Watch out for homonyms!

The subject of the investigation is homonyms. The objects of the investigation are some newspaper articles, scripts of TV programmes, anecdotes and pieces of literary works. The objective is to study the place and the role of homonyms in the English language.

Watch out for homonyms! The tasks are to prove that homonyms are not as purposeless in the language as they are commonly regarded. They do lead to misunderstanding but they are often very creative in the sphere of humour. The actuality may be seen in drawing attention of inexperienced English language learners to homonyms as a reason for misunderstanding.

homographs homographs homophones homophones heteronyms heteronyms capitonyms capitonyms Examples of homonyms are the pairs: stalk (part of a plant) stalk (follow/harass a person) In linguistics, a homonym is one of a group of words that share the same spelling and the same pronunciation but have different meanings. Homonyms are divided into:

Homonyms HomographsHomophonesHeteronymsCapitonyms

Homographs Homographs (literally “same writing”) are words that share the same spelling regardless of how they are pronounced. Bear [ be ə (r) ] (verb) – to support or carry Bear [ be ə (r) ] (noun) – the animal

Homophones Homophones (literally “same sound”) are words that share the same pronunciation, regardless of how they are spelled. Rose (noun) - flower Rose (verb) - past tense of “rise” Carat (noun) - a unit for measuring the weight of diamonds Carrot (noun) - a vegetable

Heteronyms Heteronyms (literally “different name”) are words that share the same spelling but have different pronunciations and meanings. desert (verb) – to abandon desert (verb) – to abandon desert (noun) – arid region desert (noun) – arid region I like to read. In fact, I read a book yesterday. I like to read. In fact, I read a book yesterday. Don’t desert me here in the desert! Don’t desert me here in the desert!

Capitonyms Capitonyms are words that share the same spelling but have different meanings when capitalized (and may or may not have different pronunciations). polish (verb) - to make something shiny Polish (adj.) - from Poland; march (verb) - organized, uninformed, steady and rhytmic walking forward March (noun) - the third month of the year in the Gregorian Calendar.

“As you leisurely stroll up and down the isles,” he wrote, “it is easy to imagine…” A boat lover might well dream of visiting isles, but what the reporter was strolling were aisles. An aisles in contemporary usage means a passage in a church, theater, stadium or supermarket. An aisles in contemporary usage means a passage in a church, theater, stadium or supermarket. An isle an island; often used as part of an island’s name, or in literary English. An isle an island; often used as part of an island’s name, or in literary English. Homophones are the true trickers!

“A tailor guarantees to give each of his customers a perfect fit.” The joke is based on the homonyms. 1.fit, (noun) – perfectly, fitting clothes 2.fit, (noun) – a nervous spasm So, what does the tailor guarantee: perfectly fitting clothes or a nervous spasm to his customers? The pun - a joke based on the play upon words of similar form but different meaning.

In Dylan Thomas's radio play Under Milk Wood: "The shops in mourning" mourning could have been heard as mourning or morning. Thomas Hood used "birth" and "berth“, "told" and "toll'd" (tolled) in his poem "Faithless Sally Brown“. His death, which happen'd in his berth, At forty-odd befell: They went and told the sexton, and The sexton toll'd the bell.

"ice cream" vs. "I scream" (as in the popular song "I scream. You scream. We all scream for ice cream.") "depend" vs. "deep end" "sand which is there" vs. "sandwiches there" "example" vs. "egg sample” Some more examples of amazing homophones:

“Waiter!” “Yes, sir.” “What’s this?” “It’s bean soup.” “Never mind what it has been. I know what it is now.” Bean (noun) - an edible seed, typically kidney-shaped Been (Past Participle) - of the verb be. The following joke is based on the pun which makes use of the same type of homonyms:

“Mine is a long tale!” said the Mouse, turning to Alice, and sighing. “It is a long tail, certainly”, said Alice, looking down with wonder at the Mouse’s tail; “but why do you call it sad?” And she kept on puzzling about it while the Mouse was speaking, so that her idea of the tale was something like this:

One more example: “And how many hours a day did you do lessons?” said Alice, in a hurry to change the subject. “Ten hours the first day,” said the Mock Turtle: “Nine the next and so on.” “What a curious plan!” exclaimed Alice. “That’s the reason they’re called lessons,” the Gryphon remarked: “because they lessen from day to day.”

In spite of the widespread opinion that homonyms are accidental creations and therefore purposeless, they are part of language and are quite creative in the field of humour as puns and puzzles.

Thank you for your attention!