Semantic change. Causes of Semantic Change.

Semantic change is the development of the word and its semantic structure. The language is a system, its body develops and all the units too. If we try to compare the meaning of the word of different languages or of different times, they are different: I’m fond of reading: In O.E. fond meant foolish – no connection.

Linguists payed a great attention on Semantic change. At the end of the 19^th – beginning of the Af20^th century Brill and Poll investigated Semantic change and noticed that some words specialize their meaning and some – generalize. Specialize means narrowing: case (event) – becomes case in medicine. Generalize – when a word extends its meaning: to fly – to move with the help of wings – becomes to move quickly, without any wings.

As any problem, Semantic change has its nature, reasons, problems and as a result – Causes. There are two types of Semantic changes: 1)Linguistic; 2) Extra-linguistic (any change in the society which results the change in naming objects: inventing a new word (on the basis of existing linguisitcs), borrowing, to name with the help of existing word-association): a box (ложа) – association, cause it looks like a box; black box – mysterious: in real it’s orange. 1) Linguistic cause may be: a) Syntagmatic; b) Paradigmatic. a) Syntagmatic. There is a term – ellipsis, when instead of two components we use only one: to starve, to propose; b) Paradigmatic level – discrimination of synonyms. It means that there existed two or more synonymic words but in the course of time they changed their meaning: deer denoted any beast, then a word animal appeared. First, the coincided, but then they became two different words: deer – special beast, animal – general beast.