Homonyms in Russian. Lexical homonymy

In many languages of the planet there is such a thing as homonymy. It is based on the fact that words and morphemes that are identical in sound and spelling have different meanings. They are called "homonyms". Examples of them are found everywhere. We are in ordinary speech We use them extremely often.

Homonyms

Examples confirming this phenomenon, are known to many. These are the common words:

“bow” in the meaning of plant and weapon;
“escape”, in one case denoting a young branch, and in the other - an unauthorized hasty departure.

Out of context, it is difficult to determine in what exact meaning these homonyms are used. Example sentences with words will demonstrate this phenomenon clearly.

Green onions are especially good in vegetable salads.
A boy was given a toy bow and arrow for his birthday.
The apple tree produced a young shoot, but the gardener pruned it in the fall.
The Count of Monte Cristo escaped from prison in a creative way, replacing the prisoner's corpse.

Examples of phrases will help you understand what homonyms mean:

“green onions” and “sharp onions”;
“maiden braid” and “river braid”;
"three apples" and "three rag stain".

This phenomenon is quite entertaining, therefore it is often used by Russian language teachers as an entertaining technique in studying the subject, a way to expand lexicon and the outlook of students.

Games with homonyms in lessons and extracurricular activities

To conduct this competition, you should prepare pairs of words that have same pronunciation and spelling, but completely different meanings. Players are offered only meanings, and the words themselves (you can use the same spelling for both) are hidden under a cardboard picture that will serve as a point token, for example, a template of a tree leaf, an apple, a gold bar. The participant who correctly names the homonyms receives this emblem as a point after the correct answer. At the end of the game, the token points are tallied and a winner is chosen.

Homonyms are suitable for the competition, examples of which can be as follows (it should be recalled that only pictures are presented to participants and spectators, the words themselves are closed):

“shop” as a piece of furniture and a small retail outlet;
the word "Lama", appearing in one sense as an animal, and in another - as a Tibetan monk.

During the lesson, you can offer students one or two pairs of words. Completing this task will only take a few minutes, but the benefits will be enormous. Indeed, in addition to the above, this type activities generate and strengthen interest in learning the Russian language.

Homonymy and polysemy

Many words have more than one meaning. Although they have the same spelling, they differ lexically. It is necessary to distinguish between homonyms and polysemantic words. Examples of polysemy are also quite common. For example, two words pronounced like “key” can act as homonyms in the following way:

spring and device for opening.

But in the meanings of “violin”, “wrench”, “from a door lock”, “a device for rolling up cans”, “key” is one word. This is amazing linguistic feature, which should already be considered as a phenomenon of polysemy. After all, each listed option involves the key’s ability to open something: a line of music or some object. This is one word with different meanings, and not different homonyms.

There are a great many examples of such polysemantic words in Russian speech. Sometimes it is quite difficult to separate them from homonyms.

Polysemy sometimes occurs from the transition of a name based on external similarity. This is

“sleeve” - a separate river bed and part of the shirt;
"ribbon" - a device for a girl's hairstyle and long road, the moving part of the conveyor.

The ambiguity of these words arose from the external similarity of some features. For example, a sleeve in clothing is separated from a common large item. And the branching of the riverbed resembles the same phenomenon. Actually, the word “trouser leg” could have appeared in this version, but for some reason the Russian people chose “sleeve”.

The tape is a narrow, long object. Apparently, the person who invented the conveyor saw the similarity of its moving part with a device for a girl’s hairstyle. This is how the name transition occurred, the phenomenon of polysemy.

Etymological homonymy

A group of words belongs to homonyms unambiguously, since their very origin is already different. Therefore, in the task “Give examples of homonyms that differ etymologically,” you need to select words that came into Russian speech from different languages. To do this, you should look into the etymological dictionary.

These are the word “boron”, meaning chemical element, and its homonym is pine forest. The first noun came into Russian speech from Persian language, where it sounded like “borax”, that is, boron compounds. The name is pine forest is of Slavic origin.

Some linguists believe that the existence of the phenomenon of homonymy should be recognized only where the etymology of the words itself differs.

These same linguists do not see homonymy in the noun “ether” as organic matter and in the meaning of “radio broadcasting and television”. After all, historically both words have a common etymology. They come from the ancient Greek root αἰθήρ, which translated means “ Mountain air" And if the task says: “Give examples of homonyms,” and the answerer uses the word “ether” in two meanings, then these scientists will consider the answer incorrect.

Disputes between linguists about polysemy and homonymy

However, not everyone can determine offhand historical origin words This often requires special dictionaries. Therefore, most people see that the meanings of the word “ether” are completely different and classify them as homonyms. Therefore, some linguists also do not see the polysemy here. The explanatory dictionary classifies them as different words with different meanings.

Examples of homonyms that cause controversy among linguists are:

“braid” in the meaning of a hairstyle and a tool for mowing, since some argue that there is a transition of the name based on external similarity (thin and long);
“pen” as a tool for writing, a device for opening, turning on, since some people determine ambiguity by the fact that they have something in common in their method of action (writing and opening with their hand);
“feather” in the sense of “handle” and as a cutaneous horny formation of birds and some dinosaurs, considering that the first meaning came to the word from the historical method of writing with bird feathers.

Some linguists classify as homonymy all words in which polysemy can be traced. They consider polysemy to be only a special case.

