Clаssificаtion of Homonyms

The traditional classification of homonyms is based on the formal criterion of the sound/graphic form. Accordingly homonyms are classified into:

1. Homophones – words identical in sound form but different in spelling (graphic form) and meaning. Examples: son:: sun, see:: sea, piece:: peace, knight:: night, write:: right, I:: eye, two:: too:: to.

2. Homographs – words identical in spelling but different in sound form and meaning. Examples: bow, v., n. [bau] ‘bending of head or body’, bow, n. [bou]‘a weapon for shooting arrows’, lead, v. [li:d] ‘guide’, lead, n. [led]‘soft, heavy, easily melted metal, Rus. свинец, tear, v. [teə]‘pull apart by force’, tear, n. [tiə]‘drop of salty water coming from the eye’, row, n. [rou]‘line of benches, people, etc., row, n. [rau] ‘noisy quarrel’.

3. Proper homonyms (full, absolute) - words identical in sound and graphic form but different meaning. Besides the above examples bank 1, bank 2 there area lot of others: ball 1 ‘dancing party’, ball 2 ‘round sphere used in games, pupil 1 ‘child at a school’, pupil 2 ‘hole in the central part of the eye, through which the light passes, seal 1 ‘sea animal’, seal 2, n. ‘design printed on paper by means of a stamp’ seal 3, v. ‘close tightly’, case 1 ‘box, container’, case 2 ‘something that happens’, etc.

By the type of meaning homonyms are classified into lexical, lexico-grammatical and grammatical:

1. Lexical homonymsare words of the same part of speech, differing in their lexical meanings: bank 1:: bank 2, ball 1:: ball 2; piece:: peace, knight:: night, air:: heir and many others.

2. Lexico-grammatical homonymsdifferin lexical and part-of-speech meanings, i.e. they belong to different parts of speech: sea, n.:: see, v., red, a.:: read, v., mean, a.:: mean, v., paw, n.:: pour, v. etc.

3. Grammatical homonymsare word-forms belonging to the same paradigm, differing in their grammatical meanings. For example, in the paradigm of the noun: brothers, pl. - brother's, sing. possessive case - brothers', pl. possess. or in the verb paradigm: to cut, infinitive - cut, past indefinite- cut, past participle.

А.I.Smirnitsky singled out two big classes of homonyms: I. full and II. partial homonyms [1956]. To full homonyms refer words coinciding in all grammar forms, i.e. having identical paradigms. It implies that full homonyms either belong to the same part of speech as, for instance, pupil 1 and pupil 2: pupil - pupil’s - pupils - pupils’, or have no paradigms: too:: too:: to.

Partialhomonyms fall into three subgroups:

А. Simple lexico-grammatical partial homonyms are words of the same part of speech. Their paradigms have words with identical sound and/or graphic forms (differing in meanings). Examples:

(to) found, v. (Infinitive):: found, v. (Past Indef., Past Part. of to find);

(to) lay, v. (Infinitive):: lay, v. (Past Indef. of to lie);

(to) bound, v. (Infinitive):: bound, v. (Past Indef., Past Part.of to bind).

Б. Complex lexico - grammatical partial homonyms are words of different parts of speech, having identical sound and/or graphic forms, differing in meanings:

rose, n.:: rose, v. (Past Indef., Past Part. of to rise);

maid, n.:: made, v. (Past Indef., Past Part. of to make);

left, adj.:: left, v. (Past Indef., Past Part.of to leave);

one, num.:: won, v. (Past Indef., Past Part. of to leave).

В. Partial lexical homonyms are words of the same part of speech, identical in sound and/or graphic form used in the same grammar form, differing in lexical meanings:

to lie (lay, lain), v. ‘лежать’:: to lie (lied, lied), v., ‘лгать, обманывать’;

to hang (hung, hung), v., ‘висеть’:: to hang (hanged, hanged), v., ‘вешать’;

to can (canned, canned), v., ‘консервировать’:: (I) can (could), v., ‘мочь, быть в состоянии’.

One should not confuse homonymy and polysemy. In homonyms unlike polysemantic words there are no sematic links between various lexemes.

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