A number of classification schemes have been suggested for semantic change. Recent overviews have been presented by Blank and . Semantic change has attracted academic discussions since ancient times, although the first major works emerged in the 19th century with , , and . Studies beyond the analysis of single words have been started with the word-field analyses of , who claimed that every semantic change of a word would also affect all other words in a lexical field. His approach was later refined by . introduced
Generative semantics. More recent works including
pragmatic and
cognitive theories are those in ,
Dirk Geeraerts, and . A chronological list of
typologies is presented below. Today, the most currently used typologies are those by and .
Typology by Reisig (1839) Reisig's ideas for a classification were published posthumously. He resorts to classical rhetorics and distinguishes between • Synecdoche: shifts between part and whole • Metonymy: shifts between cause and effect • Metaphor
Typology by Paul (1880) • Generalization: enlargement of single senses of a word's meaning • Specialization on a specific part of the contents: reduction of single senses of a word's meaning • Transfer on a notion linked to the based notion in a spatial, temporal, or causal way
Typology by Darmesteter (1887) • Metaphor • Metonymy • Narrowing of meaning • Widening of meaning The last two are defined as change between whole and part, which would today be rendered as
synecdoche.
Typology by Bréal (1899) • Restriction of sense: change from a general to a special meaning • Enlargement of sense: change from a special to a general meaning • Metaphor • "Thickening" of sense: change from an abstract to a concrete meaning
Typology by Stern (1931) • Substitution: Change related to the change of an object, of the knowledge referring to the object, of the attitude toward the object, e.g.,
artillery "engines of war used to throw missiles" → "mounted guns",
atom "inseparable smallest physical-chemical element" → "physical-chemical element consisting of electrons, protons, and neutrons",
scholasticism "philosophical system of the Middle Ages" → "servile adherence to the methods and teaching of schools" • Analogy: Change triggered by the change of an associated word, e.g.,
fast adj. "fixed and rapid" ←
fast adv. "fixedly, rapidly" • Shortening: e.g.,
periodical ←
periodical paper • Nomination: "the intentional naming of a referent, new or old, with a name that has not previously been used for it" (Stern 1931: 282), e.g.,
lion "brave man" ← "lion" • Regular transfer: a subconscious Nomination • Permutation: non-intentional shift of one referent to another due to a reinterpretation of a situation, e.g.,
bead "prayer" → "pearl in a rosary") • Adequation: Change in the attitude of a concept; distinction from substitution is unclear. This classification does not neatly distinguish between processes and forces/causes of semantic change.
Typology by Bloomfield (1933) The most widely accepted scheme in the English-speaking academic world is from : • Narrowing: Change from superordinate level to subordinate level. For example,
skyline formerly referred to any
horizon, but now in the US it has narrowed to a horizon decorated by skyscrapers. • Widening: There are many examples of specific brand names being used for the general product, such as with
Kleenex. •
Metaphor: Change based on similarity between concepts, e.g.,
mouse "rodent" → "computer device". •
Metonymy: Change based on contiguity between concepts, e.g.,
horn "animal horn" → "musical instrument". •
Synecdoche: A type of metonymy involving a part to whole relationship, e.g. "hands" from "all hands on deck" → "bodies" • Specialization of meaning: Downward shift in a taxonomy, e.g.,
corn "grain" → "wheat" (UK), → "maize" (US). • Generalization of meaning: Upward shift in a taxonomy, e.g.,
hoover "Hoover vacuum cleaner" → "any type of vacuum cleaner". • Cohyponymic transfer: Horizontal shift in a taxonomy, e.g., the confusion of
mouse and
rat in some dialects. •
Antiphrasis: Change based on a contrastive aspect of the concepts, e.g.,
perfect lady in the sense of "prostitute". •
Auto-antonymy: Change of a word's sense and concept to the complementary opposite, e.g.,
bad in the slang sense of "good". • Auto-converse: Lexical expression of a relationship by the two extremes of the respective relationship, e.g.,
take in the dialectal use as "give". •
Ellipsis: Semantic change based on the contiguity of names, e.g.,
car "cart" → "automobile", due to the invention of the
(motor) car. •
Folk-etymology: Semantic change based on the similarity of names, e.g., French
contredanse, orig. English
country dance. Blank considered it problematic to include amelioration and pejoration of meaning (as in Ullman) as well as strengthening and weakening of meaning (as in Bloomfield). According to Blank, these are not objectively classifiable phenomena; moreover, Blank has argued that all of the examples listed under these headings can be grouped under other phenomena, rendering the categories redundant. == Forces triggering change ==