Empson talked about the seven types of ambiguity in his book ‗Seven
Types of Ambiguity’ which was first published in 1930. It was one of the most
influential critical works of the 20th century and was a key foundation work in the
formation of the New Criticism school. The book is organized around seven types
of ambiguity that Empson finds.
Seven Types of Ambiguity ushered in New Criticism in the United States. The
book is a guide to a style of literary criticism practiced by Empson. An ambiguity
is represented as a puzzle to Empson. We have ambiguity when "alternative views
might be taken without sheer misreading".
The highlights of ‗Seven Types of Ambiguity‘ which was described by Empson
are as follows:
1. The first type of ambiguity is the metaphor, that is, when two things are
said to be alike which have different properties. This concept is similar to
that of metaphysical conceit.
2. Two or more meanings are resolved into one. Empson characterizes this as
using two different metaphors at once.
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3. Two ideas that are connected through context can be given in one word
simultaneously.
4. Two or more meanings that do not agree but combine to make clear a
complicated state of mind in the author.
5. When the author discovers his idea in the act of writing. Empson describes
a simile that lies halfway between two statements made by the author.
6. When a statement says nothing and the readers are forced to invent a
statement of their own, most likely in conflict with that of the author.
7. Two words that within context are opposites that expose a fundamental
division in the author's mind.
Commonly there are two types ambiguities are found in the language, whether it is
spoken or written form of language. To translate these two types of ambiguities,
translator has to be very careful. If in translation ambiguous words or phrases or
sentences are not handle properly the whole translated work or text lost its
meaning and it would formulate havoc among readers.
In other words the meaning of ambiguous word or phrase or sentence of language1
(L1) text (source language) from which it is translated to language2 (L2) (target
language) will be misinterpreted and misunderstood.
So for the sake of clarity, before translating the text from source language to target
language, translator must understand and known to these two types of ambiguities.
These two types of ambiguities are as follows;
1. Lexical ambiguity
2. Syntactic/Grammatical/Structural ambiguity
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2.2.1 Lexical Ambiguity: Lexical ambiguity is by far the more common.
Everyday examples include nouns like 'chip', 'pen' and 'suit', verbs like 'call', 'draw'
and 'run', and adjectives like 'deep', 'dry' and 'hard'. There are various tests for
ambiguity. One test is having two unrelated antonyms, as with 'hard', which has
both 'soft' and 'easy' as opposites.
Another is the conjunction reduction test. Consider the sentence, 'The tailor
pressed one suit in his shop and one in the municipal court'. Evidence that the
word 'suit' (not to mention 'press') is ambiguous is provided by the anomaly of the
'crossed interpretation' of the sentence, on which 'suit' is used to refer to an article
of clothing and 'one' to a legal action.
The above examples of ambiguity are each a case of one word with more than one
meaning. However, it is not always clear when we have only one word.
The verb 'desert' and the noun 'dessert', which sound the same but, are spelled
differently, count as distinct words (they are homonyms). So do the noun 'bear'
and the verb 'bear', even though they not only sound the same but are spelled the
same? These examples may be clear cases of homonymy, but what about the noun
'respect' and the verb 'respect' or the preposition 'over' and the adjective 'over'? Are
the members of these pair‘s homonyms or different forms of the same word?
There is no general consensus on how to draw the line between cases of one
ambiguous word and cases of two homonymous words. Perhaps the difference is
ultimately arbitrary.
Sometimes one meaning of a word is derived from another. For example, the
cognitive sense of 'see' seems derived from its visual sense. The sense of 'weigh' in
'He weighed the package' is derived from its sense in 'The package weighed two
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pounds'. Similarly, the transitive senses of 'burn', 'fly' and 'walk' are derived from
their intransitive senses.
Now it could be argued that in each of these cases the derived sense does not
really qualify as a second meaning of the word but is actually the result of a lexical
operation on the underived sense. This argument is plausible to the extent that the
phenomenon is systematic and general, rather than peculiar to particular words.
Lexical semantics has the task of identifying and characterizing such systematic
phenomena. It is also concerned to explain the rich and subtle semantic behavior
of common and highly flexible words like the verbs 'do' and 'put' and the
prepositions 'at', 'in' and 'to'. Each of these words has uses which are so numerous
yet so closely related that they are often described as 'polysemous' rather than
ambiguous.
2.2.2 Syntactic/Grammatical/Structural ambiguity: Structural ambiguity
occurs when a phrase or sentence has more than one underlying structure, such as
the phrases 'Indian history teacher', 'a student of high moral principles' and 'short
men and women', and the sentences 'The girl hit the boy with a book' and 'Visiting
relatives can be boring'. These ambiguities are said to be structural because each
such phrase can be represented in two structurally different ways,
e.g. '[Indian history] teacher' and 'Indian [history teacher]'.
Example from Urdu language [roko] mat jane do „[stop] don‘t let him go‘
[roko mat] jane do „[don‘t stop] let him go‘
Indeed, the existence of such ambiguities provides strong evidence for a level of
underlying syntactic structure. Consider the structurally ambiguous sentence, 'The
chicken is ready to eat', which could be used to describe either a hungry chicken or
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a broiled chicken. It is arguable that the operative reading depends on whether or
not the implicit subject of the infinitive clause 'to eat' is tied anaphorically to the
subject ('the chicken') of the main clause.
