{"id":1736,"date":"2021-04-18T05:04:35","date_gmt":"2021-04-18T03:04:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/icar.cnrs.fr\/dicoplantin\/?p=1736"},"modified":"2025-06-23T21:36:00","modified_gmt":"2025-06-23T19:36:00","slug":"homonymy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/icar.cnrs.fr\/dicoplantin\/homonymy\/","title":{"rendered":"Homonymy"},"content":{"rendered":"

HOMONYMY<\/strong><\/span><\/h1>\n

Two words are homonyms<\/i>\u00a0when they have the same signifier but completely different meanings<\/strong>.
\nWhen a word develops different meanings derived from its basic meaning, those meanings overlap with the root’s meaning. Such words are said polysemous<\/strong>, and are listed under the same dictionary entry.<\/span><\/p>\n

The written signifier bark <\/i><\/strong>corresponds to four homonymous words
\n1. The typical cry of a dog.
\n2. A craft propelled by sails or oars.
\n3. The tough exterior covering of a woody root or stem.
\n4. The acronym for beta-adrenergic receptor kinase.<\/em><\/p>\n

These homonyms are homographs<\/strong> (same spelling) and homophones<\/strong> (same pronunciation). Heteronyms<\/strong> are words that have <\/em>the same spelling<\/em> but different pronunciations<\/em> and meanings; they are homographs, but not homophones. [1]\n

1. Tear<\/em> (N) (from eyes), = UK <\/span><\/span>\/t\u026a\u0259r<\/span><\/span>\/<\/span><\/span><\/span>
\n2. (To) tear<\/em> (V ~ to rip up) = UK \/te\u0259r<\/span><\/span>\/<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

1. Sophisms of Homonymy<\/span><\/h2>\n

Plato’s dialogue, Euthydemus<\/i>, provides an example of the sophistical use of\u00a0 homonyms. The eponymous character of this dialogue, Euthydemus the Sophist, successively demonstrates the contradictory propositions: \u201cIt is the learned<\/span> who learn\u201d and \u201cIt is the ignorant<\/span> who learn\u201d (Euth.<\/i>, V, 275c-276c; p. 114). The listeners, particularly the young Clinias, are completely dumbfounded.
\nAs Socrates explains, the same word applies to people who are in opposite conditions, to those who know and to those who do not know\u201d (ibid., p. 111). The teacher teaches the student, and the student learns from the teacher.
\nSuch sophistries<\/a> do not intend to persuade<\/a> people of falsehoods, but rather\u00a0to confuse and exasperate their victims by revealing the underlying complexities and contradictions of their spontaneous beliefs and expressions.<\/span> They are the ancestors of modern deconstructionists.<\/p>\n

2. Paralogism of Homonymy<\/span><\/h2>\n

The fallacy of homonymy is a fallacy of ambiguity, related to speech, see fallacious: Aristotle. <\/a>In the theory of syllogistic reasoning, a syllogism that is fallacious <\/a>by homonymy has not three but four terms<\/strong><\/span>, one of which has two different meanings.
\n<\/b>The following paralogism consists of four terms: Metals are simple bodies; b<\/em>ronze is a metal: <\/em>Therefore bronze is a simple body.
\n<\/em>However, bronze is an alloy, not a simple body. In the minor premise, bronze is said to be a metal because it resembles authentic metals such as iron, it can be melted and formed. In the major premise, metal<\/em> is used in its strict sense. However, \u00ab\u00a0metal\u00a0\u00bb is homonymous or polysemous, so the syllogism actually articulates four terms, having four distincts meanings.<\/p>\n

Scientific language prohibits homonymic shifts and requires the use of unambiguously defined terms with stable meanings and syntax. In natural reasoning, the meaning of terms is constructed and reconstructed as the discourse progresses, see d<\/span>iscourse object<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A question of homonymy generally arises when a term’s meaning changes from one stage of reasoning to another, <\/b>or, from one discussion to another.<\/span> This change in meaning, can occur through homonymy, polysemy, or by taking a term in its literal sense and then in a figurative sense.<\/p>\n

Thus, a discussion about granting<\/em> credit to a person <\/i>may waver between setting the amount of a loan <\/i>and the trust <\/i>placed in that person. In German, it is said that discussions about financial debt <\/i>remain linked to discussions about moral fault, <\/i>because the same term, Schuld<\/i>, has both meanings.[1]<\/a><\/p>\n

The\u00a0 distinguo <\/i><\/a>strategy can be used to refute discourse that plays on homonymy.<\/p>\n

\n[1] http:\/\/dictionnaire. reverso.net\/allemand-francais\/schuld, (20 09-2013)<\/p>\n
\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

HOMONYMY Two words are homonyms\u00a0when they have the same signifier but completely different meanings. When a word develops different meanings derived from its basic meaning, those meanings overlap with the root’s meaning. Such words are said polysemous, and are listed under the same dictionary entry. The written signifier bark corresponds to four homonymous words 1. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1736","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-non-classe"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/icar.cnrs.fr\/dicoplantin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1736","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/icar.cnrs.fr\/dicoplantin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/icar.cnrs.fr\/dicoplantin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/icar.cnrs.fr\/dicoplantin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/icar.cnrs.fr\/dicoplantin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1736"}],"version-history":[{"count":23,"href":"https:\/\/icar.cnrs.fr\/dicoplantin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1736\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14437,"href":"https:\/\/icar.cnrs.fr\/dicoplantin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1736\/revisions\/14437"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/icar.cnrs.fr\/dicoplantin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1736"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/icar.cnrs.fr\/dicoplantin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1736"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/icar.cnrs.fr\/dicoplantin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1736"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}