[Lexicog] English homonyms

[John Roberts]

Fritz wrote:


> Peter,
>
> Thank you for your terrific examples. I need at least
> to acknowledge you publicly before suggesting that
> we move the exchange off-list because some might
> think it is not directly lexicography-related.
>
> Fritz

Before you take your item off-list ...

I don't think English is particularly remarkable or 'difficult to learn'
(whatever that means) because it has many homonyms - or specifically
homographs as you illustrate. English also has many homophones, such as

'airs' and 'heirs'
'blew' and 'blue'
'caught' and 'court'
'die' and 'dye'
'ewe' and 'yew'
'find' and 'fined'
'grade' and 'greyed'
'heard' and 'hared'
'idle' and 'idol'
'knead' and 'need'
'least' and 'leased'
'moan' and 'mown'
'paste' and 'paced'
'road' and 'rowed'
'stair' and 'stare'
'tear' and 'tare'
'vain' and 'vane' and 'vein'
'wares' and 'wears' and 'where's'

There are hundreds more ... But I had a couple of (lexicographic) points.

1) While homographs are relatively easy to pick out of a standard English
dictionary, homophones are far more difficult to connect - even for the
native speaker.

2) Notice that many of the homophones listed connect a monomorphemic word
with a polymorphemic word, e.g. 'find' and 'fined', 'paste' and 'paced', and
'wares' and 'wears' and 'where's'. The last example pairs suffixed words
with a cliticized word.

So, on this basis, should the following be considered homophones in English?

'abridge' and 'a bridge'
'acquire' and 'a choir'
'adhere' and 'a dare'
'affair' and 'a fare'
'ago' and 'a go'
'align' and 'a line'
'amaze' and 'a maze'
'anew' and 'a new'
'appear' and 'a peer'
'arose' and 'a rose'
'aside' and 'a side'
'attack' and 'a tack'
'averse' and 'a verse'
'award' and 'a ward'

John Roberts







>
>
> On 25/04/2004 14:28, Mali Translation wrote:
>
> >Reasons Why The English Language Is Hard To Learn:
> >...
> >Any other examples?
> >
> >
> Peter Kirk replied:
>
> Presumably in
>
> >8) A bass was painted on the head of the bass drum.
> >
> the first bass is intended to be a fish rather than a stringed
> instrument (either double bass or bass guitar).
>
> <
> <
>
> Fritz, I am content with your content. If you resent a message, I don't
> resent it. You are well read, you must read all the time.
>
> --
> Peter Kirk
> peter at qaya.org (personal)
> peterkirk at qaya.org (work)
> http://www.qaya.org/
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
>
>



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