2.1. Classification of Homonyms

The most widely accepted classification of homonyms is that recognizing homonyms proper, homophones and homographs.

Homonyms proper (or perfect, absolute) are words identical in pronunciation and spelling but different in meaning, cf.

back n. “part of the body” − back adv. “away from the front”− back v. “go back”;

bear n. “animal” − bear v. “carry, tolerate”.

Homophones are words of the same sound but of different spelling and meaning:

air n. − heir n.;

buy v. − by prep.;

him pr. − hymn n.;

night n. — knight, n.;

piece n. — peace n.;

rite n. — write v. — right adj.;

scent n. — cent n. — sent v. (Past Ind., Past Part, of to send);

steel n. − steal v;

storey n. − story n.

sea n. — see, v. — С [si:] (the name of a letter).

The following joke is based on a pun which makes use of homophones:

“Waiter!”

“Yes, sir.”

“What's this?”

“It's bean soup, sir.”

“Never mind what it has been. I want to know what it is now.”

Bean, n. and been, Past Part, of to be are homophones s. As the example shows they are the same in sound but different in spelling.

UA Вчителька: “Дітки, складіть речення зі словом “ананас.”

Оксанка: “Тато вчора отримав зарплату і купив мені ананас.”

Вчителька: “Молодець. Тепер ти, Вовочко.”

Вовочка: “А мій татко всю зарплату пропив.”

Вчителька: “Чекай, чекай, а де ж тут ананас?”

Вовочка “А на нас з мамою він чхати хотів.”

Homographs are words different in sound and in meaning but accidentally identical in spelling:

bow [bau], v. —to incline the head or body in salutation;

bow [bou], n. — a flexible strip of wood for propelling arrows;

lead [li:d],v.— to conduct on the way, go before to show the way;

lead [led] n. — a heavy, rather soft metal;

tear [teq], v. —to pull apart or in pieces by force;

tear [tie], n. — a drop of the fluid secreted by the lacrinial glands of the eye;

UA деревина — одиничне дерево;

деревина — матеріал для будівництва та виготовлення різних предметів;

сага — (жанр давньогерманського епосу);

сага — (річкова затока).

Homoforms are words identical in some of their grammatical forms:

to bound (jump, spring) ↔ bound (past participle of the verb bind);

found ( establish) ↔ found (past participle of the verb find).

Homonyms may belong both to the same and to different categories of parts of speech. Obviously, a classification of homonyms should reflect this distinctive feature. 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 classified homonyms into two large classes: full homonyms and partial homonyms.

Full lexical homonyms are words which represent the same category of parts of speech and have the same paradigm. Cf.:

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

Partial homonyms are subdivided into three subgroups:

A. Simple lexico-grammatical partial homonyms are words which belong to the same category of parts of speech. Their paradigms have one identical form, but it is never the same form:

found, v. ↔ found, v. (Past Ind., Past Part. of to find);

lay, v. ↔ lay, v. (Past Ind. of to lie);

bound, v. ↔ bound, v. (Past Ind., Past Part, of to bind).

B. Complex lexico-grammatical partial homonyms are words of different categories of parts of speech which have one identical form in their paradigms:

rose, n. ↔ rose, v. (Past Ind. of to rise);

maid, n. ↔ made, v. (Past Ind., Past Part, of to make);

left, adj. ↔ left, v. (Past Ind., Past Part, of to leave);

bean, n. ↔ been, v. (Past Part, of to be);

one, num. ↔won, v. (Past Ind., Past Part, of to win).

C. Partial lexical homonyms are words of the same category of parts of speech which are identical only in their corresponding forms:

lie (lay, lain), v. ↔ lie (lied, lied), v.

hang (hung, hung), v. ↔ to hang (hanged, hanged), v.

Paronyms are words that are alike in form, but different in meaning and usage. They are liable to be mixed and sometimes mistakenly interchanged. The term paronym comes from the Greek para “beside” and onoma “name”. Cf.:

precede ↔ proceed;

preposition ↔ proposition;

popular ↔ populous;

UA громадський ― громадянський;

економний ― економічний;

соціальний ― соціалістичний;

компанія — кампанія;

статичний ― статистичний;

абонент ― абонемент.

Here are some so called Bushisms (words used by the George Bush, the president of the United States of America) perfect samples for paronyms:

“І don't have to accept their tenants. I was trying to convince those college students to accept my tenants. And I reject any labeling me because I happened to go to the university." Today, Feb. 23, 2000 (tenant↔ tenet);

“Anyway, I'm so thankful, and so gracious - I'm gracious that my brother Jeb is concerned about the hemisphere as well.” Miami, Fla., June 4, 2001 (grateful ↔ gracious);

“I think there is some methodology in my travels.” Washington, D.C., March 5, 2001 (method ↔ methodical).

Homonyms in English are very numerous. Oxford English Dictionary registers 2540 homonyms, of which 89% are monosyllabic words and 9,1% are two-syllable words.

So, most homonyms are monosyllabic words. The trend towards monosyllabism, greatly increased by the loss of inflections and shortening, must have contributed much toward increasing the number of homonyms in English.