Full homonyms

Linguists divide words that have the same pronunciation and spelling and have different meanings into two groups. Those belonging to one grammatical category full lexical homonyms. Examples of these: “braid”, “tongue”, “escape”, “key” and others. In all their forms, these words are the same in both spelling and pronunciation.

Incomplete or partial homonyms

Words that coincide only in some forms are also highlighted. This grammatical homonyms. Examples of this phenomenon often relate to different parts speeches:

"three" - 2nd person verb singular imperative mood with the initial form “rub” and “three” - cardinal numeral;
"oven" is a verb in indefinite form and “oven” is a noun female singular;
“saw” is a feminine singular verb in the past tense and “saw” is a feminine singular noun.

Grammatical homonymy is also observed in words belonging to the same part of speech. For example, the 1st person singular verbs of the present tense are “I’m flying.” The first word is defined as an action related to medicine. Already the infinitive will sound like “to treat.” And the second verb has initial form“fly” and denotes the action of taking flight.

Partial homonymy is observed in words of the same grammatical category. This occurs when words differ in only one form. For example, two nouns “caress” - an animal and a manifestation of tenderness - do not coincide only in the genitive case plural. These homonyms in this form will look like “weasel” and “weasel”.

Homonyms and homophones

Some people confuse the phenomenon of homonymy with others. For example, homophones are words that sound alike but have different meanings but are differently spelled. These are not homonyms! Examples of words that are homophones show this feature.

"Cat" is a pet, and "code" is most often a certain set symbols or sounds.

Everyone will notice that these words should be written differently. But it is almost impossible to hear the difference by ear. The word “code” must be pronounced with the final consonant stunned. This is where the sound similarity comes from.

Homonymy and homography

There are other linguistic phenomena similar to the one we are considering. For example, homographs are interesting because they have the same spelling, but are pronounced differently, most often due to stress. These are also not homonyms. Examples of homograph words are:

gate - gate;
castle - castle;
smell - smell.

Homographs are also interesting for composing tasks for competitions and games. Using picture riddles in which homographs are encrypted, you can diversify linguistic activities.

1. Introduction............................................... ........................................................ ... 2

2. History of the issue................................................... ....................................... 4

3. The concept of homonymy. Lexical homonymy.......................................... 5

4.Linguistic phenomena similar to lexical homonymy.................................. 8

5. Homonymy and polysemy in the Russian language (overview).................................. 12

6. The emergence of homonyms in the Russian language.................................................... 13

8. Use in speech................................................... ............................. 16

Between the words that form the vocabulary of the Russian language, certain relationships are found both in the nature of the meanings they express and in their phonetic design, that is, the similarity of their sound composition.

IN vocabulary Russian language has 3 types systemic relations between the words:

Homonymous (by sound correspondence)

Synonymous (by proximity of expressed values)

Antonymous (by opposition of expressed meanings)

The presence of these relationships allows us to talk about certain organization words in the vocabulary, about the existence of the lexical system of the language. The essence of the phenomena of homonymy, synonymy and antonymy is as follows: with homonymy there is an identity (i.e. coincidence) of sound when the meaning of words is different, with synonymy there is identity or similarity of meaning with a complete difference in sound (i.e. sound composition), with antonymy - opposite meaning when there is a difference in the sound of words.

These relationships between words in lexical system language in the textbook by Valkova D.P., Popov R.N. etc. are presented in the following table:

In this work we will consider the phenomenon homonymy. The phenomenon of homonymy is a topic that has been covered in linguistic literature for a very long time and is considered by such scientists as V.V. Vinogradov, Fomina M.I., Popov R.N., Akhmanova O.S., Lipatov A.T., Rakhmanova L.I. and others. Their disputes concern the understanding of the essence of homonymy, its occurrence in the Russian language, its use in speech, the distinction between homonymy and polysemy, homonymy and related phenomena. As a result, we can conclude that until the controversy on this issue ceases, it should be considered relevant.

The purpose of this work– based on the analysis of linguistic literature, give an idea of how to modern science The phenomenon of homonymy is highlighted.

Job Objectives :

Analyze different approaches in the definition of homonymy;

Get acquainted with the history of coverage of this issue;

Show how to school curriculum and textbooks are illuminated this question;

Create didactic material to lessons on the specified topic;

The problem of homonymy and the multifaceted aspects of its semantics have attracted the close attention of researchers for a long time. This problem had its ebbs and flows, ups and downs, but at each new stage of increasing interest in it, new facets, new aspects of this linguistic phenomenon opened up.

It is known that for a long time, research in the field of homonymy has focused on lexical homonymy, which therefore received the most complete semasiological and lexicographic interpretation. With regard to lexical homonymy, three points of view have clearly emerged.

According to the first, the earliest, only etymological (heterogeneous) homonyms that arose as a result of a random coincidence of sound complexes are recognized. This theory was adhered to by J. Gillieron, R.I. Menner, J. Orr, V.I. Abaev.

According to another, lexical homonymy has two initial sources:

Phonetic convergent evolution of different words or forms (including loanwords)

Semantic divergent evolution of one word

(Bulakhovsky L.A., Budagov R.A., Nyurop K., Ulman S.)

And according to the third, the formation of homonyms is possible as a result of word-formation processes.

(Vinogradov V.V., Smirnitsky A.I., Stepanov Y.S., Bally Sh.)

In scientific and linguistic literature, the essence of homonymy is not clearly understood.

