CHAPTER-2 SEMANTIC SPACE

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Chapter 2

SEMANTIC SPACE

2.0 Introduction:

This chapter focuses on ‗semantic space‘ which is used in the craft of

translation. First question arises in one‘s mind that what is semantic space and

follows with another question why it is useful in translation studies.

To answer the first question ‗semantic space‘ can be defined as ‗a set of words

related in meaning‘. To make it more specific, ‗a set of words which cover a

certain conceptual area and which bear certain specifiable relations to one another‘

The words in a semantic space share a common semantic property. Most often,

fields are defined by subject matter, such as body parts, landforms, diseases,

colors, foods, or kinship relations.

Cultural attitudes to particular areas of human activity can often be seen in the

choices of metaphor used when that activity is discussed. A useful linguistic

concept to be aware of here is that of semantic space, sometimes called just space,

or space of meaning.

A distinction can usefully be drawn between a lexical field, as part of the

vocabulary of a specific language at a specific stage in its history, and a

conceptual field, postulated either as a linguistic universal or established across a

range of languages or stages in the history of a language. E.g. a conceptual field of

kinship was represented in Urdu by a lexical field which is different from any of

those representing the same conceptual field in English or the other languages.

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A general and intuitive description is that words in a semantic field are not

synonymous, but are all used to talk about the same general phenomenon. A

meaning of a word is dependent partly on its relation to other words in the same

conceptual area. The kinds of semantic fields vary from culture to culture and

anthropologists use them to study belief systems and reasoning across cultural

groups.

To answer the second question ‗why‘ it is useful, it is because without semantic

space means, lack of word-meaning range and it is really hard to translate words

which is having the variety of meanings of a word, which cannot be handle easily.

So for the sake of good translation, translator must have the knowledge and

understanding of the usefulness of different shades of words, range of words and

their range of meaning. To make the work much more affective and close to

source language (L1) which is translated to target language (L2).

To fulfill this aim, it requires the tremendous knowledge of source language (L1)

and as well as target language (L2). At the same time it also requires the

comprehension of the different cultures of L1 and L2. In other words it can be said

that in translation it is not the words which are translated, but there are cultures

which are translated from source language (L1) to target language (L2).

Therefore for the sake of the understanding and knowledge of types of words/

phrases/ sentence and their meaning this chapter has been divided into following

sections;

2.1 Ambiguity; lexical and syntactic

2.2 Homonymy

2.3 Polysemy

2.4 Theme, Functional and Semantics

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2.5 Conclusion

2.1 Ambiguity: Lexical and Syntactic

Definition

Ambiguity is a condition where information can be understood or interpreted in

more than one way and is distinct from vagueness, which is a statement about the

lack of precision contained or available in the information. Context may play a

role in resolving ambiguity. For example the same piece of information may be

ambiguous in one context and unambiguous in another.

Furthermore ambiguity means ‗doubtfulness of meaning‘, or

uncertainty of intention, that makes a document capable of being understood in

two or more senses.

A word, phrase, or sentence is ambiguous if it has more than one meaning. The

word 'light', for example, can mean not very heavy or not very dark. Words like

'light', 'note', 'bear' and 'over' are ‗lexically‘ ambiguous. They induce ambiguity in

phrases or sentences in which they occur, such as 'light suit' and 'The duchess can't

bear children'.

However, phrases and sentences can be ambiguous even if none of their

constituents is. The phrase 'porcelain egg container' is ‗structurally‘ ambiguous, as

is the sentence 'The police shot the rioters with guns'. Ambiguity can have both a

lexical and a structural basis, as with sentences like 'I left her behind for you' and

'He saw her duck'.

The notion of ambiguity has philosophical applications. For example, identifying

an ambiguity can aid in solving a philosophical problem. Suppose one wonders

how two people can have the same idea, say of a unicorn. This can seem puzzling

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until one distinguishes 'idea' in the sense of a particular psychological occurrence,

a mental representation, from 'idea' in the sense of an abstract, shareable concept.

On the other hand, gratuitous claims of ambiguity can make for overly simple

solutions. Accordingly, the question arises of how genuine ambiguities can be

distinguished from spurious ones. Part of the answer consists in identifying

phenomena with which ambiguity may be confused, such as vagueness, unclarity,

inexplicitness and indexicality.

Types of ambiguity:

William Empson talked about the seven types of ambiguity in his book ‗Seven

Types of Ambiguity’ which was first published in 1930. It was one of the most

influential critical works of the 20th century and was a key foundation work in the

formation of the New Criticism school. The book is organized around seven types

of ambiguity that Empson finds.

Seven Types of Ambiguity ushered in New Criticism in the United States. The

book is a guide to a style of literary criticism practiced by Empson. An ambiguity

is represented as a puzzle to Empson. We have ambiguity when "alternative views

might be taken without sheer misreading".

The highlights of ‗Seven Types of Ambiguity‘ which was described by Empson

are as follows:

1. The first type of ambiguity is the metaphor, that is, when two things are

said to be alike which have different properties. This concept is similar to

that of metaphysical conceit.

2. Two or more meanings are resolved into one. Empson characterizes this as

using two different metaphors at once.

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3. Two ideas that are connected through context can be given in one word

simultaneously.

4. Two or more meanings that do not agree but combine to make clear a

complicated state of mind in the author.

5. When the author discovers his idea in the act of writing. Empson describes

a simile that lies halfway between two statements made by the author.

6. When a statement says nothing and the readers are forced to invent a

statement of their own, most likely in conflict with that of the author.

7. Two words that within context are opposites that expose a fundamental

division in the author's mind.

Commonly there are two types ambiguities are found in the language, whether it is

spoken or written form of language. To translate these two types of ambiguities,

translator has to be very careful. If in translation ambiguous words or phrases or

sentences are not handle properly the whole translated work or text lost its

meaning and it would formulate havoc among readers.