It is not always clear when we have a case of structural ambiguity. Consider, for
example, the elliptical sentence, 'Bill knows a richer man than Ronny'. It has two
meanings that Bill knows a man who is richer than Ronny and that Bill knows
man who is richer than any man Ronny knows, and is therefore ambiguous.
But what about the sentence 'John loves his mother and so does Bill'? It can be
used to say either that John loves John's mother and Bill loves Bill's mother or that
John loves John's mother and Bill loves John's mother. But is it really ambiguous?
One might argue that the clause 'so does Bill' is unambiguous and may be read
unequivocally as saying in the context that Bill does the same thing that John does,
and although there are two different possibilities for what counts as doing the
same thing, these alternatives are not fixed semantically. So the ambiguity is
merely apparent and better described as semantic under-determination.
So it can be said that ambiguity is fundamentally a property of linguistic
expressions, people are also said to be ambiguous on occasion in how they use
language. This can occur if, even when their words are unambiguous, their words
do not make what they mean uniquely determinable. Strictly speaking, however,
ambiguity is a semantic phenomenon, involving linguistic meaning rather than
speaker meaning; 'pragmatic ambiguity' is an oxymoron.
Generally when one uses ambiguous words or sentences, one does not
consciously entertain their unintended meanings, although there is
psycholinguistic evidence that when one hears ambiguous words one momentarily
accesses and then rules out their irrelevant senses.
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When people use ambiguous language, generally its ambiguity is not intended.
Occasionally, however, ambiguity is deliberate, as with an utterance of 'I'd like to
see more of you' when intended to be taken in more than one way in the very same
context of utterance.
It is a cliché that what your words convey 'depends on what you mean'. This
suggests that one can mean different things by what one says, but it says nothing
about the variety of ways in which this is possible.
Semantic ambiguity is one such way, but there are others: homonymy, vagueness,
relativity, indexicality, non-literality, indirection and inexplicitness. All these other
phenomena illustrate something distinct from multiplicity of linguistic meaning.
An expression is vague if it admits of borderline cases. Terms like 'bald', 'heavy'
and 'old' are obvious examples, and their vagueness is explained by the fact that
they apply to items on fuzzy regions of a scale.
Terms that can be used to express cluster concepts, like 'intelligent', 'athletic' and
'just', are vague because their instances are determined by the application of
several criteria, no one of which is decisive.
Relativity is illustrated by the words 'heavy' and 'old' (these are vague as well).
Heavy people are lighter than non-heavy elephants, and old cats can are younger
than some young people.
A different sort of relativity occurs with sentences like 'Jane is finished' and 'John
will be late'. Obviously one cannot be finished or late simply but only finished
with something or late for something.
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This does not show that the words 'finished' and 'late' are ambiguous (if they were,
they would be ambiguous in as many ways as there are things one can be finished
with or things one can be late for), but only that such a sentence is semantically
under determinate. It must be used to mean more than what the sentence means.
Indexical terms, like 'you', 'here' and 'tomorrow', have fixed meaning but variable
reference. For example, the meaning of the word 'tomorrow' does not change from
one day to the next, though of course its reference does.
Non-literality, indirection and inexplicitness are further ways in which what a
speaker means is not uniquely determined by what his words mean. They can give
rise to unclarity in communication, as might happen with utterances of 'You're the
icing on my cake', 'I wish you could sing longer and louder', and 'Nothing is on TV
tonight'. These are not cases of linguistic ambiguity but can be confused with it
because speakers are often said to be ambiguous.
From the above it can be drawn that in translation from the source language (L1)
to the target language (L2) besides other hurdles, ambiguous words and
ambiguous sentences also become big barriers which can be very confusing for
translator especially when the translation job is done by machine that means
machine translation.
2.2 Homonymy:
Two or more words identical in sound and spelling but different in meaning,
distribution and in many cases origin are called homonyms. The term is derived
from Greek ‗homonymous‟ homos means – ‗the same‘ and onoma means – ‗name‘
and thus expresses very well the sameness of name combined with the difference
in meaning.
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In linguistics, a homonym is, in the strict sense, one of a group of words that share
the same spelling and the same pronunciation but have different meanings usually
as a result of the two words having different origins. The state of being a
homonym is called homonymy.
In other words, if two words have two different and unrelated meanings but the
same pronunciation or the same spelling, they are called homonyms.
Classifications of Homonyms:
2.2.1 The standard way of classification (given by I.V. Arnold)
The most widely accepted classification is that recognizing homonyms proper,
homophones and homographs.
Table 2.1: Types of Homonymy
PRONUNCIATION PRONUNCIATION
SPELLING
SAME DIFFERENT
SAME A. Homonym proper C. Homograph (or heteronym)
DIFFERENT
B. Homophone (or heteronym)
D. Allonym
Most words differ from each other in both spelling and pronunciation - therefore
they belong to the sell D in this table – they are known as allonyms. Not so many
linguists distinguish this category. But it must be admitted that Keith C. Ivey, in
his discussion of homonyms, recognizes this fact and writes:
These familiar with combinatorics may have noticed that there is a fourth possible
category based on spelling and pronunciation: words that differ in spelling and
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pronunciation as well as meaning and origin (alligator/true). These pairs are
technically known as different words.