The main work on this issue is an article in the journal “Issues of Linguistics” by V.V. Vinogradov “On homonymy and related phenomena” 1968. In this article Vinogradov V.V. gives a definition of homonymy and distinguishes related phenomena. In the future I will constantly refer to this article.

And Rosenthal D.E. agrees with the point of view of V.V. Vinogradova, that lexical homonyms - these are words that sound the same, but have completely different meanings. He defines homonymy – sound and grammatical coincidence of linguistic units that are not semantically related to each other.

Greek homos– identical, onyma- Name.

Fomina M.I. offers a more expansive definition: lexical homonyms two or more words with different meanings that coincide in spelling, pronunciation and grammatical form are called.

In lexicology, two types of homonym words are distinguished - complete and incomplete (or partial).

According to their structure, lexical homonyms can be divided into:

Fomina M.I. suggests other names: simple, or non-derivatives, and derivatives. Non-derivative homonyms are most often found in the circle of nouns. In the derivative homonymy of nouns and verbs, researchers following V.V. Vinogradov usually distinguishes the following varieties:

1. Homonymous derived stems each consist of two (or more) homomorphemes of the same type.

Lezgin- To-A(cf. Lezgin) and Lezgin- To-A(dance)

2. homonymous derivative stems consist of morphemes that do not coincide in sound design.

paper Nick (worker paper industry) And paper Nick (paper wallet)

3. in a homonymous pair of words, the derivative of the stem is felt only in one of the words, and in the other (or others) a morphological process of simplification occurs.

siege it- to besiege(to put under siege, that is, to surround with troops)

besiege - besiege(highlight component draft)

besiege - besiege(force to slow down at full gallop, move back, crouching slightly)

4. one of the homonymous stems is derivative, the other is non-derivative.

nor- To-A(diminished from nora) and mink(animal and animal skin)

O.S. Akhmanova calls such types of derived homonyms “words with a pronounced morphological structure” and distinguishes 5 subtypes among them:

Homonymy of stems

prickly(look, grass, mockery) and prickly(sugar, firewood)

Homonymy of affixes

Finnish(to Finn) and Finnish(knife)

Homonymy with to varying degrees articulation

straighten(galleys) and straighten(passport)

Homonymy with various internal structure

crossbow(a type of weapon that shoots itself) and crossbow(one who shoots himself)

Homonymy from different parts of speech

bake (noun) And bake(verb infinitive)

name“to call someone what” (cf. name) and call(many people)

speak“to charm one’s teeth” (cf. conspiracy) and start talking(start talking, start talking)

Homonym words are characterized primarily by the fact that they relate to one or another phenomenon of reality independently of each other, therefore there is no associative conceptual-semantic connection between them, characteristic of different meanings polysemantic words. when implementing lexical meaning homonyms, mixing them is almost impossible. For example, no one would think that we're talking about O key as about a “spring, source”, if, standing at the door, they ask for food key, that is, “a device for operating a lock.” The conceptual and thematic correlation of words is completely different, and the use in the text (or living speech) of one of homonymous words excludes the use of another. (Unless, of course, there is a special clash between them and a certain stylistic task. See ____)

homonym polysemy literary speech word

In the modern Russian language, a significant number of homonym words have been recorded, and with the development of the language, their number is increasing.

The question arises: does homonymy interfere with the correct understanding of speech? After all, homonyms are sometimes called “sick” words, since homonymy reduces the informative function of the word: different meanings are obtained same shape expressions; In support of the negative assessment of the phenomenon of homonymy, the idea is also expressed that the very development of language often leads to its elimination. For example, in early XIX V. in linguistics the term “dialectical” was used, meaning “relating to a dialect” (local dialect). But with the spread of the concept of “dialectical materialism,” the word dialectical began to be used more often in a different meaning - “relating to dialectics.” And then linguistic term fell out of use, giving way to another - “dialectal” - “associated with a dialect; relating to a dialect.” There are many examples of such resistance of the language itself to the phenomenon of homonymy. However, this process is far from active and consistent in the lexical system of the modern Russian language. Along with the facts of eliminating homonymy, the emergence of new homonyms, homophones and homographs is observed, which has a certain linguistic value and therefore cannot be considered as a negative phenomenon to which language itself “puts obstacles in the way.”

First of all, the context clarifies semantic structure such words, excluding inappropriate interpretation. In addition, homonyms belonging to different areas usage and having an ambiguous expression coloring, different functional relevance, as a rule, do not collide in speech. For example, “the paths do not cross” of such homonyms as bar " - "type of restaurant" and bar " - "unit atmospheric pressure"; lion" - "beast" and lion " - " currency unit in Bulgaria"; swearing " - "swearing" and swearing " - "war" (obsolete) etc.

At the same time, the deliberate clash of homonyms has always been an indispensable means of witty wordplay. Kozma Prutkov also wrote: It’s nice to caress a child or a dog, but the most important thing is to rinse your mouth. Similar homophones are played out in folk jokes: I went into the forest, and he got into it, I got into an elm, and he got stuck (Dal); Not in the rain - let's stand and wait.

Poets use homonymous rhymes, which often make the poem especially entertaining: You puppies! Follow me!

It will suit you

Look, don't talk, or I'll beat you up! (P.).

Snow said:

When I flock

There will be a river of pigeons,

It will flow, rocking the flock

Reflected pigeons (Goats).