In other words the meaning of ambiguous word or phrase or sentence of language1

(L1) text (source language) from which it is translated to language2 (L2) (target

language) will be misinterpreted and misunderstood.

So for the sake of clarity, before translating the text from source language to target

language, translator must understand and known to these two types of ambiguities.

These two types of ambiguities are as follows;

1. Lexical ambiguity

2. Syntactic/Grammatical/Structural ambiguity

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2.2.1 Lexical Ambiguity: Lexical ambiguity is by far the more common.

Everyday examples include nouns like 'chip', 'pen' and 'suit', verbs like 'call', 'draw'

and 'run', and adjectives like 'deep', 'dry' and 'hard'. There are various tests for

ambiguity. One test is having two unrelated antonyms, as with 'hard', which has

both 'soft' and 'easy' as opposites.

Another is the conjunction reduction test. Consider the sentence, 'The tailor

pressed one suit in his shop and one in the municipal court'. Evidence that the

word 'suit' (not to mention 'press') is ambiguous is provided by the anomaly of the

'crossed interpretation' of the sentence, on which 'suit' is used to refer to an article

of clothing and 'one' to a legal action.

The above examples of ambiguity are each a case of one word with more than one

meaning. However, it is not always clear when we have only one word.

The verb 'desert' and the noun 'dessert', which sound the same but, are spelled

differently, count as distinct words (they are homonyms). So do the noun 'bear'

and the verb 'bear', even though they not only sound the same but are spelled the

same? These examples may be clear cases of homonymy, but what about the noun

'respect' and the verb 'respect' or the preposition 'over' and the adjective 'over'? Are

the members of these pair‘s homonyms or different forms of the same word?

There is no general consensus on how to draw the line between cases of one

ambiguous word and cases of two homonymous words. Perhaps the difference is

ultimately arbitrary.

Sometimes one meaning of a word is derived from another. For example, the

cognitive sense of 'see' seems derived from its visual sense. The sense of 'weigh' in

'He weighed the package' is derived from its sense in 'The package weighed two

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pounds'. Similarly, the transitive senses of 'burn', 'fly' and 'walk' are derived from

their intransitive senses.

Now it could be argued that in each of these cases the derived sense does not

really qualify as a second meaning of the word but is actually the result of a lexical

operation on the underived sense. This argument is plausible to the extent that the

phenomenon is systematic and general, rather than peculiar to particular words.

Lexical semantics has the task of identifying and characterizing such systematic

phenomena. It is also concerned to explain the rich and subtle semantic behavior

of common and highly flexible words like the verbs 'do' and 'put' and the

prepositions 'at', 'in' and 'to'. Each of these words has uses which are so numerous

yet so closely related that they are often described as 'polysemous' rather than

ambiguous.

2.2.2 Syntactic/Grammatical/Structural ambiguity: Structural ambiguity

occurs when a phrase or sentence has more than one underlying structure, such as

the phrases 'Indian history teacher', 'a student of high moral principles' and 'short

men and women', and the sentences 'The girl hit the boy with a book' and 'Visiting

relatives can be boring'. These ambiguities are said to be structural because each

such phrase can be represented in two structurally different ways,

e.g. '[Indian history] teacher' and 'Indian [history teacher]'.

Example from Urdu language [roko] mat jane do „[stop] don‘t let him go‘

[roko mat] jane do „[don‘t stop] let him go‘

Indeed, the existence of such ambiguities provides strong evidence for a level of

underlying syntactic structure. Consider the structurally ambiguous sentence, 'The

chicken is ready to eat', which could be used to describe either a hungry chicken or

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a broiled chicken. It is arguable that the operative reading depends on whether or

not the implicit subject of the infinitive clause 'to eat' is tied anaphorically to the

subject ('the chicken') of the main clause.

It is not always clear when we have a case of structural ambiguity. Consider, for

example, the elliptical sentence, 'Bill knows a richer man than Ronny'. It has two

meanings that Bill knows a man who is richer than Ronny and that Bill knows

man who is richer than any man Ronny knows, and is therefore ambiguous.

But what about the sentence 'John loves his mother and so does Bill'? It can be

used to say either that John loves John's mother and Bill loves Bill's mother or that

John loves John's mother and Bill loves John's mother. But is it really ambiguous?

One might argue that the clause 'so does Bill' is unambiguous and may be read

unequivocally as saying in the context that Bill does the same thing that John does,

and although there are two different possibilities for what counts as doing the

same thing, these alternatives are not fixed semantically. So the ambiguity is

merely apparent and better described as semantic under-determination.

So it can be said that ambiguity is fundamentally a property of linguistic

expressions, people are also said to be ambiguous on occasion in how they use

language. This can occur if, even when their words are unambiguous, their words

do not make what they mean uniquely determinable. Strictly speaking, however,

ambiguity is a semantic phenomenon, involving linguistic meaning rather than

speaker meaning; 'pragmatic ambiguity' is an oxymoron.

Generally when one uses ambiguous words or sentences, one does not

consciously entertain their unintended meanings, although there is

psycholinguistic evidence that when one hears ambiguous words one momentarily

accesses and then rules out their irrelevant senses.

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When people use ambiguous language, generally its ambiguity is not intended.

Occasionally, however, ambiguity is deliberate, as with an utterance of 'I'd like to

see more of you' when intended to be taken in more than one way in the very same

context of utterance.

It is a cliché that what your words convey 'depends on what you mean'. This

suggests that one can mean different things by what one says, but it says nothing

about the variety of ways in which this is possible.

Semantic ambiguity is one such way, but there are others: homonymy, vagueness,

relativity, indexicality, non-literality, indirection and inexplicitness. All these other

phenomena illustrate something distinct from multiplicity of linguistic meaning.