Unfortunately, this seemingly neat solution doesn't work because all heteronyms
are different words as Ivey's examples show. He illustrates homophones with
board/bored, clearly two different words though pronounced alike, and his
example of homographs (the verb desert/the noun desert) again shows, by their
pronunciation, that they are different words. Even this example of a homonym --
words having both the same sound and spelling, as illustrated by "to quail and a
quail" -- clearly shows they are different words. Lexicographers underline this
point by writing separate entries for different words, whether or not they have the
same spelling and pronunciation.
One could specify a phrase, like uniquely different words to represent category D,
but this method is clumsy and not transparent. A simpler solution can be found by
means of a neologism. It is not difficult to think of a suitable term.
An allonym is a word that differs in spelling and pronunciation from all other
words, whereas both homonyms and heteronyms identify words that are the same,
in some ways, as other words.
No doubt in ordinary usage, we will have little need for this term, although it
would simplify lexical explanation if one could start by making the claim that the
most words in English are allonyms. The clear exceptions are other groups.
Different words that are spelled and pronounced the same way are classed in cell
A and are correctly called homonyms proper - but some writers, confusingly, call
them heteronyms.
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When different words are spelled the same way but pronounced differently, they
belong to category C. It is precise to call them homographs and they are
sometimes misleadingly called heteronyms. By contrast, when different words are
pronounced the same way but spelled differently, we may properly call
them homophones - rarely, they have also been called heteronyms.
2.2.1.1 Homonyms proper:
Homonyms proper are words, as it has already mentioned, identical in
pronunciation and spelling, like fast and liver.
Table 2.2: Examples of Homonyms proper from English language
Spelling Word Pronunciation Meaning Gloss
S
A
M
E
S
A
M
E
Back S
A
M
E
S
A
M
E
D
I
F
F
E
R
E
N
T
part of the body
Back away from the front
Base Bottom
Base build or place upon
Bay part of the sea
Bay recess in a house or
room
Ball a gathering of people
for dancing
Ball round object used in
games
Bark the noise made by
dog
Bark to utter sharp
explosive cries
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Bark the skin of a tree
Above table shows the few examples of Homonyms proper from English
Language
Table 2.3: Examples of Homonyms proper from Urdu Language
Spelling Word Pronunciation Meaning Gloss
S
A
M
E
S
A
M
E
S پاًا
A
M
E
S
A
M
E
D
I
F
F
E
R
E
N
T
to get
اپاً wrench
leg پایا
pillar پایا
report زپٹ
slip زپٹ
gold سوًا
sleep سوًا
gone گیا
name of the city گیا
lost کھویا
made from the milk کھویا
brain بھیجا
sent بھیجا
Monday پیس
Sufi پیس
Above table shows examples of Homonyms proper from Urdu Language.
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The important point is that homonyms are distinct words: not only different
meanings within one word.
2.2.1.2 Homophones:
Homophones are words of the same sound but of different spelling and meaning:
Table 2.4: Examples of Homophones from English Language
Words Pronunciation
Air Hair
S
A
M
E
S
A
M
E
/ɛər/
Arms Alms /ɑrm/
Buy By /baɪ/
Him Hymn /hɪm/
Knight Night /naɪt/
Meet Meat /mit/
Not Knot /nɒt/
Or Oar /ɔr; unstressed ər/
Piece Peace /pis/
Rain Reign /reɪn/
Scent Cent /sɛnt/
Steel Steal /stil/
Storey Story /ˈstɔr i,/
Sea See /si/
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Scene Seen /sin/
Write Right /raɪt/
The above table shows the examples of Homophones from English Language.
Table 2.5: Examples of Homophones from Urdu Language
Gloss Word Gloss Word Pronunciation
S ط/ت
A
M
E
S
A
M
E
S
A
Comments طعٌہ Threads that
are extended
length wise
TANA تاًا
Tight تاى Music طعي TAAN
Obedient تابع Printer طآبع TABAY
Ready تّیآز Aeroplane طّیاز TAYYAR
Body ستس Line سطس SATTAR
ث/س
Second ثاًی Chopped mix
with grains
SAANI سآًی
Excess کثست Exercise کسست KASRAT
House hold اثاث Foundation اساض ASAAS
Example هثال Photo/snap هسال MISAAL
ص/س
To call صدا Always سدا SADA
Face صوزت Chapters in
Holy Quran
SOORAT سوزت
Waste/ اصساف Lavishly اسساف ASRAAF
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Extra invest M
E
S
A
M
E
Spots بسص Year بسض BARAS
ص/ث
Good
Fortune
Right Saying ثواب
or Doing
SAWAAB صواب
Prose ًثس Victory ًصس NASR
Unborred
pearl
Defended or هٌثوز
Protected
MANSOOR هٌصوز
ظ/ز
Woman شى Opinion/
Notion
ZAN ظي
Assistant ظہیس Low-
spirited/ Thin
ZAHEER شہیس
ظ/ذ
Similar/
Equal
One who ًظیس
terrorizes
NAZEER ًریس
ض/ز
Shrine زوضہ Fasting زوشہ ROZA
Width/
Openness
/Enhancing فضا
Increasing
FIZA اصف
ض/ذ
To draw
together/
Conjunction
ZAM ذم Blame ضن
Fault/ ضاللت Objection/ ذاللت ZALALAT
Presence حضس Reject حرز HAZR
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ح/ھ
Plough ھل Solution حل HAL
Letter of
Urdu
Alphabet
HAMZA حوصہ Lion ہوصہ
Satirist ہاجی One who has
performed
the
pilgrimage to
Mecca
HAJI حاجی
The above table shows the examples of Homophones from Urdu Language.
