THE MEANING AND ITS CHANGES

IN THE ENGLISH AND UKRAINIAN LANGUAGES

Questions for discussion
1. The semantic structure of English and Ukrainian words.
2. Semantic changes in English and Ukrainian.
2.1. The sociolinguistic classification of semantic changes.
2.2. The psychological classification of semantic changes.
2.3. The logical classification of semantic changes.

1. The semantic structure of English and Ukrainian words

Word-meaning is not homogeneous but is made up of various components,
or types of meaning. They are as follows.
The grammatical meaning is the component of meaning in identical sets of
individual forms of different words, as, for example, the tense meaning in the
word-forms of verbs (asked, thought, walked, їхав, iшов, говорив, etc.) or the
meaning of plurality (books, intentions, phenomena, столи, вікна, etc.).
Grammatical meanings can be expressed:
(1) synthetically (within one word), with the help of: (a) postfixal
inflections/inflexions, i.e. bound grammatical morphemes attached to stems to
express different grammatical categories such as tense, mood, voice, aspect,
person, number, gender, case, or degree of comparison. Cf. nice – nicer – the
nicest; mechanical adding of one or more affixes to the root is called
agglutination; (b) internal inflections, which are the result of vowel change, cf.
foot – feet, bring – brought, shake – shook, take – took; рости – ріс, нести –
носить – ніс, вести – вів, гребти – гріб; (c) suppletivity—using different forms
to express opposed grammatical meaning: cf. good – better – best, bad – worse –
the worst; добрий – кращий/ліпший, поганий – гірший, etc.;
(2) analytically, employing more than one word: cf. important – more
important – most important, will work; важливий – більш важливий – найбільш
важливий, працюю – буду працювати.
The lexico-grammatical meaning (the part-of-speech meaning) is the
common meaning of words belonging to a lexico-grammatical class of words; it is
the feature according to which they are grouped together. The interrelation of the
lexical and grammatical meanings varies in different word-classes. In the
functional parts of speech, the prevailing component is the grammatical type of
meaning (e.g., in prepositions); in the notional parts of speech—the lexical (e.g., in
nouns, verbs, etc.).
The lexical meaning is the component of meaning proper to the given
linguistic unit in all its forms and distributions. E.g., in the forms go – goes – went
– gone (читає – читав – читатиме) we find one and the same semantic
component denoting the movement or process.
Both the lexical and the grammatical meanings make up the word-meaning
as neither can exist without the other.
Lexical meaning is not homogeneous either; it includes denotative and
connotative components.
 The denotative component of lexical meaning expresses the conceptual
content of a word. Fulfilling the nominative and the communicative functions of
the word, it is present in every word and may be regarded as the central factor in
the functioning of the language. Denotative words include the so-called
nomenclature words and word-groups, which are various terms and
professionalisms of unique meaning. For example, electron, motor, miner, tongs,
outer space, specific weight, bus, tailor, football, etc. Similarly in Ukrainian where
these notionals are the same: електрон, мотор, шахтар, обценьки, реактор,
вертоліт, твід, швець, футбол, питома вага, космічний простір, etc. Most
denotative words (and not only in the contrasted languages) are stylistically
neutral. The latter may be represented by whole lexico-grammatical classes such
as: pronouns (he, she, we, you), numerals (five, ten, twenty), most of verbs (be, live,
love), nouns (mother, sister, cow, horse), adjectives (blue, white, old, fat, urban,
