C) Classification of Homonyms

When analyzing different cases of homonymy we find that some words are homonymous in all their forms, i.e. we observe full homonymy of the paradigms of two or more different words,

e.g. seal — a sea animal

seal- a design printed on paper by means of a stamp

In other cases we see that only some of the word forms arc homonymous, while others are not.

e.g. find '— found —found

found -founded-founded

Consequently all cases of '"homonymy may be classified into full and partial homonymy, i.e. homonyms of words and homonyms of forms.

We find full homonymy in the following examples: for -preposition, for- conjunction, four - numeral, as these parts of speech have no other word-forms."

The second classification takes into account the phonetic and graphic form of the word. Homonyms are then classified into perfect homonyms, homographs and homophones..

Perfect homonyms are identical both pronunciation and spelling, but different in meaning.

e g. bear, n. (a large heavy mammal) - bear, v, (put up with); bay, h.

(an inlet of sea usually smaller than a gulf - bay, V. (bark with

prolonged tones) - bay, adj. - reddish brown; fast, adv. (in a

rapid manner) -fast, v. (abstain from food)

Homographs or heteronyms are words identical in spelling but different in sound and meaning.

e.g. how [au], v. (incline c head or body in salutation) - bow, n. [ou] (the forward part of the ship); row, n. [ou] (move a boat by means of oars) - row, n. [ au]. (a noisy quarrel) Homophones are words identical in sound form but different m j; spelling and meaning.

e.g. son, n. (a male offspring)— sun. n. (the celestial body around.which, the earth and other planets revolve; air, n. (the mixture of gases that surrounds the earth) - heir, n. (one who inherits); heroin, k. (an addictive narcotic) — heroine, n. (a woman admired for her qualities)