In the sentence The play-wright on my right thinks it right that some conventional
rite should symbolize the right of every man to write as he pleases the sound
complex [rait] is a noun, an adjective, an adverb and a verb, has four different
spellings and six different meanings. The difference may be confined to the use of
a capital letter as in bill and Bill, in the following example:
“How much is my milk bill?”
“Excuse me, Madam, but my name is John.”
On the other hand, whole sentences may be homophonic: The sons raise meat -
The sun's rays meet. To understand these one needs a wider context. If you hear
the second in the course of a lecture in optics, you will understand it without
thinking of the possibility of the first.
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2.3.1.3 Homographs:
Homographs are words different in sound and in meaning but accidentally
identical in spelling.
Table 2.6: Examples of Homographs from English Language
Spelling Word Pronunciation Meaning
S
A
M
E
S
A
M
E
Bow D
I
F
F
E
R
E
N
T
/bow/ D
I
F
F
E
R
E
N
T
Bow /bau/
Lead /li:d/
Lead /led/
Row /rou/
Row /rau/
Sewer /soue/
Sewer /sjue/
Tear /tie/
Tear /te/
Wind /wind/
Wind /waind
The above table shows the examples of Homographs from English Language; they
have same spelling but pronounce differently.
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Table 2.7: Examples of Homographs from Urdu Language
Spelling Word Pronunciation Meaning Gloss
S
A
M
E
S
A
M
E
D سس
I
F
F
E
R
E
N
T
sir D
I
F
F
E
R
E
N
T
head
sur tone سس
pal moment پل
pul bridge پل
is this اض
us that اض
par feather پس
pur complete پس
tair swim تیس
teer arrow تیس
pair foot پیس
peer monday پیس
The above table shows the examples of Homographs from Urdu Language; they
have same spelling but pronounce differently.
It has been often argued that homographs constitute a phenomenon that should be
kept apart from homonymy, as the object of linguistics is sound language. This
viewpoint can hardly be accepted. Because of the effects of education and culture
written English is a generalized national form of expression. An average speaker
does not separate the written and oral form. On the contrary he is more likely to
analyze the words in terms of letters than in terms of phonemes with which he is
less familiar. That is why a linguist must take into consideration both the spelling
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and the pronunciation of words when analyzing cases of identity of form and
diversity of content.
2.2.2 Classification given by A.I. Smirnitsky
The classification, which that is have mentioned above, is certainly not precise
enough and does not reflect certain important features of these words, and, most
important of all, their status as parts of speech. The examples given their show
those homonyms may belong to both to the same and to different categories of
parts of speech. Obviously, the classification of homonyms should reflect this
distinctive feather. Also, the paradigm of each word should be considered, because
it has been observed that the paradigms of some homonyms coincide completely,
and of others only partially.
Accordingly, Professor A.I. Smirnitsky classifieds homonyms into two large
classes:
a) Full homonyms
b) Partial homonyms
2.2.2. a) Full homonyms:
Full lexical homonyms are words, which represent the same category of parts of
speech and have the same paradigm.
Match n - a game, a contest
Match n - a short piece of wood used for producing fire
Wren n - a member of the Women's Royal Naval Service
Wren n - a bird
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2.2.2.b) Partial homonyms:
Partial homonyms are subdivided into three subgroups:
i). Simple lexico-grammatical partial homonyms are words, which belong to the
same category of parts of speech. Their paradigms have only one identical form,
but it is never the same form, as will be seen from the examples:
(to) found v
found v (past indef., past part. of to find)
(to) lay v
lay v (past indef. of to lie)
(to) bound v
bound v (past indef., past part. of to bind)
ii). Complex lexico-grammatical partial homonyms are words of different
categories of parts of speech, which have identical form in their paradigms.
Rose n
Rose v (past indef. of to rise)
Made n
Made v (past indef., past part. of to make)
Left adj
Left v (past indef., past part. of to leave)
Bean n
Been v (past part. of to be)
One num
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Won v (past indef., past part. of to win)
iii). Partial lexical homonyms are words of the same category of parts of speech
which are identical only in their corresponding forms.
to lie (lay, lain) v
to lie (lied, lied) v
to hang (hung, hung) v
to hang (hanged, hanged) v
to can (canned, canned)
(I) can (could)
2.2.3 Other aspects of classification:
Various types of classification for homonyms have been suggested.
A comprehensive system may be worked out if we are guided by the theory of
oppositions and in classifying the homonyms take into consideration the difference
or sameness in their lexical and grammatical meaning, paradigm and basic form.
As both form and meaning can be further subdivided, the combination of
distinctive features by which two words are compared becomes more complicated
- there are four features: the form may be phonetical and graphical, the meaning -
lexical and grammatical, a word may also have a paradigm of grammatical forms
different from the basic form.
The distinctive features shown in the table below are lexical meaning (different
denoted by A, or nearly the same denoted by A1), grammatical meaning (different
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64
denoted by B, or same by B1), paradigm (different denoted by C, or same denoted
by C1), and basic form (different denoted by D, and same denoted by D1).