The use of homonymous rhymes is all the more justified in humorous and satirical genres, for example in epigrams: Don’t show off, friend, mother-in-law, that you have an excess of topics. We know the works where the best themes perished (Min.). A successful comparison of consonant forms and their play out in speech arouses keen interest.

However, it is necessary to be careful in the use of words, since in some cases homonymy (and related phenomena) can lead to a distortion of the meaning of the statement and inappropriate comedy. For example, when commenting on a football match: “Today the players left the field without goals”; “On the TV screen you see Gavrilov in a beautiful combination.” Even professional writers and great writers are not immune from such speech errors: Have you heard... (P.); With lead in my chest I lay motionless (L.); Is it possible to be indifferent to evil (modern translation from Kazakh). Puns are most often caused by homophony.

introduction

In the vocabulary of the Russian language there are 3 types of systemic relationships between words:

- homonymous (by sound correspondence)

- synonymous (by proximity of expressed meanings)

- antonymous (by opposition of expressed meanings)

The presence of these relationships allows us to talk about a certain organization of words in the vocabulary, about the existence of a lexical system of the language.
The essence of the phenomena of homonymy, synonymy and antonymy is as follows: with homonymy there is an identity (i.e. coincidence) of sound when the meaning of words is different, with synonymy there is an identity or similarity of meaning with a complete difference in sound (i.e. sound composition), with antonymy there is an opposite meaning when there is a difference in the sound of words.

These relationships between words in the lexical system of the language in the textbook
Valkova D.P., Popova R.N. etc. are presented in the following table (6(:

This work will examine the phenomenon of homonymy. The phenomenon of homonymy is a topic that has been covered in linguistic literature for a very long time and is considered by such scientists as V.V. Vinogradov, Fomina M.I.,
Popov R.N., Akhmanova O.S., Lipatov A.T., Rakhmanova L.I. and others. Their disputes concern the understanding of the essence of homonymy, its occurrence in the Russian language, its use in speech, the distinction between homonymy and polysemy, homonymy and related phenomena. As a result, we can conclude that until the controversy on this issue ceases, it should be considered relevant.

The purpose of this work is, based on the analysis of linguistic literature, to give an idea of how the phenomenon of homonymy is covered in modern science.

Job objectives:

— analyze different approaches to determining homonymy;

— get acquainted with the history of coverage of this issue;

- show how this issue is covered in the school curriculum and textbooks;

— create didactic material for lessons on the specified topic;

2. History of the issue.

According to the first, the earliest, only etymological
(heterogeneous) homonyms that arose as a result of a random coincidence of sound complexes. This theory was adhered to by J. Gillieron, R.I. Menner,
J. Orr, V.I. Abaev.

According to another, lexical homonymy has two initial sources:

- phonetic convergent evolution of different words or forms (including borrowings)

— semantic divergent evolution of one word

(Bulakhovsky L.A., Budagov R.A., Nyurop K., Ulman S.)

And according to the third, the formation of homonyms is possible as a result of word-formation processes.

(Vinogradov V.V., Smirnitsky A.I., Stepanov Y.S., Bally Sh.)(6(

3. The concept of homonymy. Lexical homonymy

In scientific and linguistic literature, the essence of homonymy is not clearly understood.

The main work on this issue is an article in the journal “Issues of Linguistics” by V.V. Vinogradov “On homonymy and related phenomena” 1968.
In this article Vinogradov V.V. gives a definition of homonymy and distinguishes related phenomena. In the future I will constantly refer to this article.

And Rosenthal D.E. agrees with the point of view of V.V. Vinogradov that lexical homonyms are words that sound the same, but have completely different meanings. He defines homonymy - the sound and grammatical coincidence of linguistic units that are not semantically related to each other.

Greek homos – identical, onyma – name.

Fomina M.I. offers a more extensive definition: lexical homonyms are two or more words with different meanings that coincide in spelling, pronunciation and grammatical design.

In lexicology, there are two types of homonym words - complete and incomplete.
(or partial).

According to their structure, lexical homonyms can be divided into:

Fomina M.I. offers other names: simple, or non-derivative, and derivatives. Non-derivative homonyms are most often found in the circle of nouns. In the derivative homonymy of nouns and verbs, researchers following V.V. Vinogradov usually distinguishes the following varieties: homonymous derivative stems each consist of two (or more) homomorphemes of the same type. Lezgin-k-a (cf. Lezgin) and Lezgin-k-a (dance) homonymous derived stems consist of morphemes that do not match in sound design. wallet-nik (paper industry worker) and wallet-nik (wallet for papers) in a homonymous pair of words, the derivative of the stem is felt only in one of the words, and in the other (or others) a morphological process of simplification occurs. besiege - to besiege (to put under siege, that is, to surround with troops) to besiege - to besiege (to isolate a component of the sediment) to besiege - to besiege (to force to slow down at full gallop, to move back, slightly crouching) one of the homonymous stems has a derivative character, the other is non-derivative. nor-k-a (diminutive of nora) and mink (animal and animal skin)

O.S. Akhmanova calls such types of derived homonyms “words with a pronounced morphological structure” and distinguishes 5 subtypes among them:

Homonymy of the basics caustic (look, grass, ridicule) and caustic (sugar, firewood)

Homonymy of the affixes finka (to Finn) and finka (knife)

Homonymy with varying degrees of articulation: straighten (galleys) and straighten (passport)

