HOMONYMS IN FOREIGN AND RUSSIAN DICTIONARIES OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE(based on the homonym ‘lie’)

Abstract

The article analyses various ways of representing homonyms in different types of dictionaries of the English language (bilingual and monolingual). The author considers the influence of these representative methods on students’ perception of homonyms; studies various structures of dictionaries and reveals the lack of integrity in representation of homonyms regardless of the type of a dictionary (English- English or English-Russian) and its intent (educational or explanatory). The carried out experiments (free associative experiment; insertion of homonyms in a context) with high school students in a school with advanced study of English showed that even pupils who are good at a foreign language often don’t distinguish homonymy from phenomena related to it, such as polysemy.

Keywords

• homonyms
• homonymy
• English
• the English language
• dictionary
• English studying