Today our topic of discussion is – Semantic analysis of Perso-Arabic loanwords:
Semantic analysis of Perso-Arabic loanwords:
Word of every language has its own meaning. That word refers to a certain meaning which is determined by the culture and society of that language community. Words of Perso-Arabic origin have their own meaning, but during the adoption as loan, they had to pass through some linguistic processes.
As we mentioned in our early sub-chapters that they passed through some phonological as well as morphological changes, they passed as well through some semantic changes. During changing, sometimes they lost their original meaning totally. Sometimes the meaning remained intact. On the contrary, the meaning of those words sometimes expanded or contracted.
Depending on the various processes of semantic change, we can say, there are basically four types of semantic. changing took place in this case. These are-
1. Intact meaning
2. Different meaning
3. Contraction
4. Expansion
Intact meaning:
The meaning of Perso-Arabic loanwords retained intact while borrowing in many cases
For example-
Different meaning:
In some cases, original meaning of Perso-Arabic words was changed altogether. For instance-
Contraction:
In this process the meaning of a word indicates less things than it did before. That refers to its direction from a general meaning to a special meaning. For example –
Expansion:
In this process the meaning of a word indicates more things than it did before. It refers to its direction from a special meaning to a general meaning. Such as-
Processes which mainly found responsible for the semantic change occurred in Perso- Arabic loanwords are Contraction and Expansion. Beside these, the meaning of some words remains intact whereas some words mean totally different from their original meaning.
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