An expression is vague if it admits of borderline cases. Terms like 'bald', 'heavy'

and 'old' are obvious examples, and their vagueness is explained by the fact that

they apply to items on fuzzy regions of a scale.

Terms that can be used to express cluster concepts, like 'intelligent', 'athletic' and

'just', are vague because their instances are determined by the application of

several criteria, no one of which is decisive.

Relativity is illustrated by the words 'heavy' and 'old' (these are vague as well).

Heavy people are lighter than non-heavy elephants, and old cats can are younger

than some young people.

A different sort of relativity occurs with sentences like 'Jane is finished' and 'John

will be late'. Obviously one cannot be finished or late simply but only finished

with something or late for something.

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This does not show that the words 'finished' and 'late' are ambiguous (if they were,

they would be ambiguous in as many ways as there are things one can be finished

with or things one can be late for), but only that such a sentence is semantically

under determinate. It must be used to mean more than what the sentence means.

Indexical terms, like 'you', 'here' and 'tomorrow', have fixed meaning but variable

reference. For example, the meaning of the word 'tomorrow' does not change from

one day to the next, though of course its reference does.

Non-literality, indirection and inexplicitness are further ways in which what a

speaker means is not uniquely determined by what his words mean. They can give

rise to unclarity in communication, as might happen with utterances of 'You're the

icing on my cake', 'I wish you could sing longer and louder', and 'Nothing is on TV

tonight'. These are not cases of linguistic ambiguity but can be confused with it

because speakers are often said to be ambiguous.

From the above it can be drawn that in translation from the source language (L1)

to the target language (L2) besides other hurdles, ambiguous words and

ambiguous sentences also become big barriers which can be very confusing for

translator especially when the translation job is done by machine that means

machine translation.

2.2 Homonymy:

Two or more words identical in sound and spelling but different in meaning,

distribution and in many cases origin are called homonyms. The term is derived

from Greek ‗homonymous‟ homos means – ‗the same‘ and onoma means – ‗name‘

and thus expresses very well the sameness of name combined with the difference

in meaning.

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In linguistics, a homonym is, in the strict sense, one of a group of words that share

the same spelling and the same pronunciation but have different meanings usually

as a result of the two words having different origins. The state of being a

homonym is called homonymy.

In other words, if two words have two different and unrelated meanings but the

same pronunciation or the same spelling, they are called homonyms.

Classifications of Homonyms:

2.2.1 The standard way of classification (given by I.V. Arnold)

The most widely accepted classification is that recognizing homonyms proper,

homophones and homographs.

Table 2.1: Types of Homonymy

PRONUNCIATION PRONUNCIATION

SPELLING

SAME DIFFERENT

SAME A. Homonym proper C. Homograph (or heteronym)

DIFFERENT

B. Homophone (or heteronym)

D. Allonym

Most words differ from each other in both spelling and pronunciation - therefore

they belong to the sell D in this table – they are known as allonyms. Not so many

linguists distinguish this category. But it must be admitted that Keith C. Ivey, in

his discussion of homonyms, recognizes this fact and writes:

These familiar with combinatorics may have noticed that there is a fourth possible

category based on spelling and pronunciation: words that differ in spelling and

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pronunciation as well as meaning and origin (alligator/true). These pairs are

technically known as different words.

Unfortunately, this seemingly neat solution doesn't work because all heteronyms

are different words as Ivey's examples show. He illustrates homophones with

board/bored, clearly two different words though pronounced alike, and his

example of homographs (the verb desert/the noun desert) again shows, by their

pronunciation, that they are different words. Even this example of a homonym --

words having both the same sound and spelling, as illustrated by "to quail and a

quail" -- clearly shows they are different words. Lexicographers underline this

point by writing separate entries for different words, whether or not they have the

same spelling and pronunciation.

One could specify a phrase, like uniquely different words to represent category D,

but this method is clumsy and not transparent. A simpler solution can be found by

means of a neologism. It is not difficult to think of a suitable term.

An allonym is a word that differs in spelling and pronunciation from all other

words, whereas both homonyms and heteronyms identify words that are the same,

in some ways, as other words.

No doubt in ordinary usage, we will have little need for this term, although it

would simplify lexical explanation if one could start by making the claim that the

most words in English are allonyms. The clear exceptions are other groups.

Different words that are spelled and pronounced the same way are classed in cell

A and are correctly called homonyms proper - but some writers, confusingly, call

them heteronyms.

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When different words are spelled the same way but pronounced differently, they

belong to category C. It is precise to call them homographs and they are

sometimes misleadingly called heteronyms. By contrast, when different words are

pronounced the same way but spelled differently, we may properly call

them homophones - rarely, they have also been called heteronyms.

2.2.1.1 Homonyms proper:

Homonyms proper are words, as it has already mentioned, identical in

pronunciation and spelling, like fast and liver.

Table 2.2: Examples of Homonyms proper from English language

Spelling Word Pronunciation Meaning Gloss

S

A

M

E

S

A

M

E

Back S

A

M

E

S

A

M

E

D

I

F

F

E

R

E

N

T

part of the body

Back away from the front

Base Bottom

Base build or place upon

Bay part of the sea

Bay recess in a house or

room

Ball a gathering of people

for dancing

Ball round object used in

games

Bark the noise made by

dog

Bark to utter sharp

explosive cries

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Bark the skin of a tree

Above table shows the few examples of Homonyms proper from English

Language

Table 2.3: Examples of Homonyms proper from Urdu Language

Spelling Word Pronunciation Meaning Gloss

S

A

M

E

S

A

M

E

S پاًا

A

M

E

S

A

M

E

D

I

F

F

E

R

E

N

T

to get

اپاً wrench

leg پایا

pillar پایا

report زپٹ

slip زپٹ

gold سوًا

sleep سوًا

gone گیا

name of the city گیا

lost کھویا

made from the milk کھویا

brain بھیجا

sent بھیجا

Monday پیس

Sufi پیس

Above table shows examples of Homonyms proper from Urdu Language.