The term ―nearly same lexical meaning‖ must not be taken too literally. It means
only that the corresponding members of the opposition have some important
invariant semantic components in common. ―Same grammatical meaning‖ implies
that both members belong to the same part of speech.
Same paradigm comprises also cases when there is only one word form that is
when the words are unchangeable. Inconsistent combinations of features are
crossed out in the table. It is, for instance, impossible for two words to be identical
in all word forms and different in basic forms, or for two homonyms to show no
difference either in lexical or grammatical meaning, because in this case they are
not homonyms. That leaves twelve possible cases.
Table 2.8: Classification of Homonyms
Difference and
Identity in
Words
A Different
lexical
meaning
A1 Nearly
same lexical
meaning
B Different
grammatical
meaning
Partial
Homonymy
Patterned
Homonymy
D1 Same basic
forms
light, -s n
light,-er,-est a
flat, -s n
flat,-er,-est a
for prp
for cj
before prp
before adv
before cj
eye, -s n
eye, -s, -ed,
-ing v
might n thought n D
Different
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may-might v thought v
(Past Indef.
Tense
of think)
basic form
B1 Same
grammatical
meaning
axis, axes n
axe - axes n
but-butted v
butt-butted v
Synonyms D
Different
basic form
lie-lay-lain v
lie-lied-lied v
Full
Homonymy
spring,-s n
spring,-s n
spring,-s n
Polysemy
Variants of the
same
polysemantic
word
C Different
paradigm
C1 Same
paradigm
C Different
paradigm
It goes without saying that this is a model that gives a general scheme. Actually a
group of homonyms may contain members belonging to different groups in this
classification. Take for an example, fell1 n `animal's hide or skin with the
hair'; fell2 n `hill' and also `a stretch of North-English moorland'; fell3 a `fierce'
(poet.); fell4 v `to cut down trees' and as a noun `amount of timber cut'; fell5 (the
Past Indefinite Tense of the verb fall). This group may be broken into pairs, each
of which will fit into one of the above describes divisions. Thus, fell1 - fell2 may be
characterized as AB1C1D1,fell1 - fell4 as ABCD1 and fell4 - fell5 as A1BCD.
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Fig 2.1: Relationships between Homonyms
Above Venn diagram is showing the relationships between homonyms (between
blue and yellow) and related linguistic concepts
Drawn from the above it can be said that homonymy is also one of the important
area of concern in translation studies. Without the understanding of homonyms, it
is very tough to translate one text (L1) to another (L2).
2.3 Polysemy:
Polysemy term is also taken from the Greek language. Poly means-, "many"
and sêma means "sign" is the capacity for a sign(e.g., a word, phrase, etc.) or
signs to have multiple meanings (sememes), that is a large semantic space.
A polysemy is a word or phrase with multiple, related meanings. A word is judged
to be polysemous if it has two senses of the word whose meanings are related.
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Since the vague concept of relatedness is the test for polysemy, judgments of
polysemy can be very difficult to make. Because applying pre-existing words to
new situations is a natural process of language change, looking at
words' etymology is helpful in determining polysemy but not the only solution; as
words become lost in etymology, what once was a useful distinction of meaning
may no longer be so.
Some apparently unrelated words share a common historical origin, however, so
etymology is not an infallible test for polysemy, and dictionary writers also often
defer to speakers' intuitions to judge polysemy in cases where it contradicts
etymology.
English has many words which are polysemous. For example the verb "to get" can
mean "procure" (I'll get the drinks), "become" (she got scared), "have" (I've got
three dollars), "understand" (I get it) etc.
A closely related term is metonym, in which a word with one original meaning is
used to refer to something else connected to it.
There are several tests for polysemy, but one of them is zeugma: if one word
seems to exhibit zeugma when applied in different contexts, it is likely that the
contexts bring out different polysemes of the same word. If the two senses of the
same word do not seem to fit, yet seem related, then it is likely that they are
polysemous.
The fact that this test again depends on speakers' judgments about relatedness,
however, means that this test for polysemy is not infallible, but is rather merely a
helpful conceptual aid.
For Dick Hebdige polysemy means that, "each text is seen to generate a potentially
infinite range of meanings," making.
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According to Richard Middleton, "any homology, out of the most heterogeneous
materials, possible. The idea of signifying practice texts not as communicating or
expressing a pre-existing meaning but as 'positioning subjects' within
a process of semiosis - changes the whole basis of creating social meaning".
One group of polysemes are those in which a word meaning an activity, perhaps
derived from a verb, acquires the meanings of those engaged in the activity, or
perhaps the results of the activity, or the time or place in which the activity occurs
or has occurred. Sometimes only one of those meanings is intended, depending on
context, and sometimes multiple meanings are intended at the same time. Other
types are derivations from one of the other meanings that lead to a verb or activity.
Table 2.9: Examples of Polysemous words in English Language
Mole
1. a small burrowing mammal
2. consequently, there are several
different entities called moles.
Although these refer
to different things, their names
derive from
1. :e.g. A Mole burrows for
information hoping to go
undetected.
Bank
1. a financial institution
2. the building where a financial
institution offers services
3. a synonym for 'rely upon'
(e.g. "I'm your friend, you
can bank on me"). It is
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different, but related, as it
derives from the theme of
security initiated by 1
However: a river bank is a homonym to 1 and 2, as they do not share
etymologies. It is a completely different meaning. River bed, though, is
polysemous with the beds on which people sleep.
