Lecture change of meaning and its results

semantic derivation, when it leads to the extension of the number of lexico-semantic variants of the word. The difference between them may be revealed by application of the componential analysis, which helps to discover semes, which are elementary units of meaning distinguishable between the lexico-semantic variants of the word. The term ‘seme’ is taken from Greek ‘sema’ where it means ‘a sign’ (Collins English Dictionary). Thus, the word ‘girl’ – ‘a young female human being’ is distinguished from ‘woman’ by the seme ‘young’, while woman is distinguished by the seme ‘adult’.
In understanding the meaning of the word a great role is played by the context. The notion of context has several interpretations. The context is a combination of an indicator or indicating minimum and the dependant, that is the word, the meaning of which is to be rendered through a context or a given utterance.
Contextual analysis concentrates its attention on determining the minimal stretch of speech and the conditions necessary and sufficient to reveal in which of its individual meanings the word in question is used. In studying this interaction of the polysemantic word with the syntactic configuration and lexical environment contextual analysis is more concerned with specific features of every particular language than with language universals.
Roughly, context may be subdivided into lexical, syntactical and mixed. Lexical context, for instance, determines the meaning of the word black in the following examples. Black denotes colour when used with the key-word naming some material or thing, e. g. black velvet, black gloves. When used with key-words denoting feeling or thought, it means ‘sad’, ‘dismal’, e. g. black thoughts, black despair. With nouns denoting time, the meaning is ‘unhappy’, ‘full of hardships’, e. g. black days, black period.