Definition and Examples of Semantic Narrowing

Definition and Examples of Semantic Narrowing Semantic narrowing is a kind of semantic changeâ by which the meaningâ of a word turns out to be less broad or comprehensive than its prior significance. Otherwise called specializationâ or limitation. The contrary procedure is called widening or semantic speculation. Such specialization is moderate and need not be finished, notes etymologist Tom McArthur. For instance, the word fowl is presently generally confined to the yard hen, yet it holds its old significance of winged animal in articulations like the fowls of the air and wild fowl (Oxford Companion to the English Language, 1992). Models and Observations Narrowing of importance . . . happens when a word with a general importance is by degrees applied to something considerably more explicit. The word litter, for instance, implied initially (before 1300) a bed, at that point progressively limited to bedding, at that point to creatures on a sheet material of straw, lastly to things dispersed about, miscellaneous items. . . . Different instances of specialization are deer, which initially had the general importance creature, young lady, which implied initially a youngster, and meat, whose unique significance was food.(Sol Steinmetz, Semantic Antics: How and Why Words Change Meanings. Irregular House, 2008)Hound and IndigenousWe state that narrowing happens when a word comes to allude to just piece of the first significance. The historical backdrop of the word dog in English conveniently shows this procedure. The word was initially articulated hund in English, and it was the nonexclusive word for any sort of pooch whatsoever. This unique significance is held, for instance, in German, where the word Hund just methods hound. Throughout the hundreds of years, in any case, the significance of hund in English has gotten limited to simply those mutts used to pursue game in the chase, for example, beagles. . . .Words may come to be related with specific settings, which is another kind of narrowing. One case of this is the word indigenous, which when applied to individuals implies particularly the occupants of a nation which has been colonized, not unique occupants more generally.(Terry Crowley and Claire Bowern, An Introduction to Historical Linguistics, fourth ed. Oxford University Press, 2010) Meat and ArtIn Old English, dispense alluded to food when all is said in done (a sense which is held in sweetmeat); today, it alludes to just a single sort of food (meat). Craftsmanship initially had some broad implications, generally associated with expertise; today, it alludes just to specific sorts of aptitude, mostly comparable to tasteful ability - the arts.(David Crystal, How Language Works. Disregard, 2006)StarveModern English keep intends to bite the dust from yearning (or frequently to be amazingly eager; and regionally, to be freezing), while its Old English predecessor steorfan implied all the more by and large to die.​(April M. S. McMahon, Understanding Language Change. Cambridge University Press, 1994)Sand[M]any Old English words obtained smaller, increasingly explicit implications in ME as an immediate aftereffect of advances from different dialects. . . . OE sand had implied either sand or shore. At the point when Low German shore was obtained to allude to the l and itself along a waterway, sand limited to mean just the granular particles of broke down stone that secured this land.(C.M. Millward and Mary Hayes, A Biography of the English Language, third ed. Wadsworth, 2012) Spouse, Vulgar, and NaughtyThe Old English variant of the word wifeâ could be utilized to allude to any lady however has limited in its application these days to just wedded ladies. An alternate sort of narrowingâ can lead to a negative meaningâ [pejoration] for certain words, for example, revolting (which used to mean basically normal) and shrewd (which used to mean having nothing).None of these progressions occurred without any forethought. They were continuous and most likely hard to recognize while they were in progress.(George Yule, The Study of Language, fourth ed. Cambridge University Press, 2010)Accident and FowlAccident implies a unintended harmful or grievous occasion. Its unique significance was only any occasion, particularly one that was unanticipated. . . . Fowl in Old English alluded to any winged animal. In this way, the importance of this word was limited to a feathered creature raised for food, or a wild flying creature chased for sport.​(Francis Katamba, English Words: Structure, History, Usage. Routledge, 2004)