Гос филология / ddd / 6

6. Svnonvm in English

a) Synonyms and synonymic sets, functions of synonyms in speech

Synonyms are words of the part of speech which express the same notion, but are different either in shades of meaning or in stylistic characteristics (V.V. Vinogradov). English is very rich in synonyms. There are about 8.000 synonymic groups in English.

A group of synonyms is called a synonymic set.

e.g.: "famous, celebrated, renowned, illustrious" make up a synonymic set. A polysemantic word may enter as many synonymic groups as it has lexico-semantic variants. The word "fresh" goes into five synonymic sets:

1) fresh - original - novel - striking

2. fresh - another - different - new

3. fresh - pure - invigorating

4. fresh - inexperienced - green - raw

5. fresh - impertinent - rude

Each synonymic set has a word which expresses the most general idea and holds a commanding position over other words. It is called the synonymic dominant. For instance, in the series "to leave, to depart, to quit, to retire, to clear ouf the verb "to leave" is general and neutral and can stand for each of the other four words, being the synonymic dominant of the group. Thus, a synonymic dominant is the most general word in a given group of synonyms, a word belonging to the general stock of words, stylistically neutral, of greatest frequency and of widest collocability.

Synonyms are grouped according to similarity in their semantic structure and are contrasted within a group on the principle of dissimilarity, e.g. weak -feeble -powerless.

Functions of synonyms

Synonyms are used in speech to avoid repetition and monotony, to reach a greater accuracy and avoid vagueness, and for expressive or stylistic purposes, e.g. "Clean, neat, trim, spruce" form a synonymic set.

"She was a neat little woman, toiling away from morning to night, to keep her house trim and spruce. I have never seen such a clean place, indeed." (S. Maugham)

b) Types of synonyms

According to the classification of synonyms developed by Academician V.V. Vinogradov, there are three types of synonyms: ideographic, stylistic and absolute.

1) Ideographic synonyms are described as words conveying the same notion but differing in shades of meaning. Ideographic synonyms refer to the same general concept but they differ slightly in the denotational meaning, they differ in some denotational components, as in:

look - a conscious and direct endeavour to see;

glance - a look which is quick and sudden;

glimpse - a look implying only momentary sight.

These ideographic synonyms differ in the time duration and quickness of the action.

2) Stylistic synonyms are words of the same denotational meaning used in different speech styles. They have the same denotational components but differ in connotational (stylistic) components of their semantic structure.

neutral:	enemy	house	father
poetical:	foe	mansion	sire
bookish:	adversary		parent
official:	opponent	residence
colloquial:		digs	daddy

3) Absolute (complete) synonyms in English are words of exactly the same meaning, words identical in meaning. E.g. furze - gorse - whin (бот.: дрок) scarlet fever - scarlatina spirants -fricatives fatherland - motherland

Absolute synonyms are very rare. According to Palmer, "It would seem unlikely that two words with exactly the same meaning would both survive in a language."

c) Sources of synonyms

The following points are usually considered as sources of synonyms: borrowings, dialectisms, word-building, euphemisms.

1. Borrowings from French, Latin, Greek and Scandinavian are the most numerous ones in English. They often express an idea or name a thing for which there already exists a native word. That's how synonyms appear in the vocabulary.

e.g. to buy (native) - to purchase (borrowed) world (native) - universe (borrowed) piece (borrowed) - lump, cake (native) action (borrowed) - deed (native) to ask (N) - to question (Fr) - to interrogate (L) teaching (N) - guidance (Fr) - instruction (L) to gather (N) - to assemble (Fr) - to collect (L) kingly (N) - royal (Fr) - regal (L)

2. Dialectisms are words from local dialects which have entered the English vocabulary as regular words creating synonyms to the words of Standard English, e.g.:

lass-girl, bonny - pretty, daft - wild, foolish, crazy, etc.

3. Word-building processes, which are at work in the English language, create synonyms to words already in use. The following cases are to be considered here:

a) composite or phrasal verbs (verbs with post positives): to choose - to pick out

to abandon — to give up, etc

b) compounding which comprises composition and conversion: resistance —fight-back, precipitation —fall-out, conscription — call-up, etc.

c) conversion: to verbalize — to word, laughter — a laugh, to moisten — to wet, etc.

d) shortening:

popular - pop, examination - exam, etc

e) affixation or loss of affixes:

anxiety - anxiousness, effectivity - effectiveness, amongst - among, etc

f) set expressions:

to laugh - to give a laugh, to walk - to take a walk, etc

In this connection the problem of synonyms and lexical variants arises: should these cases (e.g. d), e)) be regarded as synonyms or as lexical variants?

d) Euphemisms.