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The important point is that homonyms are distinct words: not only different

meanings within one word.

2.2.1.2 Homophones:

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

Table 2.4: Examples of Homophones from English Language

Words Pronunciation

Air Hair

S

A

M

E

S

A

M

E

/ɛər/

Arms Alms /ɑrm/

Buy By /baɪ/

Him Hymn /hɪm/

Knight Night /naɪt/

Meet Meat /mit/

Not Knot /nɒt/

Or Oar /ɔr; unstressed ər/

Piece Peace /pis/

Rain Reign /reɪn/

Scent Cent /sɛnt/

Steel Steal /stil/

Storey Story /ˈstɔr i,/

Sea See /si/

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Scene Seen /sin/

Write Right /raɪt/

The above table shows the examples of Homophones from English Language.

Table 2.5: Examples of Homophones from Urdu Language

Gloss Word Gloss Word Pronunciation

S ط/ت

A

M

E

S

A

M

E

S

A

Comments طعٌہ Threads that

are extended

length wise

TANA تاًا

Tight تاى Music طعي TAAN

Obedient تابع Printer طآبع TABAY

Ready تّیآز Aeroplane طّیاز TAYYAR

Body ستس Line سطس SATTAR

ث/س

Second ثاًی Chopped mix

with grains

SAANI سآًی

Excess کثست Exercise کسست KASRAT

House hold اثاث Foundation اساض ASAAS

Example هثال Photo/snap هسال MISAAL

ص/س

To call صدا Always سدا SADA

Face صوزت Chapters in

Holy Quran

SOORAT سوزت

Waste/ اصساف Lavishly اسساف ASRAAF

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Extra invest M

E

S

A

M

E

Spots بسص Year بسض BARAS

ص/ث

Good

Fortune

Right Saying ثواب

or Doing

SAWAAB صواب

Prose ًثس Victory ًصس NASR

Unborred

pearl

Defended or هٌثوز

Protected

MANSOOR هٌصوز

ظ/ز

Woman شى Opinion/

Notion

ZAN ظي

Assistant ظہیس Low-

spirited/ Thin

ZAHEER شہیس

ظ/ذ

Similar/

Equal

One who ًظیس

terrorizes

NAZEER ًریس

ض/ز

Shrine زوضہ Fasting زوشہ ROZA

Width/

Openness

/Enhancing فضا

Increasing

FIZA اصف

ض/ذ

To draw

together/

Conjunction

ZAM ذم Blame ضن

Fault/ ضاللت Objection/ ذاللت ZALALAT

Presence حضس Reject حرز HAZR

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ح/ھ

Plough ھل Solution حل HAL

Letter of

Urdu

Alphabet

HAMZA حوصہ Lion ہوصہ

Satirist ہاجی One who has

performed

the

pilgrimage to

Mecca

HAJI حاجی

The above table shows the examples of Homophones from Urdu Language.

In the sentence The play-wright on my right thinks it right that some conventional

rite should symbolize the right of every man to write as he pleases the sound

complex [rait] is a noun, an adjective, an adverb and a verb, has four different

spellings and six different meanings. The difference may be confined to the use of

a capital letter as in bill and Bill, in the following example:

“How much is my milk bill?”

“Excuse me, Madam, but my name is John.”

On the other hand, whole sentences may be homophonic: The sons raise meat -

The sun's rays meet. To understand these one needs a wider context. If you hear

the second in the course of a lecture in optics, you will understand it without

thinking of the possibility of the first.

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2.3.1.3 Homographs:

Homographs are words different in sound and in meaning but accidentally

identical in spelling.

Table 2.6: Examples of Homographs from English Language

Spelling Word Pronunciation Meaning

S

A

M

E

S

A

M

E

Bow D

I

F

F

E

R

E

N

T

/bow/ D

I

F

F

E

R

E

N

T

Bow /bau/

Lead /li:d/

Lead /led/

Row /rou/

Row /rau/

Sewer /soue/

Sewer /sjue/

Tear /tie/

Tear /te/

Wind /wind/

Wind /waind

The above table shows the examples of Homographs from English Language; they

have same spelling but pronounce differently.

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Table 2.7: Examples of Homographs from Urdu Language

Spelling Word Pronunciation Meaning Gloss

S

A

M

E

S

A

M

E

D سس

I

F

F

E

R

E

N

T

sir D

I

F

F

E

R

E

N

T

head

sur tone سس

pal moment پل

pul bridge پل

is this اض

us that اض

par feather پس

pur complete پس

tair swim تیس

teer arrow تیس

pair foot پیس

peer monday پیس

The above table shows the examples of Homographs from Urdu Language; they

have same spelling but pronounce differently.

It has been often argued that homographs constitute a phenomenon that should be

kept apart from homonymy, as the object of linguistics is sound language. This

viewpoint can hardly be accepted. Because of the effects of education and culture

written English is a generalized national form of expression. An average speaker

does not separate the written and oral form. On the contrary he is more likely to

analyze the words in terms of letters than in terms of phonemes with which he is

less familiar. That is why a linguist must take into consideration both the spelling

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and the pronunciation of words when analyzing cases of identity of form and

diversity of content.

2.2.2 Classification given by A.I. Smirnitsky

The classification, which that is have mentioned above, is certainly not precise

enough and does not reflect certain important features of these words, and, most

important of all, their status as parts of speech. The examples given their show

those homonyms may belong to both to the same and to different categories of

parts of speech. Obviously, the classification of homonyms should reflect this

distinctive feather. 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 classifieds homonyms into two large

classes:

a) Full homonyms

b) Partial homonyms

2.2.2. a) Full homonyms:

Full lexical homonyms are words, which represent the same category of parts of

speech and have the same paradigm.