rural, young), all adverbs (today, soon, well, slowly, then, there), and some others.
The connotative component of lexical meaning expresses the pragmatic
communicative value the word receives depending on where, when, how, by
whom, for what purpose, and in what contexts it is used. Unlike the denotative
component, the connotative component is optional.
There are four main types of connotation. They are stylistic, emotive,
evaluative and expressive, or intensifying.
The connotation is stylistic when associations concern the situation in
which the word is uttered (formal, familiar, etc.), the social relationships between
the interlocutors (polite, rough, etc.), the purpose of communication (poetic,
official, etc.). E.g., parent (bookish) – father (neutral) – dad (colloquial); чоло
(poetical) – лоб (neutral) – макітра (substandard/low colloquial).
An emotional connotation is acquired by the word if the referent named in
the denotative meaning is associated with emotions (e.g., голівонька, серденько,
матуся). In the synonyms, e.g., big – large – tremendous and like – love –
worship (подобатися – любити – обожнювати) the emotive charge of the
words tremendous and worship is heavier than that of the other words.
An evaluative connotation expresses approval or disapproval, e.g., clique –
group, magic – witchcraft, вітер – вітрюга, мати – матуся, etc.
A fourth type of connotation is the intensifying connotation (also
expressive, emphatic). Thus, magnificent – splendid – superb, вітрище – вітрюга
are all used colloquially as terms of exaggeration.
Many words in English and Ukrainian may have both denotative and
connotative meanings. Thus, the nouns bear, fox, pig, goose, parrot, rat and some
others in their stylistically neutral meaning designate definite animals or birds, but
when figuratively reinterpreted, they often acquire a vituperative (abusive)
connotation. Correspondingly in Ukrainian: свиня, тхір, собака, папуга, лисиця,
корова (коровисько), бицюра, вівця, баран, жаба, ворона/ґава.
From the semasiological side, words may be monosemantic or
polysemantic.
Monosemantic words are sometimes represented by a whole lexico-
grammatical class, as it is in case of all pronouns, numerals, conjunctions, and
various nomenclature words (terms). E.g.: we, she, nobody, ten, thirty, and, or,
atom, oxygen, sugar, today, він, вони, десять, перший, і/та, чи, кисень, цукор,
сьогодні, торік, etc.
The semantic structure of the bulk of English polysemantic nouns is
typically richer than that of the corresponding Ukrainian nouns. Thus, the English
noun boat can mean човен, судно/корабель, шлюпка; the noun coat in English
can mean верхній одяг, пальто, піджак, кітель, хутро (тварин), захисний шар
фарби (на предметі). Ukrainian words may sometimes have a complicated
semantic structure as well. For example, the noun подорож may mean cruise,
journey, travel, trip, tour, voyage; or the word ще may mean still, yet, more, any
more, again, else, but.
If the polysemantic structure of a word is subjected to a diachronic semantic
analysis, it becomes clear that the word, as a rule, retains its original meaning, but
at the same time acquires several new ones. Then the distinction should be made
between the following meanings:
(1) the direct meaning, subdivided into: the primary (etymological)
meaning (e.g., wall (n.) from Latin vallum “rampart, fortification”) and the
derived meaning (e.g., wall “upright structure, forming part of a room or
building”) and
(2) the secondary meaning, subdivided into: the secondary denotative
meaning (e.g., wall “inside surface of a cavity or vessel”: walls of the heart,
reactor wall) and the figurative meaning (e.g., wall of partition (between
persons), wall of fire, wall of hostility).