Homonymy with different internal structure samostrel (a type of weapon that shoots itself) and samostrel (one who shoots himself)

Homonymy from different parts of speech oven (noun) and oven (verb infinitive)

Derivative homonymy among verbs (a process that is most active in modern language) arises in cases when in one verb the prefix merges with the base, losing its morphological distinctiveness or separability, while in another, homonymous with the first, it retains its semantic functions as a separate morpheme. name “call someone what” (cf. name) and call (many people) speak “charm teeth” (cf. conspiracy) and speak
(start talking, start talking)

Homonym words are characterized primarily by the fact that they relate to one or another phenomenon of reality independently of each other, therefore there is no associative conceptual-semantic connection between them, characteristic of different meanings of polysemantic words. When realizing the lexical meaning of homonyms, their mixing is almost impossible.
For example, no one will think that we are talking about a key as a “spring, source” if, standing at the door, they ask for a key, that is, “a device for operating a lock.” The conceptual and thematic correlation of words is completely different, and the use of one of the homonymous words in the text (or living speech) excludes the use of the other. (Unless, of course, there is a special collision between them and a certain stylistic task. See
____)

So, lexical homonymy is observed among words of the same parts of speech. At the same time, two or more lexical homonyms (full or partial) are characterized by the absolute identity of the sound and spelling complex, that is, the external structure (defend1 - stand to the end, defend2 - be at some distance, defend3 - protect) and all
(or parts) of grammatical forms (initial change in cases, the presence of the same number forms in three words that are complete lexical homonyms: bank1 - vessel, bank2 - shallow, bank3 - special transverse seat in a boat).

4.Linguistic phenomena similar to lexical homonymy

Homonymy as a linguistic phenomenon is observed not only in vocabulary. In the broad sense of the word, homonyms sometimes refer to different linguistic units, matching in sound. Unlike actual lexical (or absolute) homonyms, all other consonances and various kinds coincidences are called relative, although here it would be more correct to talk not about homonymy in the broad sense of the word, and not even about relative homonymy, but about the homonymous use in speech of various types of homophones, which, as V.V. points out, include. Vinogadov, includes “all types of unity of sound or consonance - in whole constructions, and in combinations of words or their parts, in individual segments of speech, in individual morphemes, even in adjacent sound combinations” (_(.

Scientists such as Rosenthal D.E., Shmelev D., Vinogradov V.V. are of the opinion that homoforms, homographs and homophones are phenomena related to homonymy, since they relate to the grammatical, phonetic and graphic levels of language.

Rosenthal D.E. believes that “strict differentiation linguistic phenomena requires limiting actual lexical homonymy from homoforms, homophones, homographs.”(_(

1. homoforms - words that coincide only in one grammatical form (less often in several). three1 – number. in I. p. (three friends) three2 - verb in command. incl., units h., 2 l. (three carrots on a grater)

Homonyms can also be grammatical forms words of the same part of speech. forms of the adjectives big, young can indicate:

— I.p., singular, m.r. ( big success, young specialist)

— R.p., unit, f.r. (big career, young woman)

— D.p., unit, f.r. (To big career, to a young woman)

- T.p., singular, f.r. (With great career, with a young woman)

The basis for recognizing these forms in different forms, although they coincide in sound, is that they agree with nouns appearing in different cases (and the same adjectives with nouns m.r. and w.r. here have various shapes- big village, big village, big village).

Homoforms by their nature go beyond the scope of vocabulary, since they belong to a different level of language and should be studied in the morphology section (_(

2. Homophones are words that sound the same but are spelled differently. meadow - bow, hammer - young, lead - carry

These words coincide in pronunciation due to the deafening of voiced consonants at the end of the word and before voiceless consonants. Changing vowels in an unstressed position leads to the consonance of the words rinse - caress, lick - climb, sharp - island, take - brother.
Consequently, the appearance of homophones is associated with the operation of phonetic laws.

Homophones are the subject of study not of lexicology, but of phonetics, since they manifest themselves in other language level– phonetic.

3. Homographs - words that are spelled the same but are pronounced differently. they usually have an emphasis on different syllables: mugs - mugs, fell asleep - fell asleep

There are more than a thousand pairs of homographs in modern Russian. Homography is directly related to graphics system language.

Fomina M.I. proposes a broad concept of homophony (Greek homos - identical, phone - voice, sound), which covers the consonance of a wide variety of linguistic units:

1. coincidence of the pronunciation of words (the so-called homophones themselves, or phonetic homonyms) flu - mushroom, doc - dog, labor - tinder

2. coincidence of words and phrases (a type of homophony) dumb - not mine, skid - by the nose, for days - with ducks

3. coincidence of individual forms of a word (so-called homoforms, or grammatical homonyms) saw (noun) - saw (verb in the right tense), I fly (from fly) - I fly (from I fly), young man - taking care of the young mothers

the same spelling of words, but a difference in pronunciation, in particular stress (homographs):

lexical: atlas – atlas

— lexico-grammatical: village (verb) – village (noun)

- grammatical: addresses - addresses

- stylistic: compass (lit.) – compass (marine)

But Fomina M.I. agrees with V.V. Vinogradov that lexical homonymy itself (full or partial) “cannot be confused or even brought together” with homophony in the broad sense of the word, that is, with all consonances and similar sounds that occur in speech.