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

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2.2.2.b) Partial homonyms:

Partial homonyms are subdivided into three subgroups:

i). Simple lexico-grammatical partial homonyms are words, which belong to the

same category of parts of speech. Their paradigms have only one identical form,

but it is never the same form, as will be seen from the examples:

(to) found v

found v (past indef., past part. of to find)

(to) lay v

lay v (past indef. of to lie)

(to) bound v

bound v (past indef., past part. of to bind)

ii). Complex lexico-grammatical partial homonyms are words of different

categories of parts of speech, which have identical form in their paradigms.

Rose n

Rose v (past indef. of to rise)

Made n

Made v (past indef., past part. of to make)

Left adj

Left v (past indef., past part. of to leave)

Bean n

Been v (past part. of to be)

One num

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Won v (past indef., past part. of to win)

iii). Partial lexical homonyms are words of the same category of parts of speech

which are identical only in their corresponding forms.

to lie (lay, lain) v

to lie (lied, lied) v

to hang (hung, hung) v

to hang (hanged, hanged) v

to can (canned, canned)

(I) can (could)

2.2.3 Other aspects of classification:

Various types of classification for homonyms have been suggested.

A comprehensive system may be worked out if we are guided by the theory of

oppositions and in classifying the homonyms take into consideration the difference

or sameness in their lexical and grammatical meaning, paradigm and basic form.

As both form and meaning can be further subdivided, the combination of

distinctive features by which two words are compared becomes more complicated

- there are four features: the form may be phonetical and graphical, the meaning -

lexical and grammatical, a word may also have a paradigm of grammatical forms

different from the basic form.

The distinctive features shown in the table below are lexical meaning (different

denoted by A, or nearly the same denoted by A1), grammatical meaning (different

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denoted by B, or same by B1), paradigm (different denoted by C, or same denoted

by C1), and basic form (different denoted by D, and same denoted by D1).

The term ―nearly same lexical meaning‖ must not be taken too literally. It means

only that the corresponding members of the opposition have some important

invariant semantic components in common. ―Same grammatical meaning‖ implies

that both members belong to the same part of speech.

Same paradigm comprises also cases when there is only one word form that is

when the words are unchangeable. Inconsistent combinations of features are

crossed out in the table. It is, for instance, impossible for two words to be identical

in all word forms and different in basic forms, or for two homonyms to show no

difference either in lexical or grammatical meaning, because in this case they are

not homonyms. That leaves twelve possible cases.

Table 2.8: Classification of Homonyms

Difference and

Identity in

Words

A Different

lexical

meaning

A1 Nearly

same lexical

meaning

B Different

grammatical

meaning

Partial

Homonymy

Patterned

Homonymy

D1 Same basic

forms

light, -s n

light,-er,-est a

flat, -s n

flat,-er,-est a

for prp

for cj

before prp

before adv

before cj

eye, -s n

eye, -s, -ed,

-ing v

might n thought n D

Different

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may-might v thought v

(Past Indef.

Tense

of think)

basic form

B1 Same

grammatical

meaning

axis, axes n

axe - axes n

but-butted v

butt-butted v

Synonyms D

Different

basic form

lie-lay-lain v

lie-lied-lied v

Full

Homonymy

spring,-s n

spring,-s n

spring,-s n

Polysemy

Variants of the

same

polysemantic

word

C Different

paradigm

C1 Same

paradigm

C Different

paradigm

It goes without saying that this is a model that gives a general scheme. Actually a

group of homonyms may contain members belonging to different groups in this

classification. Take for an example, fell1 n `animal's hide or skin with the

hair'; fell2 n `hill' and also `a stretch of North-English moorland'; fell3 a `fierce'

(poet.); fell4 v `to cut down trees' and as a noun `amount of timber cut'; fell5 (the

Past Indefinite Tense of the verb fall). This group may be broken into pairs, each

of which will fit into one of the above describes divisions. Thus, fell1 - fell2 may be

characterized as AB1C1D1,fell1 - fell4 as ABCD1 and fell4 - fell5 as A1BCD.

Chapter – 2

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Fig 2.1: Relationships between Homonyms

Above Venn diagram is showing the relationships between homonyms (between

blue and yellow) and related linguistic concepts

Drawn from the above it can be said that homonymy is also one of the important

area of concern in translation studies. Without the understanding of homonyms, it

is very tough to translate one text (L1) to another (L2).

2.3 Polysemy:

Polysemy term is also taken from the Greek language. Poly means-, "many"

and sêma means "sign" is the capacity for a sign(e.g., a word, phrase, etc.) or

signs to have multiple meanings (sememes), that is a large semantic space.

A polysemy is a word or phrase with multiple, related meanings. A word is judged

to be polysemous if it has two senses of the word whose meanings are related.

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Since the vague concept of relatedness is the test for polysemy, judgments of

polysemy can be very difficult to make. Because applying pre-existing words to

new situations is a natural process of language change, looking at

words' etymology is helpful in determining polysemy but not the only solution; as

words become lost in etymology, what once was a useful distinction of meaning

may no longer be so.

Some apparently unrelated words share a common historical origin, however, so

etymology is not an infallible test for polysemy, and dictionary writers also often

defer to speakers' intuitions to judge polysemy in cases where it contradicts

etymology.

English has many words which are polysemous. For example the verb "to get" can

mean "procure" (I'll get the drinks), "become" (she got scared), "have" (I've got

three dollars), "understand" (I get it) etc.

A closely related term is metonym, in which a word with one original meaning is

used to refer to something else connected to it.

There are several tests for polysemy, but one of them is zeugma: if one word

seems to exhibit zeugma when applied in different contexts, it is likely that the

contexts bring out different polysemes of the same word. If the two senses of the

same word do not seem to fit, yet seem related, then it is likely that they are

polysemous.