2. Semantic changes in English and Ukrainian

The meaning of the word does not remain stable. Different changes of word
meaning can be classified according to the social causes that bring about change of
meaning (sociolinguistic classification), the nature of these changes (psychological
classification), and the results of semantic changes (logical classification). Causes,
nature, and results of semantic changes should be viewed as three essentially
different but inseparable aspects of one and the same linguistic phenomenon as any
change of meaning may be investigated from the point of view of its cause, nature,
and its consequences (results).

2.1. The sociolinguistic classification of semantic changes

The causes of semantic changes may be subdivided into two groups:
(a) extralingual and (b) lingual.
Extralingual causes of semantic changes are:
(1) changes in social life of a community, resulting in the appearance of
new words and meanings, e.g., webmaster, spam, логін, Євромайдан, тітушки,
and others. Comparatively new borrowings from the English language in present-
day Ukrainian are: менеджмент, мерчендайзинґ, імпічмент, ґрант, офшорний,
провайдер, пабліситі, тренінг, фрістайл, пауерліфтинґ, фітнес, кікбоксинґ,
реаліті-шоу, смартфон, гамбурґер, чізбурґер (frоm English), піцца (from
Italian), бістрó/бистрó (from French) and several others;
 (2) сhanges of things and reconsideration/reapplication of names, e.g.,
the word car from Latin carrus, which meant “a four-wheeled wagon”, now can
denote “a railway carriage”; bubblegum – баблґам “різновид рок-поп-музики,
зазвичай розрахований на підлітків”, ecological footprint – екологічний слід
“наслідки життєдіяльності людини”.
Lingual causes, i.e. factors acting within the language system, may be of
paradigmatic and syntagmatic character.
The most common form of the syntagmatic semantic changes depending on
the context is ellipsis. In a phrase made up of two words, one can be omitted, and
its meaning is transferred to the remaining partner: e.g., the verb to starve had the
meaning “to die” and was used with the word hunger (ME sterven of hunger).
Already in the 16th century, the verb itself acquired the meaning “to die of
hunger”. Similarly, propose instead of propose marriage, be expecting instead of
be expecting a baby, a weekly (newspaper), a monthly (magazine), a stereo
(receiver).
An example of linguistic cause of paradigmatic character is
discrimination of synonyms . It is a gradual change observed in the course of
language history. E.g., the words time and tide used to be synonyms, then tide was
applied to the shifting waters and time is used in the general sense.