And linguist L.I. Rakhmanova considers homophones and homoforms to be types of homonyms, but admits that not all scientists classify homographs as homonyms, since main feature- different sounds contradict the general definition of homonyms.

Rakhmanova L.I. identifies a special group of homoforms - these are those words that have passed from one part of speech to another. directly (adverb) – directly (intensifying particle)

The words of this group are distinguished from other homoforms by the fact that when they are declined as singular. h., and in plural. in all case forms they have a corresponding homoform - adjective.

Popov R.N. notes that “one of the closest phenomena to homonymy is considered to be paronymy. But it must be taken into account that paronymy occurs only in oral speech and has nothing to do with the lexical system of the language.” (_(

Paronyms are words that are similar, but not identical in sound, different in semantically and mistakenly used in speech one instead of the other.

Fact is “a real, non-fictional event, phenomenon.”

Factor – “ driving force, the cause of a process or phenomenon that determines its characteristic features.”

Phonetically, paronyms differ from each other in that they have a different pronunciation of either the beginning of the word (president - resident) or the end (set - complex).

Among paronyms, nouns occupy a significant place. Paronyms expressed by other parts of speech are less common (single - ordinary; grind - grind).

In grammatical literature Lately so-called functional homonyms are distinguished. These are the same in sound, etymologically related words, relating to different parts of speech. They write about it
Kolykhanova E.B. And

Shiryaeva T.G. in his work “Functional homonyms in the lexical system of the Russian language.” (_(

The collective farm field is flat. (cr. adjective)

The letters are written exactly. (adverb)

I'll be there at five sharp. (particle)

Functional homonyms are words used in speech as a result of the transition of one part of speech to another. In such cases, behind a single sound complex are hidden several words belonging to different parts of speech.

Education and existence functional homonyms allows cases of double, triple (sometimes more) use of the same sound complex.

The formation of functional homonyms is carried out under certain syntactic conditions, which should be understood as a change in the syntactic function of a word, the order of words in a sentence, compatibility with other words, the nature of the connection between members of the sentence, the ellipsis of the word being defined.

IN modern research a tendency has become established to use double names for those phenomena that are built on various kinds of coincidences and consonances. For example: homophones are phonetic homonyms, homoforms are grammatical homonyms, homomorphemes are morphological homonyms (or derivational homonyms). Sometimes the following terms are used: homosyntagms - syntactic homonyms, omostylems are stylistic homonyms.
It seems that, despite the critical attitude of researchers towards this kind of double terminology, especially towards terms and phrases like “syntactic homonymy” and the like, its use does not cause confusion, but, on the contrary, allows one to more clearly define this or that linguistic phenomenon.(_ (

5. Homonymy and polysemy in the Russian language (review).

The distinction between different homonym words and one word with many meanings, as already noted, causes many difficulties and cannot always be carried out unambiguously.

On the difficulty of distinguishing between these phenomena and the complexity of their clear, consistent definition modern lexicographic practice also indicates. Thus, many words that are given as ambiguous in one dictionary are considered as ambiguous in another (or others) different words, homonymous to each other.

Ways to distinguish between homonymy and polysemy:

Substituting synonyms for each homonym or for all meanings of a polysemant, and then comparing the selected synonyms with each other. If they turn out to be semantically close to each other, we have a polysemantic word; if not, we have homonyms.
Comparison of word forms of each of them, selection of related (cognate) words, that is, establishment of their derivational connections. if the word forms are the same or similar and there are related words that are identical in type of formation, and there is semantic proximity between them, we can talk about polysemy.
Finding out the origin of words, that is, etymological information about words.
Comparison of the translation of Russian homonym words into other languages. This significantly clarifies the idea of actual homonymization.
Identification of thematic relevance of the word and definition typical models lexical compatibility, as well as the semantics of the entire context as a whole.

Thus, in order to reasonably differentiate homonymy from polysemy, it is necessary to use as much comparative data as possible, which will allow us to identify which features predominate: similar over distinctive or, conversely, distinctive over similar. However, the decisive features for the stages of analysis are still the semantic ones. It is they who, as noted modern researchers, must be recognized as fundamental in distinguishing homonymy from polysemy; it is they who must be present in all other distinctive comparisons. (_(

The emergence of homonyms in the Russian language.

In progress historical development dictionary appearance lexical homonyms was due to a number of reasons.

Rosenthal D.E. offers a clear distribution of these reasons:
As a result of borrowing foreign words there may be a formal coincidence in the sound and spelling of the “alien” word and the original Russian one. marriage1 in Russian is related to the verb to take (cf: to marry oneself), it modern meaning – « family relationships between man and woman; marital relations." reject2 - “damaged, poor-quality, flawed objects of production”, borrowed from it. language brack – lack of club1 – eng. " public organization» puff of smoke2 – rus. swirl

Words that have entered the Russian language from different languages may turn out to be consonant. tap1 – Dutch. “a valve in the form of a tube for releasing liquid or gas” tap2 – German. “mechanism for lifting and moving loads” mat1 – German. “soft bedding made of durable material” mat2 – Arabic. “defeat in a chess game” mat3 – French. “lack of shine, roughness of the smooth surface of an object.”