Book
1. abound collection of
pages
2. a text reproduced and
distributed (thus, someone
who has read the same
text on a computer has
read the same book as
someone who had the
actual paper volume)
Milk
The verb milk (e.g. "he's
milking it for all he can
get") derives from the
process of obtaining milk
Wood
1. a piece of a tree
2. a geographical area with
many trees
3. an erection
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Crane
1. a bird
2. a type of construction
equipment.
Hand
1. part of the human arm
beyond the wrist (e.g. put
your hand in your pocket).
2. performer, (e.g. she is an
old hand at this kind of
work).
3. indicator on the dial of a
clock(e.g. the two hands of
a clock).
Leg
1. part of the body used for
walking
2. leg-like support of a piece
of furniture,(e.g. the leg of
chair, table etc.)
Tongue
1. organ of a mouth used for
speaking, tasting, etc
2. language, (e.g. mother
tongue)
3. Tongue shape like
something (e.g. the strip of
leather under the lace of a
shoe).
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Tooth
1. bone structure rooted in
the gums.
2. tooth- like part of saw or a
comb.
Mouth
1. opening through which
humans and animals take
food.
2. opening,(mouth of river or
cave or tunnel).
Beat 1. regular repeated stoke.
2. to hit repeatedly.
Table 2.10: Examples of Polysemous words in Urdu Language
آًکھ /aankh/
1. human eye
2. eye of the needle
آغا /agha/
1. Master
2. elder brother
تخت /takht/
1. wooden bed
2. throne
عجن/ajam/
1. non arabs
2. dumb
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جلد/ jild /
1. Skin
2. Cover
2.3.1 Difference between Homonymy and Polysemy:
Homonyms are two or more words having the same written or spoken form.
Whereas polysemy word, on the other hand is a word having two or more related
meanings.
In a dictionary, homonyms are therefore listed as separate words but the multiple
meanings of a polysemic word are usually listed under the same entry.
To make it more clear, the difference between homonyms and polysemes is subtle.
Lexicographers define polysemes within a single dictionary lemma, numbering
different meanings, while homonyms are treated in separate lemmata. Semantic
shift can separate a polysemous word into separate homonyms.
For example, check as in "bank check" (or Cheque), check in chess,
and check meaning "verification" are considered homonyms, while they originated
as a single word derived from chess in the 14th century.
The table on next page shows the clear cut difference between homonymy and
polysemy.
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Table 2.11: Difference between Homonymy and Polysemy
Term Meaning Spelling Pronunciation
Homonym Different Same Same
Homograph Different Same Same or different
Homophone Different Same or different Same
Heteronym Different Same Different
Heterograph Different Different Same
Polysemy Different but related Same Same or different
The above table is not only showing the difference between homonymy and
polysemy but it also shows the types of homonyms.
2.4 Theme, Functional and Semantics
2.4.1Theme
Crystal (1980: 483) makes the following observation:
Theme: A term used in linguistics as part of an analysis of the structure of
sentences (their thematic structure): it refers, not to the subject-matter of a
sentence (its everyday meaning), but to the way speakers identify the relative
importance of their subject-matter, and is defined as the first major constituent of a
sentence (seen here as a string of constituents). There is no necessary
correspondence with a functional grammatical element (though in English theme
and subject often coincide) e.g. The man is going, His hair I can‟t stand, Smith her
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name was, Under no condition will he . . . The process of moving an element to
the front of the sentence in this way (‗fronting‘), to act as theme, is known as
thematization (sometimes topicalization) or thematic fronting. Some linguists
systematically distinguish this notion from other ways of analyzing the
organization of the sentence structure of messages, such as the topic/comment
distinction, or an analysis in terms of information structure.‖
In the Prague School approach to linguistics, theme is opposed to rheme,
producing a distinction similar to that of topic/comment, but interpreted with
reference to the theoretical framework of functional sentence perspective. In this
theory, the theme is defined as the part of a sentence which adds least to the
advancing process of communication (it has the lowest degree of communicative
dynamism); in other words, it expresses relatively little (or no) extra meaning, in
addition to what has already been communicated. The rheme, by contrast, carries
the highest degree of communicative dynamism. Various transitional expressions,
neither ‗thematic‘ nor ‗rhematic‘, are also recognized.‖
Drawing from the above it is quite clear theme changes meaning changes. If we
take a word ‗chair‘ as an example in one thematic scenario its simplest literal
meaning is ‗a wooden or metallic structure‘ which has four legs with or without
armrest and one angle to support a person‘s back which is known as back-support
or back rest, but if we change the scenario means theme the meaning changes
dynamically from ‗a simple wooden or metallic structure‘ to ‗power‘.
For instance in Urdu Language if someone says „kursi ki laRai hai sari‟ [all fight
is for Power] , not all fight for ‗chair‘ because of theme the translation of ‗kursi‟ is
not ‗Chair‘ but ‗Power‘.
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Its shows that in understanding the meaning of a single word, theme plays a very
important role and it also shows if we change the theme, meaning will change
automatically.
2.4.2 Functional
Functional words can be defined as ‗Words, such as prepositions, conjunctions, or
an article, that has little semantic content of its own and chiefly indicates a
grammatical relationship. Also called form word, functor‟.