2.2. The psychological classification of semantic changes

A necessary condition of any semantic change, no matter what its cause, is
some connection between the old meaning and the new. There are two main types
of this connection: (a) similarity of meaning and (b) contiguity of meaning.
А. The main tropes that express similarity of meaning are simile (a
figurative comparison) and metaphor (transference of the name of one object or
phenomenon onto another upon the principle of a certain similarity/likeness
between them). A metaphor is, actually, a hidden simile. Cf.: The old man was sly
like a fox → We did not want to talk to the sly old fox.
Metaphors may be based upon very different types of similarity. E.g., the
similarity of shape: the head of a cabbage, the teeth of a saw, мереживо
березових гілок, росинка радості; similarity of function or use: the Head of the
school (of an army, of a procession, of a household), the key to a mystery, голова
зборів/правління; similarity of position: foot of a mountain, foot of a page;
similarity of duration of time and space: long distance → long speech, a short path
→ a short time.
Metaphorically, a woman may be called a peach, a lemon, a cat, a goose, an
old mare, a lioness, голубка, гусеня, киця, etc. Animal metaphors, like the just-
listed, constitute a specific device of similarity—zoosemy. Moreover, if animal
names are used as proper nouns and the characters display human qualities/traits,
the figure of similarity is called allegory: e.g., Суддею був Ведмідь, Вовки були
підсудки. (In a broader sense, an allegory is a piece of art or literature, like a poem
or story, in which people, things or happenings have a hidden or symbolic
meaning: e.g., in the movie Avatar, Pandora Woods represent the Amazon
rainforest).
 Furthermore, if the similarity ground transforms names of animals, objects,
other people, etc. into nicknames of people, the respective trope is metaphoric
antonomasia: e.g., Hide your angry smile, Mr. Crocodile; the King for Elvis
Presley; He is her Romeo; Будь ти проклятий навіки, Чорте-зі-Свічечкою!
(М.Стельмах). Metaphoric antonomasia sometimes involves metaphoric epithets
(figurative attributes): e.g., the Iron Lady for Margaret Thatcher. These figurative
attributes (epithets) are rather frequent: e.g., deep relief, rosy dreams, солодкий
сон, срібний голос, тепла зустріч, м’який характер, etc.
Metaphors can be used as pure means of nomination: e.g., computer mouse,
four legs of a table, ліве крило будинку, човник верстата. Or they retain their
figurative flavour: e.g., Another day has come; Thoughts fly; I was glad to see the
pancake of the sun again; Вітер знову завив.
If human qualities are given to animals, objects, phenomena, or ideas, this
metaphoric figure of speech is called personification: e.g., The sky was crying;
земля радіє.
Canonized metaphors become symbols: e.g., the rose for love, the dove for
peace, червона калина – красуня-дівчина, etc.
B. Contiguity of meaning typically implies metonymy, which can be
defined as transference of the name of one object or phenomenon onto another
upon the principle of a certain closeness/inclusion between them. The transfer may
be conditioned by different relations between the primary and secondary meaning,
such as spatial, temporal, causal, symbolic, instrumental, functional, and others.
Spatial relations, e.g., are present when the name of the place is used for the people
occupying it: town (inhabitants), the House (the members of the House of Lords or
Commons); аудиторія, клас mean not only the room, but also people inside. The
meaning appears metonymical when the dishes are named in the meaning of the
substance contained, e.g., з’їв миску борщу, розлив відро. The thing may be
named after material it is made of, e.g., the word paper(s) means “the material and
the documents”. Instrumental relations are obvious when the instrument for the
agent is used instead of the agent: the best pens of the day (the best modern
writers), in hand (handwriting). The functional relations between the primary and
secondary meanings appear in the result of the functional transfer of the name from
one subject to another, e.g., goalkeeper/воротар first meant “the guard of the
gate” and later “the person who defended gates in football”.
The so-to-say quantitative type of metonymy is synecdoche, which
consists in naming part for the whole or vise versa: e.g., ABC (alphabet), man
(humanity); The ship’s captain calls out, “All hands on deck!” (the noun hands
signifies the whole person of each sailor.); The messenger was followed by a pair
of heavy boots; На майданчику зібралася вся школа.
A contiguity-based substitution of any word or phrase for a proper name
creates metonymic antonomasia: e.g., the Bard for William Shakespeare, the City
of Lights for Paris, Пане Забудько, Ви знову залишили ключі вдома?
Expressive attributes that are based on contiguity represent metonymic
epithets: e.g., Ivan the Terrible; prophetic judgment; A girl in her full denim outfit
nearly fell into the office. – До кабінету буквально ввалилася джинсова дівиця.
 Besides similarity and contiguity of meaning, semantic changes can be those
of exaggeration, diminution, and contrariety. These changes can also involve
metaphoric and metonymic transferences.
Hyperbole is an exaggeration of a certain quantity or quality of an object
or phenomenon. Such statements are not meant to be understood literally; they
express an emotionally-charged attitude of the speaker to what is spoken about.
E.g., I haven’t seen you for ages! It’s absolutely maddening; Я вас чекав цілу
вічність. Ви завжди забуваєте про час і ніколи не поспішаєте. Вас лише за
смертю посилати.
Meiosis is a diminution of a certain quantity or quality of an object or
phenomenon. As an opposite of hyperbole, it is also emotional rather than rational.
E.g., I’ll be back in a second; Можна ще крапельку супу?
Litotes is a double negation with a positive meaning. It can be considered
as a specific type of meiosis in which the diminutive or negative depicting of a
certain quantity or quality is expressed but denied. E.g., John’s behaviour was not
disrespectful; Він не якийсь там жалюгідний жебрак і не просить вас
зробити неможливе.
Contrary to the latter device, irony is a figure of a seemingly positive
expression with an implied negative/critical meaning. E.g.: What a noble
illustration of the tender laws of this favored country!—they let the paupers go to
sleep! (Ch. Dickens); Гарне життя: як собаці на прив’язі.

