Between Polish-Russian lexical homonymy and paronymy

Krzysztof Rutkowski

Abstract

The problems involved in separating Polish-Russian interlingual paronyms from a group of homonyms are described in this article. The aim of the research is to elaborate on specific criteria for selection of such lexical units. The most common articulation differences – including explanations of their reasons – are defined and discussed in the pairs of words that have both similar pronunciation and the same root. Finally, criteria for the selection of Polish-Russian paronyms are developed on the basis of regularly repeating (the most typical) phonetic asymmetries that could be interpreted from a historical perspective, e.g.: Pol. ó / Rus. o ≤ Pr.-Slav. *o (nałóg – налог), e/o ≤ *ъ (nosek – носок), -y/-ый, -ой ≤ *ъja ь (pozorny – позор-ный).

Keywords:

homonimy leksykalne, homonimia międzyjęzykowa, paronimia