Browsing by Author "Tizazu, Yoseph"

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    Lexical Semantics over the History of Amharic
    (Addis Ababa University, 2009-06) Tizazu, Yoseph; Gensler, Orin (Prof.)
    The major purpose of this study is to investigate the semantic development of Amharic words. Attention is given to investigating factors that have triggered the changes, analyzing and clas sifying the findings based on the taxonomies of semantic change, and exploring possible ' laws' that govern the changes. The semantic behavior of the words und er study is compared in the older and the newer dictionaries to achi eve the foregoing objectives. The results of the study show that a multiplicity of factors have led to change in the semantics of Amharic words. Various kinds of meaning changes are identified on the basis ofthe different factors and association mechanisms that underlie the words. Words have changed their meanings pejoratively, askiir ' boy or girl' > 'servant'; amelioratively, . zega 'beggar' > 'citizen'; metaphorically, 8mmdrta ' leaping' > ' progress'; metonymically, c'8nk'8Ilat 'brain' > 'skull'. Meanings have also undergone specialization, 8s ' ' plant' > 'drug '; generalization, wdyzdro 'queen' > 'a title for any married woman' ; and semantic bleachingfit 'face' > temporal (past or future). In addit ion to th ese general tend encies, some specific tendencies are also seen in "person body-parts" anddbdl ' palate' > 'speech-producing organs'. Metaphor is found to be by far the most pervasive force in many of these chan ges. This discussion of semantic change suggests that most of the meaning changes come under the overriding principle : concrete meaning becomes abstract. The study had to confront two basic problems: the acute lack of an etymo logical dictionary of Apillaric, and the absence of a systematic classification of the hi s torical stages of the language. Scholars shou ld give se rious attention to both of these problems .