False Homonyms, Misleading Cognates, Concept Splitting

False homonyms

Here are some examples of errors with false homonyms Brazilian learners of English often make.

• "The doctor told me to drink some medicine, two pills in the morning and one in the evening."
• "My neighbours have very good jobs, they win a lot of money."

This what what they probably want to say.

• "The doctor told me to take some medicine, two pills in the morning and one in the evening."
• "My neighbours have very good jobs, they earn a lot of money."

Such errors occur when in Portuguese the same word can and commonly is used for a group of different ideas while in English or Dutch different words need to be used for these different ideas. It seems that language learners have a strong tendency to make the error of using the word for one of the meanings of such group of meanings as a homonym for the other meanings of the group, also in cases when in the target language different words should be used for the different meanings. Therefore the suggested name false homonyms.

All words are synonyms and homonyms

Listening to people talk about synonyms and homonyms, it seems they do not realise that actually it is rather rule than exception for words to have homonyms and synonyms. The existence and sizes of thesauruses show the wealth of synonyms languages have. Looking in a dictionary it is easy to see that most words are actually homonyms, for almost every entry in a dictionary several meanings are given. Dictionary entries also show that some words differ only in pronunciation and meaning not in spelling. When for different meanings only the spelling is the same but the pronunciation is different, these words can be called homographs. They are a subgroup of homonyms. Words that only sound the same are homophones.

About the jargon

Cognates are words from different languages which have a same origin and often are similar in spelling and sound. Whether the meanings are different or the same is not relevant. Misleading cognates are words from different languages which are similar in writing, pronunciation or both and have a common origin but have different meanings. They are also called false cognates or false friends.

Peculiarly there is not one uniform definition for the linguistic term homonym. The uniform part is that homonyms have different meanings. There is ambiguity in whether they are the same in as well pronunciation as spelling or if being the same in either pronunciation or spelling is sufficient for words to be classified as homonyms.

Similarity between false homonyms and misleading cognates

One way in which the problems of false homonyms and misleading cognates are similar is that there is some logic behind these ways of mixing up words. If words are cognates there is a big chance that they mean the same. Unfortunately this is not always true. When it is not true, the logical argument leads to wrong conclusions resulting in using words for meanings the cognates have in the mother tongue but not in the language being learned. Homonyms are several ideas which can be indicated with one word. It seems that if in the mother tongue for a certain group of meanings normally one word is used, the mind strongly binds these meanings into one group. This in turn often causes that, also in the target language, learners use one word, the word for one of the meanings of the group, as homonym for the other meanings of that group, instead of using the different words they should for each of the meanings. In Brazilian Portuguese for example the same word is used for the meanings of on and at. As a result many of my Brazilian learners of English say things like Shall we sit on the table to have coffee. This is a strange suggestion. A more common suggestion would be Shall we sit at the table to have coffee. More details below, at: Prepositions. 

Whether such homonym exists in the mother tongue is actually not so very important. What is more important is if in the mother tongue the most commonly used word for the ideas of such a group is the homonym. If this is the case then there is a big chance of language learners using false homonyms.

How this problem of false homonyms occurred to me

In the field of language learning and teaching, the problem of misleading cognates (false cognates) is well known and much discussed. Surprisingly the problem of false homonyms despite being similar and apparently more persistent doesn't get all that attention. To the contrary, it seems to be neglected or not even recognised. This surprises me because it was by adapting my teaching in a way that I could to diminish the problems my pupils have with misleading cognates that I started to notice another problem that in several ways was very similar. Paying attention to and analysing it lead me to recognise it as the problem of false homonyms.

What is surprising for ma about this is that I never heard others talk about this while many teachers avoid non target language. That's why I talk with colleagues about it, they tell me it makes a lot of sense. I would have expected others to observe the same.

Explaining this mechanism of false homonyms to language learners helps them to reduce the problem, improving their language performance.

Frequent false homonyms

In the table below, some examples of false homonyms drawn from difficulties my Brazilian pupils have. The table shows Portuguese words, the meanings for which this one Portuguese word can be used but ask for different words to be used in English resp. Dutch and which words. As said, it is very common for Brazilian learners to use the word for one of the meanings also for the other meanings when speaking English or Dutch.