2.3. The logical classification of semantic changes

Semantic changes can be generally observed in the denotative meaning of
the word (restriction, specialization, extension, and generalization) or in its
connotative component (amelioration and pejoration of meaning).
Restriction of meaning occurs when a word of wide meaning acquires a
narrower sense in which it only denotes some of the objects which it previously
denoted. E.g., meat originally meant “food and drink in general”, now—“edible
flesh”; fowl meant “any bird”, now—“a domestic hen or cook”. The old Slavonic
word билина denoted the name of the plant. In modern Ukrainian, it means only
“стеблина трави, травинка”.
If a word with a new meaning is used in the specialized vocabulary of some
professional group, we speak of specialization of meaning, e.g., to glide
meant “to move gently smoothly”, now—“to fly with no engine”.
Extension of meaning is the application of the word to a wider variety
of referents, e.g., target meant “a small round shield”, now—“anything that is fired
at”; pirate meant “one who robs on the sea”, now—“any one who robs with
violence”.
If the word with the extended meaning passes from the specialized
vocabulary into common use, the result of the semantic change is the
generalization of meaning , e.g., barn meant “a place for storing barley”, now
—“a covered building for storing grain”; pioneer—soldier, now—“one who goes
before”; the meaning of the word vehicle that meant “a trolley” spread on all the
means of transport. The word столяр first meant only “the man who made tables”
and then started to mean “a specialist in processing wood and manufacturing things
from it”. Words капрон, кібернетика passed from the category of specialized
words to the sphere of general usage. The word акуратист first was used in the
meaning of “carefully processed” (from Latin accuratus – careful). In Modern
Ukrainian, it is spread in the meanings of “carefully made”, “the one that is kept in
order”. To the typical phenomenon of the extension of meaning refer proper names
that started to function in the language as general names, e.g., донжуан, ловелас,
меценат, etc.
Amelioration, or elevation of meaning, is a type of semantic change
that happens when a word’s meaning improves or becomes more positive over
time. Many words have been elevated in meaning through the association with the
ruling class, e.g., knight meant “a young servant”, now—“a man who fought for
his feudal”; minister meant “a servant”, now—“an important public official”. In
Ukrainian such words as офіс, менеджмент, кур’єр sound more prestigious than
контора, управління or посильний.
Pejoration, or degradation of meaning, is a type of semantic change that
happens when a word’s meaning becomes more negative, lower in social sense,
acquires some derogatory emotive charge. E.g., knave first meant “boy”, then
“servant”, now it is a term of abuse and scorn; villain meant “farm servant”, now
—“scoundrel”.

Recommended references
1. Антрушина Г. Б. Лексикология английского языка : учеб. пособ. /
Атрушина Г. Б., Афанасьева О. В., Морозова Н. Н. – М. : Дрофа, 1999. –
С. 129-158.
2. Борисенко О. А. Lecture notes on Contrastive Lexicology : курс лекцій
[для переклад. від-нь внз] / Олександра Анатоліївна Борисенко. – К. : МАУП,
2005. – С. 14-27.
3. Верба Л. Г. Порівняльна лексикологія англійської та української
мов : посіб. [для переклад. від-нь внз] / Лідія Георгіївна Верба. – Вінниця :
Нова книга, 2003. – С. 141-147.
4. Квеселевич Д. І. Практикум з лексикології сучасної англійської
мови : навч. посіб. / Д. І. Квеселевич, В. П. Сасіна. – Вінниця : Нова книга,
2001. – C. 52-66.
5. Корунець І. В. Порівняльна типологія англійської та української
мов : навч. посіб. / Ілько Вакулович Корунець. – Вінниця : Нова книга, 2003.
– С. 138-139.
6. Лексикология английского языка : учеб. [для ин-тов и ф-тов иностр.
яз.] / Р. 3. Гинзбург, С. С. Хидекель, Г. Ю. Князева и А. А. Санкин. – 2-е изд.,
испр. и доп. – М. : Высш. школа, 1979. – С. 13-33.
7. Мостовий M. I. Лексикологія англійської мови : підруч. [для ін-тів і
ф-тів іноз. мов] / Микола Іванович Мостовий. – Х. : Основа, 1993. – С. 66-98.
8. Ніконова В. Г. Порівняльна лексикологія англійської та української
мов / Віра Григорівна Ніконова. – Дніпропетровськ, 2006. – С. 10-14.
 Questions to answer
1. What are main types of meanings? How can they be expressed? Give your
examples.
2. What is the difference between denotation and connotation?
3. What are the four main types of connotation? Give your examples.
4. What words are called monosemantic and what words are polysemantic?
5. Distinguish between direct and secondary meanings. Provide your
examples.
6. What are the causes and examples of semantic changes from the
sociolinguistic point of view?
7. What are the two main types of semantic changes from the psychological
angle?
8. What are the typical tropes of similarity and contiguity? Provide your
definitions and examples.
9. What are the types of semantic changes within the logical classification?
Explain and illustrate.