HISTORICAL SEMANTICS

Mia Kragujevi, Lea tambuk

Historical semantics is the study of the change of meanings of expressions through time, in
particular the change of meaning of words
Semantic change is the evolution of word usage - usually to the point that the modern
meaning is radically different from the original usage - deals with change in meaning,
understood to be a change in the concepts associated with a word, and has nothing to do with
change in the phonetic form of the word
Ideational theory of meaning: Lockes vision: Words Ideas Things
Herman Paul refinement of the ideational theory by distinguishing between:

established meaning (total content of ideas which is associated with the word for the
members of a community of speakers) - polysemous
occasional /contextual meaning (content of ideas which the individual speaker
associates with the utterance of a word and which he expects the hearer to associate
with this utterance as well - monosemous

Antoine Meillet - outline of a sociolinguistic view of meaning change which consists in an

integrated theory of innovation and diffusion (Anne Sociologique, 1905)
society resists linguistic innovation

vs

small groups encourage innovation

specialized uses of words are easily adopted by the members of the group exchange of
linguistic material between such groupswhen a word is taken up by wider circles, the new
users will generally use the word in a less specific sense which causes semantic change
TYPES OF SEMANTIC CHANGE:
Widening (generalization, extension, broadening): E.g. Cupboard = Middle English - a piece
of furniture to display plates a closet or cabinet with shelves for keeping cups and dishes
American English - small storage cabinet
Narrowing (specialisation, restriction) - the range of meanings is decreased so that a word
can be used appropriately only in fewer contexts than it could before the change: E.g. Girl=
Middle English - child or young person of either sex Modern English - female child,
young woman
Metaphor - involves extensions in the meaning of a word that suggest a semantic similarity
or connection between the new sense and the original one: E.g. chill = to cool to relax,
calm down (slang origin came about by metaphoric extension)
Metonymy - a change in the meaning of a word that includes additional senses not originally
present but associated with the word's original meaning: E.g. flake = a small loose, flat bit
irresponsible person (slang origin)

Degeneration (pejoration) - the sense of a word takes on a derogatory meaning: E.g. madam
= the female head of a house of prostitution < a polite form of address to women
Elevation (amelioration) - the sense of a word takes on a more positive value in the minds of
the users of the language: E.g. dude = a word of ridicule for a man who exaggerates in dress,
speech and deportment, concerned with aesthetics,a dandy guy, person (slang in origin)
Taboo replacement and avoidance of obscenity - words that denote things that are feared
often are replaced by euphemisms or descriptive terms: E.g. ass = British English - long-eared
animal related to a horse was replaced by American English donkey
Hyperbole - shift in meaning due to exaggeration by overstatement.: E.g. lame = crippled,
having an impaired limb stupid, awkward, socially inept (slang)
Litotes - shift in meaning due to exaggeration by understatement: E.g.inhale = to breathe in,
draw in by breathing to eat something fast (slang)
Synecdoche - A part is used to refer to the whole, or the whole is used to refer to part: E.g.
tongue > language

Grammaticalization - a type of historical change by which lexical items come to serve

grammatical functions; lexical items are semantically bleached and undergo syntactic
restrictions and phonetic erosion: E.g. will = original meaning have the will [= desire], if
you will [= if you want to] and good will [= wishes, desires] semantically bleached (lost
its sense of 'want'), grammaticalised as a future marker
Implicature - technical term in the pragmatics which refers to what is suggested in an
utterance, even though neither expressed nor strictly implied by it: E.g. pejorization of a word
accident - original sense = chance event
General claims about semantic change:
1. Semantically related words often undergo parallel semantic shifts: E.g. words which meant
'rapidly' in Old English and Middle English shifted their meaning to 'immediately'
2. Spatial/locative words may develop temporal senses: E.g. before, after, behind. (they often
develop from body-part terms - E.g. ahead of..)
3. Some common semantic shifts typically go in one direction and not the other:

semantic changes of adjectives related to sensory experiences are based on

synaesthetic effects - intuitive similarities between sensations of different types: E.g.
loud colors, brilliant sounds, sharp taste, sour music, but not *loud heights, *bright
taste, *sweet blades, etc.
obligation > possibility/probability - root senses of modals (obligation, permission,
ability) develop epistemic meanings: (speaker's assessment - denotes necessity,
probability and possibility involving reasoning): E.g. may = Jane may come - root

meaning - physical ability ( is able) the sense of social permission developed

(allowed to come) epistemic sense (it is perhaps the case that Jane will come)
mind-as-body-metaphor: the persistent equation of the physical and the inner self, shift
from concrete to abstract: E.g. see > know, understand
physical-action verbs (especially with hands) > mental-state verbs, speech-act verbs.
E.g. verbs such as grasp, capture, get a hold on, get, catch on to understand