DEFINITIONS AND TYPES OF FALSE FRIENDS

Profesor Vilceanu Daniela-Ileana

Colegiul Naional ,, Tudor VladimirescuTg.Jiu
danavilceanu@yahoo.com

False friends are pairs of words in two languages that look

or sound similar but differ in meaning. Such words can cause
difficulty for students learning a foreign language, particularly one
that is related to they native language, because the students are likely
to misidentify the words due to Language interference. Comedy
sometimes includes puns on false friends, which are considered
particularly amusing if one of the two words is obscene.
From the etymological point of view, false friends can be
created in several ways:
Cognates:
If Language A borrowed a word from Language B, then in Language
B the word shifted in meaning, a native speaker of Language A will
face a false friends when learning Language B.
False cognates:
In certain cases, false friends were created separately in the two
languages. Some false friends are simply homonyms with no relation
between them whatsoever. They happened due to sheer coincidence.
E.g., the Latin is, the Chinese you, and the German rat when
compared to the respective English words.
Pseudo-anglicism:
Pseudo-anglicism are artificially-created constructions of words with
elements borrowed from English but the morphemes of which do not
actually exist in English.
E.g., German: Twen for anyone in their twenties or the age
itself, or fresch for smart, natty, chic, attractive or dashing which
originated in the English fashionable.
The words Prservativ (German), prezervativ (Romanian)
and prezerwatywa (Polish) are derived from the French prservative
(which means both presevative and condom, though
conservateur is more used for preservative) and all false friends
of the word name. This is an example of how in one language, a

word can acquire an additional meaning which is not shared by other

languages.
Since false friends are a common problem for languages
learners, teachers sometimes compile lists of false friends as an aid
for their students.
Even compilers of bilingual dictionaries are sometimes
fooled by false friends, particularly when they are cognates. For
example, the Spanish desgracia can on rare occasions mean
disgrace, but it usually means misfortune. The best defence for
the language student is to use a monolingual dictionary in the target
language as a final authority.
Pseudo-analogonyms (also known as 'false friends',
'deceptive cognates', 'treacherous twins', etc.) are a source of lexicosemantic interference. They can be defined as full-words in different
languages with formal congruency (i.e. similarity or regular
correspondence) that do not provide the best semantic equivalent for
one another, e.g. R. stol 'table' vs. Bg. stol 'chair'.
Whereas some pseudo-analogonyms cause a lot of trouble
for almost all bilinguals, other pairs are hardly ever confused. What
determines how 'dangerous' a pair of pseudo-analogonyms is? The
degree of 'danger' can be analyzed on the basis of two factors: the
probability of confusion, and the seriousness of the potential
consequences. This paper shows that the former factor is much more
important than the latter. Among the various items discussed, the risk
of confusion is increased especially by an overlap of the aggregate
denotations of the words in question and by a semantic connection
(proximity or antonymity) between their individual definitions.
With criteria like these at hand, the 'dangerousness' of any
pair of pseudo-analogonyms can be estimated, and certain
particularly nasty pairs can be singled out in order to compose
effective 'false friends' exercises for learners or to mark them in
bilingual dictionaries.

Partial false friends

Discussions on the topic of false friends have predominantly
focused on the occurrence of absolute false friends, which should be
seen as the strongest version of false friends. However, friendship,
also within the lexicon, is much more complex than this and
provision has to be made for different types and varying degrees of
false friends. Besides absolute false friends one can also identify
different types of partial false friends, ranging from strong to weak,
and this has definite implications for the lexicographic practice.
Homonymic convergence
Homonymy is a language specific feature and it is highly
unlikely that a pair of source language homonyms will have
translation equivalents functioning as homonyms in the target
language. When dealing with closely related languages the
occurrence of homonymic convergence could easily lead to the
introduction of false friends.
Related but opposing meanings Moving to weaker
versions of false friends
The prototypical occurrence of false friends prevails where
there is no semantic resemblance between formally identical lexical
items from two languages. The formal identity remains a criterion in
both the strong and the weaker versions of false friends. A major
difference between stronger and weaker versions lies on the semantic
level where weaker versions do not necessarily imply a total absence
of semantic resemblance but rather work with varying degrees of
resemblance. Where false friends do display some semantic
resemblance the lexicographer will be well advised to be sensitive in
the treatment of these items to ensure that the user will receive the
necessary guidance to avoid confusion.
Different usage levels
Language development and language dynamics often result
in changes in the polysemous paradigm of lexical items. These
changes can be seen in new senses added to the polysemous
paradigm of a given lexical item or certain senses becoming extinct

and being phased out. The changes often start on the level of the
usage of a certain sense of a given item. A lesser usage may result in
a specific sense being moved from the core of the polysemous
paradigm to the periphery and eventually being omitted. A dictionary
should keep its users informed not only with regard to the usage
frequency of a lexical item as such but also with regard to the use of
the specific senses of a lexical item.
A Semantic Continuum of False Friends
The use of the term false friends should be seen as referring
to a relation between pairs of lexical items from different languages
positioned on a continuum where the nature and the extent of both
the falseness and the friendship differ. The grading of false friends
results in a scale or a continuum with absolute false friends, i.e. the
strongest version of false friends, occupying the one pole of the
continuum and partial false friends the middle region up to the other
pole. Partial false friends do not only give evidence of different and
varying relations between two languages, but also indicate some
typical results of language dynamics prevailing in situations of
language contact. Partial false friends display varying degrees of
strong ness or weakness with those occurrences representing the
weakest version positioned at the end of the scale, next to the true
friends. Language dynamics can also turn true friends into false
friends and vice versa.
In a dictionary treating two closely related languages the
position of a specific occurrence of false friends on the false friend
continuum should play a decisive role in determining the way in
which the lexicographer has to make the user aware of a specific
lexical items participation in a relation of false friends. The stronger
the false friend version, the slimmer the chances are that the user will
experience difficulties or confusion with the relevant items from the
two languages. The weaker the false friend version is, the better are
the chances of the user being confused and experiencing difficulties.
Weak version false friends typically require disambiguating entries in
their lexicographic treatment.