French words that sound the same are borrowed from the same language. mine1 - “explosive projectile” mine2 – “facial expression” Latin. note1 – “ musical sound"note2 - "a diplomatic appeal from one government to another"

When new words are formed from roots and affixes existing in the language, homonyms also appear. fortified settlement1 – “place of an ancient settlement” fortified settlement2 – magnifying from the word city daddy1 – form of subjective assessment from daddy daddy2 – form of subjective assessment from folder

The appearance of homonyms is a result of the coincidence of a newly formed abbreviation with a long-known full-meaning word. stork1 – “bird of passage”

AIST2 – automatic information station Mars1 – planet

MARS2 – automatic registration and alarm machine

Homonyms become native Russian words that have undergone various changes as a result of phonetic and morphological processes occurring in the language. bow1 – an ancient weapon (once had a nasal vowel, which over time began to sound like (u() bow2 – garden plant I’m treating1 – to treat (e – ъ “yat”) I’m flying2 – to fly
The source of the appearance of homonyms may be a gap in semantic structure polysemantic words, in which individual values are so divergent that they are no longer perceived as belonging to the same word. light1 – universe light2 – dawn, sunrise

“I wanted to travel around the whole world, but I haven’t traveled around a hundredth part...” - “It’s barely light and I’m already on my feet!” (Griboyedov A.S.)

In 1972, the homonymy of the words debt - obligation and debt - borrowed was recognized and recorded for the first time in Ozhegov’s Dictionary. In the 1950s, these words were seen as variations of the same word with different meanings.
This indicates the duration of the splitting process polysemantic word and the transformation of its meanings into independent homonym words, to the inevitability of the appearance of intermediate, transitional cases when it is difficult to give an unambiguous semantic characteristic of the word. For example, it is not the same in different dictionaries the words knit (tie with a rope) and knit are considered
(knitting, crocheting); wave (something) and wave (go somewhere).

Fomina M.I. also notes the divergence in the meanings of polysemantic words is observed in the language not only among native Russian words, but also among words borrowed from any one language. Interesting observations gives a comparison of homonymy of etymologically identical words: agent1 – ruler of the state, organization agent2 – efficient cause certain phenomena

(both words from Latin agens, agentis (from agere - to act) openwork1 - end-to-end mesh fabric openwork2 - maintaining accounting books, documents until the last day

(from French ajour – through, summarized)

It should be noted that on the question of the role of the decay of a polysemantic word in the formation of homonyms in modern lexicology No consensus. So,
IN AND. Abaev in the article “On the presentation of homonyms in the dictionary” (see: Questions of linguistics, 1957, No. 3) expressed the idea that new homonyms, their
“reproduction occurs mainly through polysemy.” EAT. Galkina-Fedorchuk in the article “On the issue of homonyms in the Russian language” (see: Russian language at school,
1954, No. 3) and Z.A. Tolmachev in the article “Formation of homonyms through the collapse of polysemy” (see: Russian language at school, 1959, No. 4) was also considered one of productive ways formation of homonyms “isolation of the meaning of words.”
However, V.V. Vinogradov noted the unproductiveness of this method of formation, believing that “even fewer homonyms owe their formation to the semantic breakdown of a single lexeme into several homonymous lexical units such as light - universe, and light - lighting.” A.A. Reformatsky argued that in the Russian language “the majority of homonyms arose due to borrowings,” although he also recognized the fact that the process of derivative homonymy is active. A.I.
Smirnitsky called random sound coincidences the main source of replenishing the language with homonyms. O.S. Akhmanova, recognizing the sufficient activity of homonyms arising as a result of divergent polysemy, pointed out at the same time the great difficulties associated with the search objective criteria assessing the completion of the homonymization process. These articles served as a stimulus for an ongoing discussion on homonymy issues. (10(

Use in speech.

In the modern Russian language there is a significant number of homonym words, and with the development of language there are more of them. The question arises: does homonymy prevent correct perception in speech?

The functioning of homonyms in speech, as a rule, does not cause any particular difficulties. First of all, the context clarifies the semantic structure of such words, excluding inappropriate interpretation. In addition, homonyms, which belong to different spheres of use and have ambiguous expressive coloring and different functional relevance, as a rule, do not collide in speech. Nevertheless, combining the meanings of homonymous words is possible. However, in this case it is due to a certain stylistic purpose, and in different styles In speech this goal is different.

The deliberate clash of homonyms has always been an indispensable means of witty wordplay.

Kozma Prutkov also wrote: “It’s nice to caress a child or a dog, but the most important thing is to rinse your mouth.”

Similar homophones are played out in folk jokes:

“I was in the forest, and he got in, I was behind an elm, and he got stuck.” V. Dahl

Often there is a clash of words, even the combination in one text of both homonym words and words that accidentally coincide in sound (homophones, homoforms, etc.) It is interesting to compare the intentional collision of partial homonyms
– “to be, to be” and to eat – “to take food”, translated by S.Ya. Marshak
"A Toast of Health" by Robert Burns:

Those who have what they have sometimes cannot eat,

And others can eat, but sit without bread,

And here we have what we have, and at the same time we have what we have, -

So, we only have heaven to thank!

He combines consonant words, a writer, poet, publicist, as it were, brings together those objects and concepts that they denote. This technique is a means of actualization; it fulfills the task of communicating additional artistic information.

Can you hear the smell of gunpowder?

Editorials and poems?

Feathers are stamped from the same steel,

Which will go to bayonets tomorrow.

(K. Simonov “Winner”)

Poets use homonymous rhymes, which often make the poem especially entertaining.

You puppies! Follow me!

It will suit you

Look, don't talk,

Otherwise I’ll beat you up!