The fact that this test again depends on speakers' judgments about relatedness,

however, means that this test for polysemy is not infallible, but is rather merely a

helpful conceptual aid.

For Dick Hebdige polysemy means that, "each text is seen to generate a potentially

infinite range of meanings," making.

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According to Richard Middleton, "any homology, out of the most heterogeneous

materials, possible. The idea of signifying practice texts not as communicating or

expressing a pre-existing meaning but as 'positioning subjects' within

a process of semiosis - changes the whole basis of creating social meaning".

One group of polysemes are those in which a word meaning an activity, perhaps

derived from a verb, acquires the meanings of those engaged in the activity, or

perhaps the results of the activity, or the time or place in which the activity occurs

or has occurred. Sometimes only one of those meanings is intended, depending on

context, and sometimes multiple meanings are intended at the same time. Other

types are derivations from one of the other meanings that lead to a verb or activity.

Table 2.9: Examples of Polysemous words in English Language

Mole

1. a small burrowing mammal

2. consequently, there are several

different entities called moles.

Although these refer

to different things, their names

derive from

1. :e.g. A Mole burrows for

information hoping to go

undetected.

Bank

1. a financial institution

2. the building where a financial

institution offers services

3. a synonym for 'rely upon'

(e.g. "I'm your friend, you

can bank on me"). It is

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different, but related, as it

derives from the theme of

security initiated by 1

However: a river bank is a homonym to 1 and 2, as they do not share

etymologies. It is a completely different meaning. River bed, though, is

polysemous with the beds on which people sleep.

Book

1. abound collection of

pages

2. a text reproduced and

distributed (thus, someone

who has read the same

text on a computer has

read the same book as

someone who had the

actual paper volume)

Milk

The verb milk (e.g. "he's

milking it for all he can

get") derives from the

process of obtaining milk

Wood

1. a piece of a tree

2. a geographical area with

many trees

3. an erection

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70

Crane

1. a bird

2. a type of construction

equipment.

Hand

1. part of the human arm

beyond the wrist (e.g. put

your hand in your pocket).

2. performer, (e.g. she is an

old hand at this kind of

work).

3. indicator on the dial of a

clock(e.g. the two hands of

a clock).

Leg

1. part of the body used for

walking

2. leg-like support of a piece

of furniture,(e.g. the leg of

chair, table etc.)

Tongue

1. organ of a mouth used for

speaking, tasting, etc

2. language, (e.g. mother

tongue)

3. Tongue shape like

something (e.g. the strip of

leather under the lace of a

shoe).

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Tooth

1. bone structure rooted in

the gums.

2. tooth- like part of saw or a

comb.

Mouth

1. opening through which

humans and animals take

food.

2. opening,(mouth of river or

cave or tunnel).

Beat 1. regular repeated stoke.

2. to hit repeatedly.

Table 2.10: Examples of Polysemous words in Urdu Language

آًکھ /aankh/

1. human eye

2. eye of the needle

آغا /agha/

1. Master

2. elder brother

تخت /takht/

1. wooden bed

2. throne

عجن/ajam/

1. non arabs

2. dumb

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جلد/ jild /

1. Skin

2. Cover

2.3.1 Difference between Homonymy and Polysemy:

Homonyms are two or more words having the same written or spoken form.

Whereas polysemy word, on the other hand is a word having two or more related

meanings.

In a dictionary, homonyms are therefore listed as separate words but the multiple

meanings of a polysemic word are usually listed under the same entry.

To make it more clear, the difference between homonyms and polysemes is subtle.

Lexicographers define polysemes within a single dictionary lemma, numbering

different meanings, while homonyms are treated in separate lemmata. Semantic

shift can separate a polysemous word into separate homonyms.

For example, check as in "bank check" (or Cheque), check in chess,

and check meaning "verification" are considered homonyms, while they originated

as a single word derived from chess in the 14th century.

The table on next page shows the clear cut difference between homonymy and

polysemy.

Chapter – 2

73

Table 2.11: Difference between Homonymy and Polysemy

Term Meaning Spelling Pronunciation

Homonym Different Same Same

Homograph Different Same Same or different

Homophone Different Same or different Same

Heteronym Different Same Different

Heterograph Different Different Same

Polysemy Different but related Same Same or different

The above table is not only showing the difference between homonymy and

polysemy but it also shows the types of homonyms.

2.4 Theme, Functional and Semantics

2.4.1Theme

Crystal (1980: 483) makes the following observation:

Theme: A term used in linguistics as part of an analysis of the structure of

sentences (their thematic structure): it refers, not to the subject-matter of a

sentence (its everyday meaning), but to the way speakers identify the relative

importance of their subject-matter, and is defined as the first major constituent of a

sentence (seen here as a string of constituents). There is no necessary

correspondence with a functional grammatical element (though in English theme

and subject often coincide) e.g. The man is going, His hair I can‟t stand, Smith her

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74

name was, Under no condition will he . . . The process of moving an element to

the front of the sentence in this way (‗fronting‘), to act as theme, is known as

thematization (sometimes topicalization) or thematic fronting. Some linguists

systematically distinguish this notion from other ways of analyzing the

organization of the sentence structure of messages, such as the topic/comment

distinction, or an analysis in terms of information structure.‖

In the Prague School approach to linguistics, theme is opposed to rheme,

producing a distinction similar to that of topic/comment, but interpreted with

reference to the theoretical framework of functional sentence perspective. In this

theory, the theme is defined as the part of a sentence which adds least to the

advancing process of communication (it has the lowest degree of communicative

dynamism); in other words, it expresses relatively little (or no) extra meaning, in

addition to what has already been communicated. The rheme, by contrast, carries

the highest degree of communicative dynamism. Various transitional expressions,

neither ‗thematic‘ nor ‗rhematic‘, are also recognized.‖

Drawing from the above it is quite clear theme changes meaning changes. If we

take a word ‗chair‘ as an example in one thematic scenario its simplest literal

meaning is ‗a wooden or metallic structure‘ which has four legs with or without

armrest and one angle to support a person‘s back which is known as back-support

or back rest, but if we change the scenario means theme the meaning changes

dynamically from ‗a simple wooden or metallic structure‘ to ‗power‘.

