MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND SCIENCE, YOUTH AND SPORT
OF UKRAINE
Kyiv National Linguistic University
Project Work in English Lexicology
SYNONYMS IN ENGLISH AND UKRAINIAN PHRASEOLOGY
Yulia Kryvinchuk
Group 301
Translators’/Interpreters’ Department
Research supervisor:
V.G. Nikonova
Professor, Doctor of Philology
Kyiv 2012
THEORETIC AL FOUNDATION OF THE PROBLEM
Lexical meaning of the word is studied on two levels: paradigmatic and sintagmatic.
On the first one, the connection of the word with other words in the system of the language are studied. Paradigmatic connection include: synonymy, antonymy and hyponymy.
It should be mentioned that there are no words in the language, which are completely identical. So, we cannot speak about complete meaning equivalents. We speak about partial meaning equivalents. This type of equivalents expressed by words is called synonymy. Synonymy enriches the language because they let the speaker express different shades of meaning. Besides, synonymy is the coincidence in the essential meaning of words which usually preserve their differences in connotations and stylistic characteristics.
Synonyms are two or more words which belong to the same part of speech and the same thematic group, interchangeable in some contexts and are so close semantically that to use the correct in speech we must know their shade of meaning and stylistic connotation. What is thematic group? It is a group of words which are closed in meaning and cover a certain “piece” of extra linguistic reality. For example: хоробрий, сміливий, відважний; brave, courageous, heroic (одна тематична група). But not all the words which belong to the same thematic group will be synonyms. Those, which belong to the same part of speech, may be synonyms.
After that we have to use the so-called semantic criterion. That means we have to study the words in the dictionary, if they have a common semantic component in their definition, they are really synonyms. For example: to tremble, to shiver, to shudder (тремтіти).
“to shiver”, “to shudder” are explained through the verb “to tremble”. “to shiver” means “to tremble” with cold. “to shudder” means “to tremble” with fear or disgust.
So, these words “to shiver”, ”to shudder…” are synonyms, because they have a common semantic components. The word “to tremble” is the most general word. It’s called a dominant synonym.
One must bear in mind that the majority of frequent words are polysemantic and it is precisely the frequent words that have many synonyms. The result is that a polysemantic word may belong in its various meanings to several different synonymic groups.
In a great number of cases the semantic difference between two or more synonyms is supported by the difference in valency. An example of this is offered by the verbs win and gain. Both may be used in combination with the noun victory: to win a victory, to gain a victory. But with the word war only win is possible: to win a war.
Criteria of synonymy is interchangeability. It should be pointed out that neither the traditional definition of synonyms nor the new version provide for any objective criterion of similarity of meaning. It is solely based on the linguistic intuition of the analyst.
According to whether the difference is in denotational or connotational component synonyms are classified into ideographic and stylistic. Ideographic synonyms denote different shades of meaning or different degrees of a given quality, while stylistic synonyms differ not so much in denotational as in emotive value or stylistic sphere of application.
Nowadays synonyms are widely used in set expressions, idioms and phraseology. That means that we can intensify the meaning of the word or even the whole context by using fixed combinations of words that are structurally and semantic stable and their meaning is understood from the meanings of the components. That means there is no transference of meaning of this combinations. For instance: a man of business; a man of letters (письменник).
Phraseological units are structurally and semantically stable and they have transferred meaning. For example: a man of the wheel (керівник). By the classification of Academician V.Vinogradov phraseological units are divided into three groups: phraseological combinations, phraseological unities and phraseological fusions.
Phraseological combinations are often called traditional because words are combined in their original meaning but their combinations are different in different languages, e.g. cash and carry - (self-service shop), in a big way (in great degree) etc. It is usually impossible to account logically for the combination of particular words. It can be explained only on the basis of tradition, e.g. to deliver a lection ( but not to read a lecture). Sometimes traditional combinations are synonyms of words, e.g. to make inquiries = to inquire, to make haste=to hurry.
In Prof. A. Smirnitsky’s opinion traditional combinations are not phraseological units, as he considers only those word combinations to be phraseological units which are equivalents of words. Phraseological unities are often synonyms of words as well, e.g. to make a clean breast of=to confess, to get on one’s nerves=to irritate, to strike one’s flag/to give up = to surrender, to back up = to support, to assist.
Phraseological fusions are word-groups with a completely changed meaning but, in contrast to the unities, they are demotivated, that is, their meaning cannot be deduced from the meanings of the constituent parts; the metaphor, on which the shift of meaning was based, has lost its clarity and is obscure. E. g. to come a cropper (to come to disaster); at sixes and sevens (in confusion or in disagreement); to set one's cap at somebody (to try and attract a man).
To sum up studying synonyms in both Ukrainian and English phraseology will help us to understand the language clearly. Moreover, we will be able to express our thoughts picking up necessary equivalents, and avoiding the repetition of some phrases. Besides, while making reports it’s very important to reproduce the context vividly and highlight its sense with the help of phraseology and synonyms.
Key words and expressions from the text:
coincidence – тотожність, збіг
connotation – супровідне значення, конотація
semantic criterion – семантичний/значеннєвий критерій
dominant synonym – панівний/домінуючий синонім
valency – валентність
interchangeability – взаємозамінність
analyst – коментатор, критик
phraseological fusion – фразеологічне злиття/об’єднання
demotivated – обґрунтований
deduce – робити висновок, прослідкувати
obscure – непомітний, прихований
clarity – ясність, чіткість