homo(phones/graphs/nyms)

From: piotr panek (piotrpanek_at_onegazetatwo.threeplfour)
Date: 11/15/04 

Date: Mon, 15 Nov 2004 15:47:52 +0100

Hello
(Forgive my terrible English :-) )

I always :-) thought that there are homonyms which we can divide into
two classes - homographs and homophones (at this moment, to simplify,
let's forget about a distniction between homonyms sensu stricto, ie.
with different etymology and polysemes).
It may be illustrated by a tree (I'm not good in ASCII art, so the
arrows probably won't start and end in the correct places, but I hope
the point will be clear):

homonyms
    /\
homographs homophones

Also wikipedia says so (although I know, that wikipedia is not the most
reliable source in the world)

But looking into some dictionaries (I don't have an access to a good
linguistic encyclopaedia) I've found, that "homophones" may differ in
spelling or meaning or both
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?key=37724&dict=CALD
If I understood correctly, the pairs of words like "sulfur" and
"sulphur" are homophones since they differ in spelling.
But the same dictionary says, that "homonyms" have to differ in meaning
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?key=37719&dict=CALD

so "sulphur" and "sulfur" are not homonyms, since they mean the same

(AFAIK these words are used in AmE and BrE as well, unlike strictly AmE
or strictly BrE words like "labo(u)r" or "centre/er", I may be wrong but
it doesn't change the point, just the examples may be wrong)

So - or my model is wrong (too simplified) as there are hompohones that
are not homonyms, or the definiton that demands the different meaning is
wrong (too simplified) as there are homonyms without different meaning...

To make matters more complicated, I've found also definitions that
demand a difference in meaning homophones as well (so "sulfur" and
"sulphur" wouldn't be homphones), and sometimes both in spelling and
meaning (so "a fly" and "to fly" wouldn't be homophones).

Does anybody know the mentioned problem clearly and can explain, what is
wrong?

piotrek

Relevant Pages

  • Re: I want to get document for similar pronounced english words.
    ... the school teachers used "homonyms" to mean things ... homographs but few for homophones. ... depends upon how you want to define "different meaning". ...
    (alt.usage.english)
  • Re: RSRU posting guide
    ... homophones, not homonyms!!!!!!!! ... Au contraire mon ami - a homophone is simply pronounced like another word but may have a different spelling as in "waist/waste". ... two words are homonyms if they are pronounced or spelled the same ... way but have different meanings ...
    (rec.sport.rugby.union)
  • Re: RSRU posting guide
    ... homophones, not homonyms!!!!!!!! ... HTH!!! ... Whereas a homonym specifically both has an identical spelling and ...
    (rec.sport.rugby.union)
  • Re: I want to get document for similar pronounced english words.
    ... Nowadays, I ... understand the preference is to call those "homophones" and use ... "homonyms" to mean words that are spelled and pronounced the same but ...
    (alt.usage.english)
  • Re: Die ehrbare Dirne
    ... Helmut> different things. ... Homonyms are DIFFERENT words. ... Like "gay" meaning (male) ...
    (sci.lang)