Chapter: lexicology and its object subject matter of Lexicology

3. The sources of homonyms
There are some sources of homonyms. They are:
1) divergent meaning development of one polysemantic word. Different meanings of the same word move so far away from each other (differ from each other) and they become two different words.
For example., Spring — сакрамок ( прыгать ), spring 2 — булок ( родник ), spring 3 — бахор ( весна ), can be etymologically traced back to the same source, <«flour» which originally were one word (M. E. flour). The meaning was «the flower» and «the finest part of wheat», now they are different words.
2) many homonyms came as a result of converging sound development. For example. OE ic and OE aze have become identical in pronunciation. I pron and eye (n.), love (v) — love n (OE lufu — lufian)
3) many homonyms arose from conversion, they have related meanings For example, paper — to paper, support — to support. Some linguists think that converted pairs must not be included in homonyms. This question demands further investigation.
4) The formation of different grammatical forms may cause homonyms: girl's — girls.
5) borrowed words may become homonyms as a result of phonetic convergence._ For example. Scandinavian «ras» and French race are homonymous in English: race — пойга ( состязание ), race 2 — рейс ,case — келишик ( падеж ), case 2 — чемодан , case — вазият ( случай )


4. The difference between homonymy and polysemy
In polysemy we deal with the different meanings of the same word. In homonomy we have different words which have their own meanings. The problem of difference between polysemy and homonymy is a subject of discussion among the linguists.
«... The trouble of today is, however, that lexical homonyms often enough come together with polysemy. There is no hard and fast line of democration between the meanings of a polysemantic word and lexical homonymy. For instance, there is hardly any semantic connection in Modern English between nail - коготь and nail — гвоздь notwithstanding the fact that both of them may be traced back to different meanings of one and the same word». (M. A. Kas- hcheyeva)
In most cases the semantic definition of words may be the criteria for the difference of polysemy and homonymy. For example. Table
1) table — piece of furniture consisting of a flat top with (usu. four) supports (called legs)
2) table — (sing, only) people seated at a table
3) table — (sing, only) food provided at a table
4) table — list of orderly arrangement of facts, information, etc (use in columns) We'll explain the second and the third meanings by substituting them with the help of the definition of the first meaning.
2) table — people seated at a piece of furniture;
3) table — food served at a piece of furniture. So these two meanings of the word «table» are the meanings of one word «table» because they can be substituted by the first meaning. The fourth meaning « таблица » can't be substituted by the first meaning (list — number of names (persons, items) written or printed) This gives us the right that the fourth meaning of the word «table» is the homonym to the previous three meaning. Beam
1) beam — long horizontal piece of squared timber or of steel supported at both ends, used to carry the weight of a building etc;
2) beam — horizontal cross timber in a ship, joining the sides and supporting the desk (s), the greatest width of a ship.
3) beam — crosspiece of a balance, from which the scales hang.
4) beam — ray or stream of light. The first, second and third meanings are defined by the common semantic component and they may be defined with the words «horizontal and «timber» and may be transformed by the first meaning of the word. But the fourth meaning has no common semantic component with the first, second and third meanings (stream — steady frow (of light): light — that which makes thing visible).
Some scientists say that the substitution of different meanings of words by the synonyms may help to differ homonyms from polysemantic words. For example, voice 1 — sounds uttered in speaking (sound) voice2 — mode of uttering sounds in speaking (sound)
voice 3 -the vibration ol the vocal cords in sounds uttered ("sound") voice4 - the form of the verb that express the relation of the subject to the action. Voice 1 -voice 2 – voice3 are not homonyms although they have different meanings because they can by substituted by the synonym "sound" as far as voice 4 is concerned. It is a homonym because it can't be substituted by the word "sound"
V. Abayev gave etimological criterion. He says homonyms are words which have different sources and only coincides phonetically For example, race] (O. N. ras), race. 2 (F. race). I (O, E. ic)— eye (O. E. eaze)
Thus, the first, second and third meanings are the different meanings of one Polysemantic word «beam». But the fourth is a homonym to them. «... the sense, it goes without saying, depends on the referent and the nature of the referent has to be defined by the context. Thus, the «cat» of «The cat sat on the mat» is different from the «cat» of «Bring back the cat for thugs and rapists». We cannot say that «cat» is a single word possessing two distinct meanings; there are two words phone-mically identical but semantically different; we call these «homonyms». The «cat» of the second sentence refers back etymologically — ^ the grim fancy of «cat o'nine tailss— to the cat of the hearthrug, but word — origj n can never be invoked, as we have already pointed out. in the examination of meanings. (A. Burgers)