Курс лекций по лексикологии английского языка для студентов факультетов иностранных языков

a cabbage, foot -foot of a mountain, face - put a new face on smth. Differentiation 
between the terms primary / secondary main / derived meanings is connected with 
two approaches to polysemy: diachronic and synchronic.
If viewed diachronically polysemy, is understood as the growth and 
development (or change) in the semantic structure of the word. 
The meaning of the word table in Old English was the meaning "a flat slab of 
stone or wood". It was its primary meaning, others were secondary and appeared later. 
They had been derived from the primary meaning. 
Synchronically polysemy is understood as the coexistence of various meanings 
of the same word at a certain historical period of the development of the English 
language. In that case the problem of interrelation and interdependence of individual 
meanings making up the semantic structure of the word must be investigated from 
different points of view, that of main/ derived, central /peripheric meanings. 
An objective criterion of determining the main or central meaning is the 
frequency of its occurrence in speech. Thus, the main meaning of the word table in 
Modern English is "a piece of furniture". 
Polysemy is a phenomenon of language, not of speech. But the question arises: 
wouldn't it interfere with the communicative process ? 
As a rule the contextual meaning represents only one of the possible lexico-
semantic variants of the word. So polysemy does not interfere with the 
communicative function of the language because the situation and the context cancel 
all the unwanted meanings, as in the following sentences: The steak is tough- This is a 
tough problem -Prof. Holborn is a tough examiner. 
By the term "context" we understand the minimal stretch of speech determining 
each individual meaning of the word. The context individualises the meanings, brings 
them out. The two main types of linguistic contexts which serve to determine 
individual meanings of words are the lexical context and the grammatical context. 

These types are differentiated depending on whether the lexical or the grammatical 
aspect is predominant in determining the meaning. 
In lexical context of primary importance are lexical groups combined with the 
polysemantic words under consideration. 
The adjective heavy in isolation possesses the meaning "of great weight, 
weighty". When combined with the lexical group of words denoting natural 
phenomena as wind, storm, etc. it means "striking, following with force, abundant", 
e.g. heavy rain, wind, storm, etc. In combination with the words industry, arms, 
artillery and the like, heavy has the meaning "the larger kind of something as heavy 
industry, artillery" 
In grammatical context it is the grammatical (mainly the syntactic) structure of 
the context that serves to determine various individual meanings of a polysemantic 
word. Consider the following examples: 1) I made Peter study; He made her laugh; 
They made him work (sing, dance, write...) 2) My friend made a good teacher 3) He 
made a good husband. 
In the pattern "to make + N(Pr)+ V inf' the word make has the meaning "to 
force", and in the pattern "to make + A + N" it has the meaning "to turn out to be". 
Here the grammatical context helps to determine the meaning of the word "to make". 
So, linguistic (verbal) contexts comprise lexical and grammatical contexts. 
They are opposed to extra linguistic contexts (non-verbal). In extra- linguistic 
contexts the meaning of the word is determined not only by linguistic factors but also 
by the actual situation in which the word is used.
Extension (widening of meaning). The extension of semantic capacity of a 
word, i.e. the expansion of polysemy in the course of its historical development, e.g. 
manuscript originally "smth hand-written". 
Narrowing of meaning. The restriction of the semantic capacity of a word in the 
historical development, e.g. meat in OE meant "food and drink". 

Elevation (or amelioration). The semantic change in the word which rises it 
from humble beginning to a position of greater importance, e.g. minister in earlier 
times meant merely "a servant". 
Degradation (or_degeri.eration). The semantic change, by which, for one 
reason or another, a word falls into disrepute, or acquires some derogatory emotive 
charge, e.g. silly originally meant "happy". 
The change in the denotational component brings about the extension or the 
restriction of meaning. The change in the connotational component may result in the 
degradation - pejorative or ameliorative development of meaning. 
Metaphor. The transfer of name based on the association of similarity. It is the 
application of a name or a descriptive term to an object to which it is not literally 
applicable, e.g. head of an army, eye of a needle. 
Metonymy. The transfer of name based on the association of contiguity. It is a 
universal device in which the name of one thing is changed for that of another, to 
which it is related by association of ideas, as having close relationship to one another, 
e.g. the chair may mean "the chairman", the bar -"the lawyers". 

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