For instance in Urdu Language if someone says „kursi ki laRai hai sari‟ [all fight

is for Power] , not all fight for ‗chair‘ because of theme the translation of ‗kursi‟ is

not ‗Chair‘ but ‗Power‘.

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Its shows that in understanding the meaning of a single word, theme plays a very

important role and it also shows if we change the theme, meaning will change

automatically.

2.4.2 Functional

Functional words can be defined as ‗Words, such as prepositions, conjunctions, or

an article, that has little semantic content of its own and chiefly indicates a

grammatical relationship. Also called form word, functor‟.

Or

―Words that serve a grammatical function but has no identifiable meaning‖

Or

Functional words (or grammatical words or auto-semantic words) are words that

have little lexical meaning or have ambiguous meaning, but instead serve to

express grammatical relationships with other words within a sentence, or specify

the attitude or mood of the speaker. Words that are not function words are called

content words (or open class words or lexical words): these include nouns, verbs,

adjectives, and most adverbs, although some adverbs are function words (e.g., then

and why). Dictionaries define the specific meanings of content words, but can only

describe the general usages of functional words. By contrast, grammars describe

the use of functional words in detail, but treat lexical words in general terms only.

Functional words might be prepositions, pronouns, auxiliary verbs, conjunctions,

grammatical articles or particles, all of which belong to the group of closed-class

words. Interjections are sometimes considered function words but they belong to

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76

the group of open-class words. Function words might or might not be inflected or

might have affixes.

Functional words belong to the closed class of words in grammar in that, it is very

uncommon to have new functional words created in the course of speech, whereas

in the open class of words (that is, nouns, verbs, adjectives, or adverbs) new words

may be added readily (such as slang words, technical terms, and adoptions and

adaptations of foreign words).

Each functional word either gives some grammatical information on other words

in a sentence or clause, or cannot be isolated from other words, or it may indicate

the speaker's mental model as to what is being said.

Functional words or grammatical words, as a class, can have distinct phonological

properties from content words. Grammatical words sometimes do not make full

use of all the sounds in a language. For example, in some of the Khoisan

languages, most content words begin with clicks, but very few function words do.

In English, only function words begin with voiced th- [ð]

The following is a list of the kind of words considered to be function words:

Articles and Pronouns - (the, a, he-him, she-her) both article and pronoun

function as alternates in some of the languages of the world. For instance,

in most of the Indian languages pronouns stands for the role of an article.

Translation practices have to discover the relationship between the two. the

— the and a. In some inflected languages, the articles may take on the case

of the declension of the following noun.

Ad positions — uninflected in English

Conjunctions — uninflected in English

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Auxiliary verbs — forming part of the conjugation (pattern of the tenses of

main verbs), always inflected

Interjections — sometimes called "filled pauses", uninflected

Particles — convey the attitude of the speaker and are uninflected, as if,

then, well, however, thus, etc.

Expletives — take the place of sentences, among other functions.

Pro-sentences — yes, okay, etc.

There are few more definitions of function words as below;

"Closed-class words are those belonging to the grammatical, or functional,

classes. Functional words in English include conjunctions (and, or), articles (the,

a), demonstratives (this, that), and prepositions (to, from, at, with). To take one

specific case, consider the word and. The essential feature of the word and is that

it functions grammatically to conjoin words and phrases, as seen in the

combination of noun phrases the woman and the man. Any change in membership

in such a class happens only very slowly (over centuries) and in small increments.

Thus, a speaker of English may well encounter dozens of new

nouns and verbs during the coming year; but it is extremely unlikely that the

English language will acquire a new article (or lose a current one) in the coming

year (or even in the speaker's lifetime)."

(Adrian Akmajian, et al., Linguistics: An Introduction to Language and

Communication. MIT, 2001)

"Closed-class words or 'function words' are limited in number and act as markers

or guides to the structure of a sentence. The role of articles is to signal nouns.

Prepositions mark special relationships between persons, objects, and locations.

Conjunctions are connectors that link actors or objects, and specify relationships

between clauses in the sentence. Open- and closed-class words occupy certain

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slots in sentences and set up a frame for interpreting the interrelationships between

actors, actions, and objects."(Diane Mc Guinness, Language Development and

Learning to Read. MIT, 2005)

Furthermore "Functional words are like thumbtacks. We don't notice

thumbtacks; we look at the calendar or the poster they are holding up. If we

were to take the tacks away, the calendar and the poster would fall down.

Likewise, if we took the function words out of speech, it would be hard to

figure out what was going on:

took function words speech hard figure going on

That is what the previous sentence would look like if we took out all of the

function words …………………………..…………………………………

"Function words are a closed class. A person cannot easily invent a new

preposition or conjunction." (Mark Aronoff and Kirsten Anne

Fudeman, What Is Morphology? Wiley-Blackwell, 2005)

"Most people with low self-esteem have earned it."

(George Carlin)

"Liberal and conservative have lost their meaning in America. I represent t

he distracted center."

(Jon Stewart)

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79

"Trying is the first step towards failure."

(Homer Simpson)

"Every book is a children's book if the kid can read."

(Mitch Hedberg)

"Most monosyllabic function words, unlike content words, are unstressed .

. .. prepositions, conjunctions, and articles are regularly unstressed,

and auxiliary verbs and adverbs are usually unstressed--though note that

auxiliaries are often used for emphasis, in which case they are stressed:

"I did pay the bills."(Derek Attridge, Poetic Rhythm. Cambridge Univ.