"Euphemism" is a Greek word: "etf means "well" and "phemos" - "speaking". Thus, "euphemism" means "speaking well".

A euphemism is the substitution of a harsh, obscene, indelicate or otherwise unpleasant word by a less offensive word or periphrastic expression: "queer" is a euphemism for "mad" "intoxicated" - for "drunk" "in one's birthday's suif - for "naked", etc. Euphemisms are divided into 2 groups according to the character of words they substitute:

1. Religious and superstitious taboos: God - eoodness. goodness gracious devil - deuce, dickens, etc.

to dfe - to pass away, to go to one's last home, to go the way of all flesh, to join the majority, to kick the bucket, etc.

2. Social and moral taboos are words which are avoided in speech as not acceptable in the polite communication:

to spit - to expectorate

trousers - inexpressibles, inexlicables, indescribables, unmentionables

lavatory - powder room, washroom, retiring room, restroom, (public) comfort

station, ladies '/gentlemen's room, water closet, W.C. - Windsor castle,

public conveniences, etc. pregnant - in an interesting condition, in a delicate condition, in the family way,

with a baby coming, big with a child drunk - intoxicated, under the influence, tipsy, mellow, fresh, high, merry,

overcome; full, drunk as a lard/owl (coll.); boiled, fried, tight, stiff, soaked(slang).

Antonyms, the definition and classification

Traditionally antonyms are defined as words of the same part of speech which are opposite in meaning: e.g.break - mend, big-small, He-truth, etc

Antonymy is oppositeness in meaning. Antonymy is a regular and very natural feature of a language in general, of the vocabulary of a language in particular.

Not every word of a language may have an antonym though practically every word may have a synonym.

Many words of concrete denotation have no antonyms, e.g. table, blackboard, lamp, tree, building, etc. Names of physical and mental qualities usually have antonyms (adjectives), e.g. round - square, heavy - light, bad - good, kind- unkind. Abstract nouns also have antonyms, e.g. love - hatred, bondage - freedom, cleverness - foolishness, honesty - dishonesty. Verbs denoting physical and mental activity usually have antonyms too, e.g. put on - take off, tie - untie, open - shut.

Different lexical-semantic variants of a word have different antonyms, e.g.: e.g. (1) dry- wet e.g. (2) dear - cheap

dry - interesting dear - hateful

Thus, antonyms may be described as two or more words of the same part of speech which have some common denotational components in their semantic structure (young - old: agg), but express some contrary or contradictory (contrasting) notions; they are characterized by different types of semantic contrast of denotational meaning and interchangeability at least in some contexts as they have the same grammatical and lexical valency and collocability. They differ only in their denotational meaning but do not differ in the stylistic colouring, emotive charge and other connotational characteristics. Antonymic substitution never results in a change of stylistic colouring, e.g.:

There's so much good in the worst of us

And so much bad in the best of us...

Classification of antonyms

I. According to the relationship between the notions expressed antonyms are divided into contradictories and contraries.

Contradictory antonyms form a binary complementary opposition which admits of no possibility between the members:

e.g. dead - alive, single — married, perfect - imperfect.

Contrary antonyms form a gradual opposition which admits of possibility between them of intermediate members. They are the polar points of this opposition.

e.g. cold - hot —* cold - cool - warm - hot

beautiful - ugly —* beautiful - good-looking - plain - ugly IL According to their morphological structure antonyms may be subdivided into:

1. Root antonym s: bad - good, tall - short

2. Derivational antonyms: like - dislike, possible - impossible

There are several word-building affixes (prefixes and suffixes) in the English language which help in the formation of antonyms. They are: un-, in- (U-, im-, ir-), dis-, a-, ab-. E.g. usual — unusual, possible — impossible, normal - abnormal, correct - incorrect,

trust - distrust, legal - illegal, chromatic - achromatic.

In English there are some antonymous affixes - prefixes and suffixes: under - over, sub -super, ful - less, у - less: underestimate - overestimate, artful - artless, substructure -superstructure, windy - windless.