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Chapter 3. Ambiguity resolution and the evolution of homophones in English

  • Mieko Ogura and William S-Y. Wang
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English Historical Linguistics
This chapter is in the book English Historical Linguistics

Abstract

Based on a quantitative study of the evolution of homophones in English, we present an argument about why homophones occur. Zipf’s law, which states that word frequency decreases as a power law of its rank, can be seen as the outcome of form-meaning associations, adopted in order to comply with listener and speaker needs. This implies that one form can correspond to many meanings (i.e., polysemy and homophony). We argue that homophony is a desirable feature in communication systems, is stable, and increases through time. When a large number of homophones emerge, however, an impetus to avoid homophones comes into play. We suggest that the evolution of diatones is a case of the avoidance of homophony. Related to this, we examine the neural substrates of bisyllabic noun-verb homophones, using near-infrared spectroscopy. We show that noun and verb categories are represented in different neural substrates in the left hemisphere, and relate this to our historical data, explaining why the actuation of diatone-formation was connected with production in frequent homophones in the 16th century, but was connected with perception in infrequent words after the 17th century.

Abstract

Based on a quantitative study of the evolution of homophones in English, we present an argument about why homophones occur. Zipf’s law, which states that word frequency decreases as a power law of its rank, can be seen as the outcome of form-meaning associations, adopted in order to comply with listener and speaker needs. This implies that one form can correspond to many meanings (i.e., polysemy and homophony). We argue that homophony is a desirable feature in communication systems, is stable, and increases through time. When a large number of homophones emerge, however, an impetus to avoid homophones comes into play. We suggest that the evolution of diatones is a case of the avoidance of homophony. Related to this, we examine the neural substrates of bisyllabic noun-verb homophones, using near-infrared spectroscopy. We show that noun and verb categories are represented in different neural substrates in the left hemisphere, and relate this to our historical data, explaining why the actuation of diatone-formation was connected with production in frequent homophones in the 16th century, but was connected with perception in infrequent words after the 17th century.

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Acknowledgements vii
  4. Introduction 1
  5. Part I. Phonology and morphology
  6. Chapter 1. Grimm’s Law and Verner’s Law 15
  7. Chapter 2. The foot in the history of English 41
  8. Chapter 3. Ambiguity resolution and the evolution of homophones in English 61
  9. Chapter 4. The threshold of productivity and the ‘irregularization’ of verbs in Early Modern English 91
  10. Part II. Syntax
  11. Chapter 5. The reanalysis of VO in the history of English 115
  12. Chapter 6. The role of (the avoidance of) centre embedding in the change from OV to VO in English 137
  13. Chapter 7. Syntactic changes in verbal clauses and noun phrases from 1500 onwards 163
  14. Chapter 8. Prepositions in Early Modern English argument structure and beyond 201
  15. Chapter 9. Should with non-past reference 225
  16. Chapter 10. Shifting responsibility in passing information 245
  17. Part III. Semantics and pragmatics
  18. Chapter 11. Theatrical practices and grammatical standardization in eighteenth-century Britain 263
  19. Chapter 12. Towards a companionate marriage in Late Modern England? 287
  20. Chapter 13. On the development of OE swā to ModE so and related changes in an atypical group of demonstratives 309
  21. Index 345
https://doi.org/10.1075/cilt.358.03ogu

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Acknowledgements vii
  4. Introduction 1
  5. Part I. Phonology and morphology
  6. Chapter 1. Grimm’s Law and Verner’s Law 15
  7. Chapter 2. The foot in the history of English 41
  8. Chapter 3. Ambiguity resolution and the evolution of homophones in English 61
  9. Chapter 4. The threshold of productivity and the ‘irregularization’ of verbs in Early Modern English 91
  10. Part II. Syntax
  11. Chapter 5. The reanalysis of VO in the history of English 115
  12. Chapter 6. The role of (the avoidance of) centre embedding in the change from OV to VO in English 137
  13. Chapter 7. Syntactic changes in verbal clauses and noun phrases from 1500 onwards 163
  14. Chapter 8. Prepositions in Early Modern English argument structure and beyond 201
  15. Chapter 9. Should with non-past reference 225
  16. Chapter 10. Shifting responsibility in passing information 245
  17. Part III. Semantics and pragmatics
  18. Chapter 11. Theatrical practices and grammatical standardization in eighteenth-century Britain 263
  19. Chapter 12. Towards a companionate marriage in Late Modern England? 287
  20. Chapter 13. On the development of OE swā to ModE so and related changes in an atypical group of demonstratives 309
  21. Index 345
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