#heteronyms

[foodiewithdahoodie]

Big respect to the people who learned English as either a 1st or 2nd language.

[nofatclips]

💬 TED-Ed on Fernando Pessoa - Lesson by Ilan Stavans 🎥 Directed by Héloïse Dorsan Rachet

[soapdispensersalesman]

[tamurakafkaposts]

Yes, maybe they’re right. Maybe something hidden lives in each thing, But that hidden thing is the same As the thing without being hidden. In a plant, in a tree, in a flower (In everything that lives without speech And is a consciousness but not with what makes it a consciousness), In the woods that isn’t trees but woods, Total of the trees without a sum, There lives a nymph, the exterior life inside That gives it life; That flowers with their flowering And is green with their greenness. It enters into the animal and the man. It’s an already inside outside, The philosophers say it’s the soul But it’s not the soul: it’s the animal or the man itself In its way of existing. And I think that maybe there are beings Where the two things coincide And they’re the same size. And that these beings would be the gods, That exist like that because they completely exist, That don’t die because they’re the same as themselves, That can lie because they have no division Between who they are and who they are, And maybe they don’t love us, or want us, or appear to us Because what’s perfect doesn’t need anything. (6/4/1922) Detached Poems (1913-1915) Alberto Caeiro da Silva

[sistinad]

“Llevo conmigo la conciencia de la derrota como un pendón de victoria”

Fernando Pessoa.

[vivaciousvernacular]

Types of similar words in English

English can be a confusing language, in part because it developed as a mixture of many different language families. Numerous foreign powers invaded the British Isles over the centuries, and each left behind traces of their language. This cultural blending resulted not only in English having many different words for the same thing (especially legal terms, thanks to medieval laws being written in both Norman French and Anglo-Saxon), but also left a legacy of words that look or sound alike, but actually have very different meanings.

English even has a variety of words to describe these types of confusing words! Here is how various kinds of similar words are categorized. (Note that some words can fit into multiple categories!)

homonyms - words that are pronounced the same way, but have different meanings

address (to speak to) and address (a street number)

bear (to carry) and bear (a large mammal)

ring (a hollow circular object) and ring (the sound a bell makes)

homophones - a type of homonym in which the words are pronounced the same way, but are not spelled the same

week (a period of seven days) and weak (lacking strength)

be (to exist) and bee (a pollenating insect)

air (atmospheric gas) and heir (someone who will inherit)

homographs - words that are spelled the same, but have different meanings (These often overlap with homonyms!) 

duck (a waterfowl) and duck (to crouch down)

gorge (a ravine) and gorge (to eat a lot)

fair (a festival) and fair (showing equality) and fair (pretty)

heteronyms - a type of homograph in which the words are spelled the same and have different meanings, but are pronounced differently (These can also be called heterophones, though it is less common.)

bow (a tool used in archery) and bow (bending to show respect)

close (near) and close (to shut something)

lead (a soft metal) and lead (to show the way)

Mnemonics (ways to remember these terms):

If you think about what each prefix (the first part of the word) and suffix (the last part of the word) refer to on their own, it’s easy to remember what each of these words means:

The prefix homo- refers to things that are the same.

homogeneous (of the same type)

homosexual (same-sex)

homogenize (to make uniform)

The prefix hetero- refers to things that are different.

heterogeneous (of different types)

heterosexual (different sexes)

heterochromia (having two different eye colors)

The suffix -phone refers to sound. In this case, it refers to the way a word sounds when spoken aloud, or how it is pronounced.

telephone (a device for speaking over long distances)

headphones (a device that produces sound)

phonograph (an early type of audio recording -- literally, “sound-written”)

The suffix -graph refers to writing or drawing. In this case, it refers to the way a word is written down, or how it is spelled.

graph (a visual diagram)

seismograph (an instrument that records earthquake activity by tracing vibrations onto paper)

phonograph (an early type of audio recording -- literally, “sound-written”)

The suffix -nym means name. In this case, it refers to the way the words are spoken aloud. Think of calling someone by name.

pseudonym (a false name)

anonymous (without a name)

patronym (named for one’s father)

If you can remember that homo- means “same” and -phone means “sound,” it’s easy to figure out that homophone means “same sound,” or words that are pronounced alike. Likewise, if you remember that hetero- means “different” and -nym means “name,” you’ll know that the word heteronym means “different name,” or words that are pronounced differently.

[pa-awesome]

[sleepydrummer]

I only know myself as a symphony.

Fernando Pessoa