Press, 1995)

Functional words are also known as: grammatical word, grammatical

morpheme, function morpheme

Table 2.11: Functional Words of English Language

Prepositions Determiners Conjunctions Model Verbs Primary

Verbs

about

across

against

along

around

at

behind

the

some

this

that

every

all

both

and

but

after

when

as

because

if

can

may

will

shall

could

might

would

be

do

have

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beside

besides

by

despite

down

during

for

from

in

inside

into

near

of

off

on

onto

over

through

to

toward

with

within

without

one

first

other

next

many

much

more

most

several

no

a/an

any

each

no

half

twice

two

second

another

last

few

little

less

least

own

what

where

which

how

than

or

so

before

since

while

although

though

who

whose

should

must

The above shows the list of functional words in English Language

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2.4.3 Semantics:

Semantics plays very important role in translation. But many people even some

scholars don‘t agree with this. They said semantics has nothing to do with

translation. They believe that translation and semantics are completely different

fields.

If we think deeply these two streams are very much close to each. Even they are

complementary to each other. Some way or other translation studies very much

depends on semantics. Semantics plays crucial role when we have to find

equivalents in translation.

In translation equivalents words or meanings are very important. Actually

translation is nothing but bunches of equivalents. Without equivalents it is near to

impossible to have perfect translated work.

For this it is quite handful if a translator has knowledge of semantics. So for this

let us see semantics in short and also see how it is fruitful for translation studies.

Actually semantics word comes from Greek language ‗semantikos‟ means

‗significant‘. It is the study of meaning. It typically focuses on the relationship

between signifiers, such as words, phrases, signs and symbols, and what they stand

for.

Linguistic semantics is the study of meanings that humans use language to

express. Other forms of semantics include the semantics of programming

languages, formal logics, and semiotics.

The word ‗semantics‘ itself denotes a range of ideas, from the popular to the

highly technical. It is often used in ordinary language to denote a problem of

understanding that comes down to word selection or connotation. This problem of

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82

understanding has been the subject of many formal inquiries, over a long period of

time, most notably in the field of semantics and translation studies.

As it is quite clear from above that is the problem of understanding. It becomes

challenge in translation and translator has to cope with this problem.

In linguistics, it is the study of interpretation of signs or symbols as used

by agents or communities within particular circumstances and contexts. Within

this view, sounds, facial expressions, body language, proxemics have semantic

(meaningful) content, and each has several branches of study.

In written language, such things as paragraph structure and punctuation have

semantic content; in other forms of language, there is other semantic content.

The formal study of semantics intersects with many other fields of inquiry,

including lexicology, syntax, pragmatics, etymology, translation and others,

although semantics is a well-defined field in its own right, often with synthetic

properties.

In philosophy of language, semantics and reference are related fields. Further

related fields include philology, communication, and semiotics. The formal study

of semantics is therefore complex.

Semantics contrasts with syntax, the study of the combinatorics of units of a

language (without reference to their meaning), and pragmatics, the study of the

relationships between the symbols of a language, their meaning, and the users of

the language.

In International scientific vocabulary semantics is also called semasiology. A key

concern is how meaning attaches to larger chunks of text, possibly as a result of

the composition from smaller units of meaning.

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Same like that, in translation a key concern is how meaning attaches to larger

chunks of text can be translated from source language to target language. So for

that the understanding of semantics is must in translation studies.

In the late 1960s, Richard Montague proposed a system for defining semantic

entries in the lexicon in terms of the lambda calculus. In these terms, the

syntactic parse of the sentence like John ate every bagel would consist of a subject

(John) and a predicate (ate every bagel);

Montague showed that the meaning of the sentence as a whole could be

decomposed into the meanings of its parts and relatively few rules of combination.

The logical predicate thus obtained would be elaborated further, e.g. using truth

theory models, which ultimately relate meanings to a set of Tarskiian universals,

which may lie outside the logic. The notion of such meaning atoms or primitives is

basic to the language of thought hypothesis from the 70s.

Despite its elegance, Montague grammar was limited by the context-dependent

variability in word sense, and led to several attempts at incorporating context, such

as:

situation semantics ('80s): truth-values are incomplete, they get assigned based

on context

generative lexicon ('90s): categories (types) are incomplete, and get assigned

based on context

Lexical & Conceptual Semantics theory is an effort to explain properties of

argument structure. The assumption behind this theory is that syntactic properties

of phrases reflect the meanings of the words that head them. With this theory,

linguists can better deal with the fact that subtle differences in word meaning

correlate with other differences in the syntactic structure that the word appears in.

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The way this is gone about is by looking at the internal structure of words. These

small parts that make up the internal structure of words are referred to as semantic

primitives.

Lexical semantics is a linguistic theory that investigates word meaning. This

theory understands that the meaning of a word is fully reflected by its context.

Here, the meaning of a word is constituted by its contextual relations. Therefore, a

distinction between degrees of participation as well as modes of participation is

made. In order to accomplish this distinction any part of a sentence that bears a

meaning and combines with the meanings of other constituents is labeled as a

semantic constituent. Semantic constituents that cannot be broken down into more

elementary constituents is labeled a minimal semantic constituent

2.5 Conclusion:

To conclude it can be said that a good translation work could not be done without

the awareness of types of words/ phrases/ sentences and their meaning. In addition

a translator must have knowledge of themes. If themes change then the meaning

change automatically. Thematic scenario plays an important role in understanding

of the meaning of a word.

It should always keep in one‘s mind that meaning is very important in translation.

So in translation, focus must be on types of meaning that is the knowledge of

semantics will be quite handful.

Because words and their meaning play crucial role in translation. As far as words

are concern they are of many types. They may be homonymous, polysemous, and

ambiguous and so on.

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Therefore it is not only the knowledge of words and their types, but the meaning

and the senses are also very important in understanding and removing the lexical

as well as syntactic ambiguities.