Or
―Words that serve a grammatical function but has no identifiable meaning‖
Or
Functional words (or grammatical words or auto-semantic words) are words that
have little lexical meaning or have ambiguous meaning, but instead serve to
express grammatical relationships with other words within a sentence, or specify
the attitude or mood of the speaker. Words that are not function words are called
content words (or open class words or lexical words): these include nouns, verbs,
adjectives, and most adverbs, although some adverbs are function words (e.g., then
and why). Dictionaries define the specific meanings of content words, but can only
describe the general usages of functional words. By contrast, grammars describe
the use of functional words in detail, but treat lexical words in general terms only.
Functional words might be prepositions, pronouns, auxiliary verbs, conjunctions,
grammatical articles or particles, all of which belong to the group of closed-class
words. Interjections are sometimes considered function words but they belong to
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the group of open-class words. Function words might or might not be inflected or
might have affixes.
Functional words belong to the closed class of words in grammar in that, it is very
uncommon to have new functional words created in the course of speech, whereas
in the open class of words (that is, nouns, verbs, adjectives, or adverbs) new words
may be added readily (such as slang words, technical terms, and adoptions and
adaptations of foreign words).
Each functional word either gives some grammatical information on other words
in a sentence or clause, or cannot be isolated from other words, or it may indicate
the speaker's mental model as to what is being said.
Functional words or grammatical words, as a class, can have distinct phonological
properties from content words. Grammatical words sometimes do not make full
use of all the sounds in a language. For example, in some of the Khoisan
languages, most content words begin with clicks, but very few function words do.
In English, only function words begin with voiced th- [ð]
The following is a list of the kind of words considered to be function words:
Articles and Pronouns - (the, a, he-him, she-her) both article and pronoun
function as alternates in some of the languages of the world. For instance,
in most of the Indian languages pronouns stands for the role of an article.
Translation practices have to discover the relationship between the two. the
— the and a. In some inflected languages, the articles may take on the case
of the declension of the following noun.
Ad positions — uninflected in English
Conjunctions — uninflected in English
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Auxiliary verbs — forming part of the conjugation (pattern of the tenses of
main verbs), always inflected
Interjections — sometimes called "filled pauses", uninflected
Particles — convey the attitude of the speaker and are uninflected, as if,
then, well, however, thus, etc.
Expletives — take the place of sentences, among other functions.
Pro-sentences — yes, okay, etc.
There are few more definitions of function words as below;
"Closed-class words are those belonging to the grammatical, or functional,
classes. Functional words in English include conjunctions (and, or), articles (the,
a), demonstratives (this, that), and prepositions (to, from, at, with). To take one
specific case, consider the word and. The essential feature of the word and is that
it functions grammatically to conjoin words and phrases, as seen in the
combination of noun phrases the woman and the man. Any change in membership
in such a class happens only very slowly (over centuries) and in small increments.
Thus, a speaker of English may well encounter dozens of new
nouns and verbs during the coming year; but it is extremely unlikely that the
English language will acquire a new article (or lose a current one) in the coming
year (or even in the speaker's lifetime)."
(Adrian Akmajian, et al., Linguistics: An Introduction to Language and
Communication. MIT, 2001)
"Closed-class words or 'function words' are limited in number and act as markers
or guides to the structure of a sentence. The role of articles is to signal nouns.
Prepositions mark special relationships between persons, objects, and locations.
Conjunctions are connectors that link actors or objects, and specify relationships
between clauses in the sentence. Open- and closed-class words occupy certain
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slots in sentences and set up a frame for interpreting the interrelationships between
actors, actions, and objects."(Diane Mc Guinness, Language Development and
Learning to Read. MIT, 2005)
Furthermore "Functional words are like thumbtacks. We don't notice
thumbtacks; we look at the calendar or the poster they are holding up. If we
were to take the tacks away, the calendar and the poster would fall down.
Likewise, if we took the function words out of speech, it would be hard to
figure out what was going on:
took function words speech hard figure going on
That is what the previous sentence would look like if we took out all of the
function words …………………………..…………………………………
"Function words are a closed class. A person cannot easily invent a new
preposition or conjunction." (Mark Aronoff and Kirsten Anne
Fudeman, What Is Morphology? Wiley-Blackwell, 2005)
"Most people with low self-esteem have earned it."
(George Carlin)
"Liberal and conservative have lost their meaning in America. I represent t
he distracted center."
(Jon Stewart)
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"Trying is the first step towards failure."
(Homer Simpson)
"Every book is a children's book if the kid can read."
(Mitch Hedberg)
"Most monosyllabic function words, unlike content words, are unstressed .
. .. prepositions, conjunctions, and articles are regularly unstressed,
and auxiliary verbs and adverbs are usually unstressed--though note that
auxiliaries are often used for emphasis, in which case they are stressed:
"I did pay the bills."(Derek Attridge, Poetic Rhythm. Cambridge Univ.
