1. Homonyms in the English language and their specific features
Znobishcheva Masha
29 lyceum, 9 G

2. The general purposes: 1) To study different sources of homonyms.
2) To study classifications of homonyms.
3) To help students use homonyms in the course of studying English.

3. Mona: “Wherever I’m down in the dumps I buy new clothes” Lisa: “So that’s where you get them!” To be in the dumps means to be in bad mood. The second meaning of the word dump is the place where the rubbish is kept.

4. Sources of Homonyms 1) Phonetic changes 2) Borrowing 3) Conversion
4) Shortening
5) Words which were made by sound-imitation

5. Phonetic changes
Night and knight, for instance, were not homonyms in Old English as the initial k in the second word was pronounced, and not dropped as it is in its modern sound word.

6. Borrowing
In the group of homonyms rite n.-to write v.-right adj. The second and the third words are of native origin whereas rite is a Latin borrowing (Lat. – ritus).
Bank (“shore”) is a native word and bank (“a financial institution”) is an Italian borrowing.

7. Conversion Comb, noun-to comb, verb Pale, adjective-to pale, verb
Make, noun-to make, verb
Homonyms, which are the same in sound and spelling but refer to different categories of parts of speech, are called lexico-grammatical homonyms.

8. Shortening
Fan( an enthusiastic admirer of some kind of sport, celebrities etc) n. is a shortening produced from fanatic.
Its homonym is a Latin borrowing fan (piece of paper by waving it you feel cooler)

9. Words which were made by sound-imitation
Bang, n.(“a loud, sudden, explosive noise”) This word was made by sound-imitation.
Bang, n.(“a fringe of hair combed over the forehead”)

10. Homonyms
Homonyms proper
Homographs
Homophones

11. Homonyms proper
“A tailor guarantees to give each of his customers a perfect fit.”
The joke is based on homonyms.
Fit-perfectly fitting clothes.
Fit-a nervous spasm.
Homonyms which are the same in sound and spelling are traditionally termed homonyms proper.

12. Homophones “Waiter!” “Yes, sir!” “What’s this?” “It’s bean soup, sir.”
“Never mind what it has been. I want to know what it is now.”
Bean and been are homophones. As the example shows they are the same in sound but different in spelling.

13. Homographs
To lead [li:d]- to conduct on the way, go before to show the way.
Lead [led]- a heavy, rather soft metal.
Homographs are words which are the same in spelling but different in sound.

14. Classification of Homonyms
1) Full homonyms
2) Partial homonyms
a) Simple lexico-grammatical homonyms
b) Complex lexico-grammatical homonyms
c) Lexical homonyms

15. Full homonyms Match, n.-a game, a contest
Match, n.-a short piece of wood used for producing fire.
Full homonyms are words which represent the same category of parts of speech and have the same paradigm.

16. Simple lexico-grammatical homonyms
To found, v.
Found, v. ( Past Indefinite, Past Participle of to find)
Simple lexico-grammatical homonyms are words which belong to the same category of parts of speech. Their paradigms have one identical form, but it is never the same form.

17. Complex lexico-grammatical homonyms
Rose, n.
Rose, v. (Past Indefinite of to rise)
Complex lexico-grammatical homonyms are words of different categories of parts of speech which have one identical form in their paradigms.

18. Lexical homonyms To hang, v. (hung, hung) To hang, v. (hanged, hanged)
Partial lexical homonyms are words of the same category of parts of speech which are identical only in their corresponding forms.

19. Conclusion
The studying of the homonymy is very important for the English language because this phenomenon in the English language is very common.
One of the values of becoming familiar with homonyms is that they help to make language visible. Homonyms help students to be flexible and effective users of language.

20. Thanks for attention!