Polysemy, homonymy and synonymy in grammar

Polysemy

A separate grammatical form can vary in meaning in different contexts of its use like words that are used as signs of many things/ In case of grammatical polysemy we observe various structural meanings inherent in the given form, one of them being invariable, i.e. can be found in any context of its use.

Contextual variation of component grammatical meanings as potentially implicit in grammatical form must be distinguished from so-called syncretism, i. e. plurality of the signi­fied.

e.g. A simple verb-form may have as al­ways inseparably present in it, the grammemes of mood, time, person, number

he works, she works; similarly: she is, she was, etc.

The study of potential polysemy in grammar must reason­ably be associated with the problem of functional transposi­tions of grammatical forms leading to variation in their meaning in different contexts, linguistic or situational. Exa­mine, for instance, the multiple semantic essence of the Present tense (Continuous Aspect) in Modern English which may express:

1. An action going on at the moment of speaking

You are behaving like a child.

2. Activities, properties

She is playing the piano well.

3. Repeated processes of increasing duration

She is always grumbling.

4. An action anticipated or plan­ned in the future

We are seeing him tonight.

5. Order or command

You are not going in there!  (= Don't go in there! )

 

The necessary meaning of the verb-form is always signall­ed by the context or situation, and no ambiguity arises.

Homonymy

Polysemy leads to homonymy. In case of homonymy the invariable structural meaning of a given grammatical form is no longer traced in different uses of this form. Vivid exam­ples of homonymic grammatical forms will be found in the following patterns:

1. She said she would come soon.

2. // she knew this she would come at once.

3. He would come and tell us stories.

4. We asked him to slay here but he wouldn't.

5. If George is there he would know.

It should be mentioned that there is distinct plurality in function of some " grammatical" words (all, since, but, etc).

Observe, for instance, the grammatical nature of " all" in the following patterns:

1) Pronominal use: All is well that ends well.

2) Adjectival use: All day, all night.

3) Adverbial use, effective as a means of emphasis:

a) with adjectives: He is all wrong. That's all right.

b) with verb-forms: The sound did all confound her senses.

c) with adverbs and adverbial phrases: all too soon, all too late, all of a sudden.

d) with nouns: She is all goodness, I am all ears. She is all smiles.

4) In informal style all occurs as a coordinate terminat­ing series where its use is idiomatic and highly exceptional: She is pretty and clever and all.

5) In idiomatic sentence-pattern:

You must sit still all you can ( = as still as you can).

Synonymy

Synonymy is a natural development at different levels of linguistic structure. It is a universal feature in all languages.

As for synonymy in grammar it is typical of grammatical forms and structures that coincide in their grammatical content but differ in subtle shades of their content or in stylistic value. In certain contexts grammatical synonyms are interchangeable.

Grammatical synonymic forms are traditionally classified into:

a) paradigmatic syno­nyms and

b) synonyms by function in speech, often referred to as contextual or situational.

Paradigmatic synonyms are found among the gramma­tical forms belonging in the paradigm of a given grammatical category.

Contextual synonyms are distinctly ones to be found on the speech level. Such grammatical forms go parallel by function in speech only.

Here are a few examples of paradigmatic synonyms:

Non-emphatic                    Emphatic

I come                                         I do come

I came                                         I did come

Come!                                          Do come!

 

Compare also: However hard it should rain, we shall have to go

and                 However hard it rain, we shall have to go.

 

In these two sentences the grammatical forms 'should rain' and 'rain' are identical in their grammatical content but differ in stylistic value. The former is stylistically neutral, the latter is formal and bookish.

Functional transpositions at the grammatical level will furnish numerous examples of contextual synonymy. Here are some of them:

You always waste money on trifles — You are always wasting money

          on trifles                                

 I shall not come back to England — I am not coming back to

England                                    

Syntactic synonyms may be well illustrated by such verb-phrases and their nominal counterparts as:  

Birds are singing.             —  Birds are in song.

She thought deeply.           —  She was in deep thought.

The ice seemed suddenly    appalingly — The ice seemed suddenly of           thin.                              appalling thinness.                                                                         (J. Galsworthy).

 

Compression of sub-clauses through nominalization will also illustrate synonymy on the syntactic level.

We rely on it that he will. — We rely on him to come, come.                                 

       We rely on his coming.

 

                                          Study Questions

1. Give your examples of the grammatical forms based on the principle of opposition.

2. Point out and analyze the forms used in transposition in the following sentences:

1. That’s right too. I am always forgetting it.

2. This play reads well, much better than acts in fact.

3. The ship sails at twelve, doesn’t it?

4. Oh dear, when is the apple pie with custard coming?

3.Explain the following statement:

“ Grammatical polysemy is a result of metaphoric transference of meaning, based on association or analogy, on similarity or opposition”.

 

THEME 4                                                            LECTURES 6-7

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