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<div>At 9:17 AM -0400 8/22/00, Kathleen Miller wrote:</div>
<blockquote type="cite" cite>Mr. Safire is writing a special issue on
Noo Yawkese and we're stuck with a lingusitic question. What is it
called when a phrase, such as "get out of here", assumes a
different meaning? Is it sematic shift, or is there another name for
it?</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite" cite><br>
<br>
Kathleen E. Miller<br>
<i>Research Assistant to William Safire<br>
The New York Times<br>
<br>
"And now here is my secret, a very simple secret: It is only
with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is
invisible to the
eye." <span
></span> Antoine de
Saint-Exupery</i></blockquote>
<div><br></div>
<div>When a word or phrase changes meaning while retaining its form,
this would generally be described as an instance of semantic
change. Some scholars would use "shift" in a narrower
way to denote one variety of semantic change. Thus, for
example, the change of GIRL to mean 'young female human' instead of
the earlier 'young human' is an instance of semantic narrowing, the
change of BIRD to mean 'avian creature' instead of the earlier 'young
avian creature, young bird' is an instance of semantic broadening,
and the change of BEAD to mean 'small round object' instead of the
original 'prayer' (through a reanalysis of the phrase 'counting
(one's) beads', when wooden balls on a string were used to keep track
of one's prayers) is an instance of semantic shift or transfer.
All three of these developments fit within the general category of
semantic change. (Some would call all of these changes
"shifts", but I find the distinction useful to
retain.) In any case, I would expect that the sort of change
you're looking at in the history of "get out of here" would
indeed count as an instance of semantic shift, like that in the
history of BEAD.</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>Larry</div>
<div><br></div>
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