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Semantic Change

Words evolve in meaning and usage, influenced by various factors. Semantic change occurs in several forms: broadening, where a word's meaning expands (e.g., "dog," "holiday"); narrowing, where it becomes more specialized (e.g., "meat," "girl"); analogy, where a word's meaning shifts through comparison (e.g., "mouse," "crane"); pejoration, gaining a negative connotation (e.g., "villain"); and amelioration, acquiring a positive sense (e.g., "mischief"). Additionally, polysemy involves words having related meanings, while homonyms are unrelated despite similar forms.

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Semantic Change

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  1. Semantic Change

  2. Over time, words change or shift in their meaning and use in a range of ways and for a range of reasons.

  3. Types of semantic change Broadening or extension or generalisation Here, a word comes to mean more than it did before Examples: dog, holiday, butcher, quarantine, sail, drive.

  4. Types of semantic change Narrowing or specialisation Here, a word becomes more specialised in meaning, it is used more narrowly than before. Examples: meat, deer, hound, starve, token, reek, girl.

  5. Types of semantic change Analogous or figurative formations Here, a word is used in a new way for a new thing or idea based on a principle of analogy or comparison. Examples: mouse, crane

  6. Types of semantic change Pejoration Here, a word gains a sense of disapproval (it means something worse than it did before). Examples: villain, notorious

  7. Types of semantic change Amelioration Here, a word gains a sense of approval (it means something better than it did before). Examples: mischief, naughty

  8. Two related concepts Polysemy Words are used in a range of contexts having similar related meanings. Consider: head, table, chip.

  9. Two related concepts Homonyms The distinction here is that the words look and sound the same, but are different words, unrelated semantically Consider: bear, bank, minute(?)

  10. Two related concepts Of course, it is not always possible to decide with certainty whether a usage is a case of polysemy or homonyms!

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