(A.S. Pushkin)

Snow said: - When I flock,

There will be a river of pigeons,

It will flow, rocking the flock

Reflected pigeons.

(Ya.A. Kozlovsky)

Alena's braid is beautiful.

And the grass in the meadow is up to her.

Soon a spit will pass through the meadow:

The time for mowing is approaching.

(Ya.A. Kozlovsky)

Hoodie

black crow

In the morning I scolded, sitting down on a twig,

The news spread in all directions

Forty forty.

(Ya.A. Kozlovsky)

The use of homonymous rhymes is all the more justified in humorous genres, for example in epigrams.

Don't flaunt, buddy, that you have an excess of topics. We know the works where the best themes perished. (D. Minaev)

Or homonymous consonances - the main material for puns.

That the people are awakening

Now they give him regulations,

They shout: “Shut your mouth!”

And they instantly put a seal on your mouth.

(K.M. Fofanov)

The realm of rhymes is my element,

And I write poetry easily,

Without hesitation, without a line

I'm running to line from line

Even to the Finnish brown rocks

I'm making a pun.

(D.D. Minaev)

Homonyms are often used to create rhyme.

You fed the white swans,

Throwing away the weight of black braids...

I was swimming nearby, the helmsmen came together,

The sunset ray was strangely oblique.

Suddenly a pair of swans darted

I don’t know whose fault it was...

The sunset was obscured by a haze of steam,

The alley is like a stream of wine.

(V.Bryusov)

* helm – traditional poetic. ship's rudder, stern oar.

A successful comparison of consonant forms and their play out in speech arouses keen interest. However, it is necessary to be careful in the use of words, since in some cases homonymy (and related phenomena) can lead to a distortion of the meaning of the statement and inappropriate comedy.

When commenting on a football match: “Today the players left the field without goals”;

“On the TV screen you see Gavrilov in a beautiful combination.”

Even professional writers and great writers are not immune from such speech errors.

Have you heard? or Is it possible to be indifferent to evil? (A.S. Pushkin)

Bibliography

To prepare this work, materials from the site were used
http://base.ed.ru

It just so happens that the vast majority scientific terms are borrowed from Latin, which for many centuries was practically official language science, or from the ancient Greek language.

Such terms include the word “homonym”, which is widely used in linguistics and literary criticism. What does this term mean and when is it used? Let's take a closer look.

Term "homonym" formed from greek word "omos", which means same, same and "onima"- Name. It was first found by the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle, but may have been used even earlier.

Modern linguistics calls homonyms words that have the same sound, but are used in different, often unrelated, meanings. A striking example homonyms - “key” with which doors are unlocked - a metal object of a special shape with special protrusions and cuts, and “key” - a spring, a source of clean water, gushing out from under the ground.

The existence of homonyms sometimes seems inexplicable and meaningless. In fact: why use the same word to call completely different concepts that do not coincide with each other? Is it really impossible to come up with different words for different meanings?

The fact is that most homonyms appear in speech by accident. After a word has become attached to a certain concept in the language, replace it with another, in a different way sounding word It’s practically impossible, and there’s no reason to.

Linguists explain the appearance of homonyms for the following reasons:

1. The coincidence of the sounds of a word that already exists in the Russian language and one borrowed from another language. Example: a “club” of smoke and a “club” - a place where people gather for a specific purpose: to play chess, dance, talk about politics, etc.

2. Coincidence of sounds of borrowed words in different areas of activity. Example: water tap is a word borrowed from Dutch, and a cargo crane is a word borrowed from German.

3. Gradual divergence of meanings of the same word. Example: the “month” in the sky is the visible part of the Moon in a partially shadowed phase, and the “month” of April is a calendar period of time.

In linguistics, it is common to divide homonyms into full and partial.

Full homonyms are written and pronounced the same way, and also refer to the same part of speech: onion is a garden plant and onion is a weapon for shooting.

Partial homonyms can:

- have the same sound, but different spelling words: meadow and onion, fruit and raft (homophones);

- have the same spelling, but different sound: castle and castle (homographs);

- coincide in spelling or sound only in some forms - cases, conjugations, etc.: dear and dear (homoforms).

The Russian language is quite rich in homonyms. Here are some of them:

- beam - transverse support beam and beam - ravine;

- lynx - a large forest cat and lynx - a horse's gait;

- brush - a tuft of bristles on the handle for painting or drawing and brush - part of the hand;

- kiwi is an exotic fruit and kiwi is a flightless bird;

– braid – braided long hair and a scythe - a tool for cutting grass.

More homonyms can be found in special Dictionary homonyms of the Russian language.

Sometimes paronyms are mistakenly classified as homonyms - single-root words that are similar in sound and spelling, but differ in meaning and use. As a rule, paronyms perform the same thing in sentences syntactic function and refer to the same part of speech. Examples of paronyms:

- dress and put on;

— typos and imprints:

- height and age;

- nest and nesting area;

- defective and defective.

Paronyms are often confused in everyday speech due to the similarity in the sound of the words. At the same time it is difficult to imagine misuse homonyms in oral speech.

Thus, very often you can hear a request to put your signature on a document, although the correct thing to say is to put your signature. A painting is a drawing on a wall, ceiling, dishes, etc., and a signature is one’s own surname, handwritten as a sign of confirmation of the document. The painting and signature are paronyms, not homonyms.