Chapter: lexicology and its object subject matter of Lexicology

4.Generalization of Meaning
It is a process contrary to specializaton, in such cases the meaning of a word becomes more general in the course of time.
The transfer from a concrete meaning to an abstract one is most frequent, For example. «ready» (a derivative from the verb «ridam» - «ride») meant «prepared for a ride», now its meaning is ((preparedfor anything)). «Journey» was borrowed from French with the meaning «one day trip)), now it means «a trip of any duration».
All auxiliary verbs are cases of generalization of their lexical meaning because they developed a grammatical meaning : «have», «be», «do», «shall» , «w//» when used as auxiliary verbs.They have their lexical meaning when they are used as notional verbs or modal verbs, For example. «I have several books by this writer» and «I have read some books by this author». In the first sentence the verb «have» has the meaning «possess», in the second sentence it has no lexical meaning, its grammatical meaning is to form Present Perfect.


Answer the following questions.
1. What causes of semantic change do you know? 2. What is the extralinguistic causes of semantic change? 3. What is the linguistic cause of semantic change? 4. What is a metaphor? 5. What is the similarity based on? 6. What is a metonymy? 7. What words are often used metonymically? 8. What is the restriction of meaning? 9. What is the extension of meaning? 10. What is the difference between the amelioration of meaning and the deterioration of meaning.
11. What is the specialization of meaning? 12. What is the generalization of meanings of a word?


III. Polysemy
1. Definition of polysemy
The word «polysemy» means «plurality of meanings» it exists only in the language, not in speech. A word which has more than one meaning is called polysemantic.
Different meanings of a polysemantic word may come together due to the proximity of notions which they express. For example, the word «blanket» has the following meanings: a woolen covering used on beds, a covering for keeping a horse warm, a covering of any kind /a blanket of snow/, covering all or most cases /used attributively/, For example. We can say «a blanket insurance policy».
There are some words in the language which are mono semantic, such as most terms, /synonym, molecule, bronchites/, some pronouns /this, my, both/, numerals.
There are two processes of the semantic development of a word: radiation and concatenation (ysapo 6orjiHK). In cases of radiation the primary meaning stands in the centre and the secondary meanings proceed out of it like rays. Each secondary meaning can be traced to the primmary meaning. For example. In the word «face» the primary meaning denotes «the front part of the human head connected with the front position the meanings: the front part of a watch, the front part of a building, the front part of a playing card were formed. Connected with the word «face» itself the meanings : expression of the face, outward appearance are formed.
In cases of concatenation secondary meanings of a word develop like a chain. In such cases it is difficult to trace some meanings to the primary one. For example, in the word «crust» the primary meaning «hard outer part of bread» developed a secondary meaning «hard part of anything a pie, a cake», then the meaning «harder layer over soft snow» was developed, then «a sullen gloomy person», then «impudence» were developed. Here the last meanings have nothing to do with the primary ones. In such cases homonyms appear in the language. It is called the split of polysemy.
In most cases in the semantic development of a word both ways of semantic development are combined.
So, thus, polysemy is the existence within one word of several connected meanings. These meanings appeared as a result of the development and changes of its original meaning. Words are divided into two: polysemantic and monosemantic words. Polysemantic words are words which have more than two meanings. Monosemantic words have only one meaning. For example. The word «man» has eleven meanings in modern English: 1) человек (o дам ) 2) a двокат ( a двокат ) 3) мужчина ( эркак ) 4) мужественный человек ( куркмас одам ) 5) человечество (o дамийлик 6) c луга (x изматкор ) 7) pa бочий ( ишчи ) 8) муж ( э p) 9) p ядовые матросы ( денгизчилар ) 10) вассал ( вассал ) 11) пешка пиеда ( шахматда )
The word «room» has 3 meanings: 1) комната (x она ) 2) место ( жой 3) возможность ( кулайлик ). The word «new» has 8 meanings: 1) новый ( янги ) 2) иной , другой ( бошка ) 3) недавный ( якинда келтирилган ) 4) свежий ( янги ) 5) co временный (замоновий) 6) nepe довой (илгор) 7) bhob ь обнаруженный (кайта топилган) 8) незнакомый(бегона)
« Paint » has 7 meanings :красить (буямок); 2. писать красками(буёмок Билан чизмок ); 3. описывать,изображать (тасвирламок); 4. приукрашивать (буяб курсатмок);5. py мяниться,краситься (буянмок); 6. пьянствовать (маст булмок );7. смазывать ( cy рмок)
« Picture » has 9 meanings :
1. Kap тина,рисунок( cyp ат);
2. копия,портрет (нусха) ;
3. представление(маълумот);
4 живописная поза ( ранг-баранг сумбат,турли);
5.картинка,что-либо очень красивое(чиройли сурат)
6. кино( k ино);
7. кинемотография ( кинемотография );
8. амер.дело,сущность ( acoc , туб);
9. картина крови (кон расm)
For example . She is the picture of her mother, to form a clear picture of smth. living pictures in the air.
«white
white cloud белое облако ( ок булутлар ) .
white collar амер . служащий (x изматкор)
white hair c едой волос ( ок соч )
white li е невинная ложь ( айибстэ хато )
white house белый дом (ok уй )
white race счастливого пути (ок йул )
white witch добрая колдунья(мехрибон сехргар)
Monosemantic words are mostly scientific terms: hydrogen, lasar, etc.
«The frequency of polysemy in different languages is a variable depending on a number of factors. The progress of civilization will make it necessary not only to form new words but to add fresh meanings to old ones: in Breal's formula, the more senses a term has accumulated, the more senses a term has accumulated the more diverse aspects of intellectual and social activity it represents. It would be interesting to explore over a wider field the relation between polysemy and cultural progress.
Meanwhile, the frequency of polysemy will also depend on purely linguistic factors. As already noted, languages where derivation and composition are sparingly used will tend to fill gaps in vocabulary by adding new meanings to existing terms. Similarly polysemy will arise more often in generic words whose meaning varies according to context than in specific terms whose sense is less subject to variation. The relative frequency of polysemy in various languages may thus provide a further criterion for semantic typology, though once again it is hard to see now this feature could be exactly measured. (S. Ulmann),
«Polysemy is a fertile source of ambiguty in language. In a limited number of cases, two major meanings of the same word are differentiated by formal means: for example, flexion (brothers—brethren, hanged—hung); word order (ambassador extraordinary — extraordinary ambassador; spelling (discreet — discrete, draft — draught etc). In the last majority of cases, however, the context alone will suffice to exclude all irrelevant senses. When all these safeguards break down, a conflict between two or more incompatible meanings will ensure and this may lead to the disappearance of some of these meanings, or even to that of the word itself. In the present state of our knowledge it is impossible to say whether there are any general tendencies at work in these conflicts and in the way they are resolved. (S. Ulmann).