Semantic change

Change in connotation:

Thus far we have been dealing with change in denotation. Now we shall move to the connotative change of the meaning of words. Some words undergo axiological or evaluative change in their meaning in the course of time; they may gain either a positive or negative connotation which did not exist in their original or previous uses. When a word is used to express negatively loaded values not inherent in its original meaning, we call this phenomenon pejoration (also termed deterioration or degradation). It is generally agreed upon that the frequency of pejorative cases is much higher that ameliorative ones (Kleparski 1986; Grygiel 2005). For many scholars, this is due to, again, natural human tendency to worsen things, and some social and political biases against women for example. In his Preface to his English Dictionary, Johnson hints to this by saying: "tongues, like governments have a natural tendency to degeneration […]. It is incident to words as to their authors to degenerate from their ancestors." A more recent scholar, C. L. Barber (1964:251), states that "human nature being what it is, deterioration is commoner than By: Saher Oklah 7 amelioration: we are only too prone to believe the worst of anybody, and this is reflected in the way our words change." In his classic Essai de semantique, the French linguist Michel Bréal presents a much deeper psychoanalytic explanation for this process: “The so-called pejorative tendency is the result of a very human disposition which prompts us to veil, to attenuate, to disguise ideas which are disagreeable, wounding or repulsive […]. There is nothing in it all save a feeling of consideration, a precaution against unnecessary shocks, a precaution which whether sincere or feigned is not long efficient, since the hearer seeks out things behind the word, and at once identifies them (Bréal, 1897:100–101).” Let us take the word bint for example, this word generally means 'a girl' or 'daughter', and it is used in other contexts as opposed to womanhood (still virgin). This latter sense was conveyed in Charles Doughty's Travels in Arabia Deserta, he wrote: "Hirfa sighed for motherhood: she had been these two years with an husband and was yet bint, as the nomads say, ‘in her girlhood’.”(OED). Now bint bears an offensive and derogatory connotation (OALD, COED), although the word binti 'my girl' is a very kind way to call a girl in Arabic, but since it comes from the Arabs and connected with women so it must be bad. So we have two driving forces for this pejorated connotation; first, is because it is about women who are a main target of linguistic degradation as a secondary result of social and political biases. Secondly, it comes from Arabs who are shown in western writings and, later, media as uncivil backward woman lashers. We, Arabs, use bint 'daughter of' with our most esteemed female characters, the Quran (Muslims' Word of God) itself calls Mary Maryam bnatu (bint) Imraan in a verse which highly praises her as a virtuous and believing woman: "And Mary, the daughter of 'Imran', who guarded her chastity, so We blew into [her garment] through Our angel, and she believed in the words of her Lord and His scriptures and was of the devoutly obedient." (Quran 66:12). Another word most people (mistakenly) connect with Arabs is genie, In fact it came in mid seventeenth century, denoting 'a guardian or protective spirit', through French génie, from Latin genius ‘attendant spirit present from one's birth, innate ability or inclination’, from the root of gignere ‘beget’. By: Saher Oklah 8 Genie was adopted in the current sense by the eighteenth century French translators of The Arabian Nights' Entertainments, because of its resemblance in form and sense to Arabic jinnī ‘jinnee’ (OALD), which is in itself a rather negative word in Arabic. The connotation of genie is not really worsened, but it is neutralized after it had a rather positive “protective” meaning. Daft, Old English gedæfte ‘mild' or 'meek’, is of Germanic origin related to Gothic gabadan ‘become or be fitting’ (OED).’Insulting’ seems to be a strong pejorative force in English; we find similar cases with idiot and imbecile which did not initially mean 'stupid'. In the fourteenth century, daft is used with beasts to mean 'innocent' or 'silly': in c 1325, Body & Soul 302 in Map's Poems 343 “Ne wuste what was good or il, But as a beest, doumbe and daft.”(OED). In the next century, it is used to refer to people who are 'foolish' or 'wanting in intelligence' (OED) probably because gentlemen of that time were dull and did not do interesting or exciting activities (Hayes, 2012), so there is nothing more insulting than comparing them with uninteresting silly animals. When the connotation of a word becomes better or neutralized after it was rather negative, we call this process amelioration. It is not as common as pejoration because the latter has more psychological, social, and linguistic drives. An interesting example of amelioration is luxury. It comes from Old French luxurie 'abundance, sumptuous enjoyment' (OED), and it denoted lechery and lasciviousness in the Middle Ages because the aim of sex then was procreation not enjoyment. Then it started to lose its negative connotation meaning simply luxuriance or abundance. By the mid seventeenth century, Chaucer's "O foule lust of luxurie" became Milton's "All now was turn'd to jollitie and game, To luxurie and riot, feast and dance." (OED). It was not until the early eighteenth century that it took the current meaning and connotation connected with exquisite and opulent surroundings. Maybe one day if all belts have to be tightened, luxury will be pejorated again. In the same direction of amelioration, a word sometimes does not become all the way positive or even neutral, but becomes less negative; in other words, it is softened. For instance, naughty, as we may guess, comes from naught 'nothing, zero'. It originally meant needy or poor (OED), then, in the sixteenth By: Saher Oklah 9 century, it meant 'wicked or vile' (OED) due to the snobbish impression which was common then that poverty and need result from some wickedness or villainous nature (Hayes, 2012). In the seventeenth century, it began to take its current meaning which is still disapproving but not as it used to be. Change in stylistic meaning: The style and context often cause words to shift their meanings, sometimes radically. Sometimes words are used ironically to mean the opposite. For example when you arrive at your door and discover that you forgot the keys in the office and say "Excellent!". With the expansion of new areas of sciences and technology, new whole cultures are created. In the world of computers, you do not need glue to install a wallpaper, the icons have nothing to do with Eastern Orthodox Church, a default user did not fail in any payment, and the monitor is meant to be watched not watch. Many expressions in everyday speech were coined with such cultures. One may go screensaver when they are tired. The word computers itself meant 'calculators' or individuals who count or estimate until the 1960’s, but the development in this device led to the development of the word itself. Words like ego, fixation, phobia, etc. were reintroduced into English with specific technical meanings in the late nineteenth century by Sigmund Freud’s conquests of psychology; they are used in a more loose way these days.