Press, 1995)
Functional words are also known as: grammatical word, grammatical
morpheme, function morpheme
Table 2.11: Functional Words of English Language
Prepositions Determiners Conjunctions Model Verbs Primary
Verbs
about
across
against
along
around
at
behind
the
some
this
that
every
all
both
and
but
after
when
as
because
if
can
may
will
shall
could
might
would
be
do
have
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beside
besides
by
despite
down
during
for
from
in
inside
into
near
of
off
on
onto
over
through
to
toward
with
within
without
one
first
other
next
many
much
more
most
several
no
a/an
any
each
no
half
twice
two
second
another
last
few
little
less
least
own
what
where
which
how
than
or
so
before
since
while
although
though
who
whose
should
must
The above shows the list of functional words in English Language
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2.4.3 Semantics:
Semantics plays very important role in translation. But many people even some
scholars don‘t agree with this. They said semantics has nothing to do with
translation. They believe that translation and semantics are completely different
fields.
If we think deeply these two streams are very much close to each. Even they are
complementary to each other. Some way or other translation studies very much
depends on semantics. Semantics plays crucial role when we have to find
equivalents in translation.
In translation equivalents words or meanings are very important. Actually
translation is nothing but bunches of equivalents. Without equivalents it is near to
impossible to have perfect translated work.
For this it is quite handful if a translator has knowledge of semantics. So for this
let us see semantics in short and also see how it is fruitful for translation studies.
Actually semantics word comes from Greek language ‗semantikos‟ means
‗significant‘. It is the study of meaning. It typically focuses on the relationship
between signifiers, such as words, phrases, signs and symbols, and what they stand
for.
Linguistic semantics is the study of meanings that humans use language to
express. Other forms of semantics include the semantics of programming
languages, formal logics, and semiotics.
The word ‗semantics‘ itself denotes a range of ideas, from the popular to the
highly technical. It is often used in ordinary language to denote a problem of
understanding that comes down to word selection or connotation. This problem of
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understanding has been the subject of many formal inquiries, over a long period of
time, most notably in the field of semantics and translation studies.
As it is quite clear from above that is the problem of understanding. It becomes
challenge in translation and translator has to cope with this problem.
In linguistics, it is the study of interpretation of signs or symbols as used
by agents or communities within particular circumstances and contexts. Within
this view, sounds, facial expressions, body language, proxemics have semantic
(meaningful) content, and each has several branches of study.
In written language, such things as paragraph structure and punctuation have
semantic content; in other forms of language, there is other semantic content.
The formal study of semantics intersects with many other fields of inquiry,
including lexicology, syntax, pragmatics, etymology, translation and others,
although semantics is a well-defined field in its own right, often with synthetic
properties.
In philosophy of language, semantics and reference are related fields. Further
related fields include philology, communication, and semiotics. The formal study
of semantics is therefore complex.
Semantics contrasts with syntax, the study of the combinatorics of units of a
language (without reference to their meaning), and pragmatics, the study of the
relationships between the symbols of a language, their meaning, and the users of
the language.
In International scientific vocabulary semantics is also called semasiology. A key
concern is how meaning attaches to larger chunks of text, possibly as a result of
the composition from smaller units of meaning.
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Same like that, in translation a key concern is how meaning attaches to larger
chunks of text can be translated from source language to target language. So for
that the understanding of semantics is must in translation studies.
In the late 1960s, Richard Montague proposed a system for defining semantic
entries in the lexicon in terms of the lambda calculus. In these terms, the
syntactic parse of the sentence like John ate every bagel would consist of a subject
(John) and a predicate (ate every bagel);
Montague showed that the meaning of the sentence as a whole could be
decomposed into the meanings of its parts and relatively few rules of combination.
The logical predicate thus obtained would be elaborated further, e.g. using truth
theory models, which ultimately relate meanings to a set of Tarskiian universals,
which may lie outside the logic. The notion of such meaning atoms or primitives is
basic to the language of thought hypothesis from the 70s.
Despite its elegance, Montague grammar was limited by the context-dependent
variability in word sense, and led to several attempts at incorporating context, such
as:
situation semantics ('80s): truth-values are incomplete, they get assigned based
on context
generative lexicon ('90s): categories (types) are incomplete, and get assigned
based on context
Lexical & Conceptual Semantics theory is an effort to explain properties of
argument structure. The assumption behind this theory is that syntactic properties
of phrases reflect the meanings of the words that head them. With this theory,
linguists can better deal with the fact that subtle differences in word meaning
correlate with other differences in the syntactic structure that the word appears in.
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The way this is gone about is by looking at the internal structure of words. These
small parts that make up the internal structure of words are referred to as semantic
primitives.
Lexical semantics is a linguistic theory that investigates word meaning. This
theory understands that the meaning of a word is fully reflected by its context.
Here, the meaning of a word is constituted by its contextual relations. Therefore, a
distinction between degrees of participation as well as modes of participation is
made. In order to accomplish this distinction any part of a sentence that bears a
meaning and combines with the meanings of other constituents is labeled as a
semantic constituent. Semantic constituents that cannot be broken down into more
elementary constituents is labeled a minimal semantic constituent
2.5 Conclusion:
To conclude it can be said that a good translation work could not be done without
the awareness of types of words/ phrases/ sentences and their meaning. In addition
a translator must have knowledge of themes. If themes change then the meaning
change automatically. Thematic scenario plays an important role in understanding
of the meaning of a word.
It should always keep in one‘s mind that meaning is very important in translation.
So in translation, focus must be on types of meaning that is the knowledge of
semantics will be quite handful.
Because words and their meaning play crucial role in translation. As far as words
are concern they are of many types. They may be homonymous, polysemous, and
ambiguous and so on.