Drifted cognates

The following words are examples of drifted cognates resulting in partially misleading cognates as well as false homonyms. As can be expected, cognates normally start their existence as reliable cognates. Reliable cognates are words from different languages that are the same or almost, not only writing, pronunciation and origin but also in meaning. Over time, the words being separated as being part of different languages, they can gain new meanings, lose meanings or the meanings can change all together. If the meanings of cognates change all together in different languages, they have become misleading cognates. If the cognates gain or lose some meanings in one language as compared to the other, they can be considered partial misleading cognates, witch is one of the causes of false homonyms.

Pseudo translations

Some cases that can be classified as false homonyms, could also be classified as pseudo translations. One such case is that of the English words house and home which according to dictionaries and textbooks should translate to the Portuguese casa and lar, respectively. This is far from accurate though.

Misleading word borrowing

When importing or borrowing a concept or idea from another culture, it can happen that words and meanings get mixed up. A concept or idea comes with a word that belongs to another concept or idea. An example is Brazilians using the noun an underline for what in English, especially in computer technology, is called an underscore, that is a space with a line under it. In English underline is normally used for a line under text fragments which can including spaces. When used as verbs it is possible to use underscore as a synonym for underline. One could call this mechanism misleading word borrowing or misleading transfer between languages.

Concept splitting

Sometimes, when learning a new language, finding the best word to use is not really a problem of knowing which word goes with the idea, the concept, that is in the mind. Sometimes, in the culture of the native language there is one word that goes with one concept while in the new language and culture, instead of one concept, people see two concepts, each having its own word. What is one concept in the first culture is split into two concepts in the second culture, leading to the suggested term of concept splitting. It makes the problem of using the right word not really a problem of finding the right word. The problem is much more, learning how to split the old concept in two, learning to work with the new sub-concepts and to use the words that go with each of them in the way it is done in the new language and culture.

An example is the verb to be as main verb, with the meaning of to exist. The way it is used in the famous Shakespearian quote To be or not to be, that is the question. Portuguese has the words ser and estar, the former meaning temporarily being, the latter meaning permanently being.

Prepositions

It is well recognised that prepositions are among the types of words which are most difficult to get right. It seems that among the reasons are that there use is more related to function that to meaning. Another reason is that especially prepositions cause the problem of false homonyms.

The prepositions on, in and at

For the English words on, in and at in Portuguese normally the same one word no/na (♂/♀) is used.

This causes the use of false homonyms like in the following examples.

The preposition at

As a matter of fact there is an additional problem with one of the most important meanings of at. In many cases of the preposition at does not really refer to a clear geographical or physical place. In many cases it is used to talk about being in, on or close to a place that has an important function and to being there because of that function. This aspect of at apears to be particularly difficult for my Brazilian pupils.

Some examples where the preposition at is typically used.

• at the door, there where one enters a building or room and depending announces oneself to ask permission to enter or something else;
• at work, in , on or near the place where one works, sometimes the activity of working;
• at school, similar to work but not necessarily ones own school
• at home, very subjective and personal, can go from the part of the building to a region like a county, rarely used to refer to the home of someone else;

The use of for and to; voor and naar

Correct use of English words for and to or the Dutch equivalents voor and naar, in contexts the action has a direction and is to the benefit of someone or something, is espescially difficult for Brazilians. The problem seem to be a combination of the false homonym problem, concept splitting and overlapping meanings. More details can be found in the dedicated handout The For, To problem (in and about English).

Some false homonyms from Dutch and English to Portuguese

Until here only examples of homonyms of Brazilian Portuguese which cause learners difficulties when learning English or Dutch because that is where my experience and focus are. English and Dutch are the languages I teach Brazilians. Since the mechanism works in two directions, below also some examples of ideas and words which can be expressed with one word in English or Dutch but ask for different words in Portuguese. They are put together here and lesser quantity because for my Brazilian learners of English or Dutch, they normally do not cause problems. One time though a pupil asked me what the name is for this, pointing at his (outer) ear.