SYNONYMY

Synonyms are words belonging to the same morphological class which have the same core meaning, though they may differ in shades of meaning, connotation, distribution, collocation and idiomatic use. Synonyms may be arranged in synonymic series containing two or more elements. In such series, one of the terms acquires a dominant position, being the most general among the others and the most frequently used in the language = synonymic dominant (the head in dictionaries): to leave to depart to clear out to retire Simple words may establish correlative synonymic relationships with collocations, phrases or idioms as in the pairs to win to gain the upper hand, to decide to make up ones mind, to hesitate to be in two minds, to swing the lead to exaggerate, neck and crop entirely, to laugh to give a laugh, to prefer to show preference, to go after to follow, to go on to continue, to give in to surrender Correlative synonymic relations are also met in the case of some special stylistic synonyms, in which the name of a writer, inventor, etc. is replaced by a descriptive phrase, as in Chaucer the father of English literature or Shakespeare the sweet swan of Avon Correlative synonymic relations may also be recognized in certain phrases that are made up of two synonyms linked by the copulative conjunction and: with might and main, lord and master, stress and strain, each and every, liberty and freedom, really and truly, last will and testament, exiled and banished. A synonym is employed as an explanation or clarification of the meaning of another word. The relationship between the two words is frequently signaled by something like that is to say, or a particular variety of or : He was cashiered, that is to say, dismissed.; This is an ounce, or snow leopard. Polysemantic words have different synonymic series for each of their senses. For example, ill in the sense of not in full physical or mental health is synonymous with ailing, indisposed, sick, unwell. If it means bad, possible synonyms for it are evil, wicked, wrong. TYPES OF SYNONYMS a) strict/perfect/absolute synonyms. Two lexical units would be perfect synonyms (i.e. would have identical meanings) if and only if all their contextual relations were identical Absolute synonymy is practically impossible, since no two words are perfectly interchangeable in all their contexts of use. In the same context, one word sounds more normalthan its presupposed perfect synonym: - Tell Mummy when Playschool begins and shell watch it with you. (+) - Tell Mummy when Playschool commences and shell watch it with you. (-)

- Arthur is always chewing gum. (+) - Arthur is always munching gum. (-) - I dont just hate him, I loathe him. (+) - I dont just loathe him, I hate him. (-) - That is a scandalous waste of money. (+) - That is an outrageous waste of money. (-) The economy of language would not tolerate (except, perhaps, for a very limited period of time) the existence of two lexical items with exactly the same meaning. Historical argument against perfect synonymy - if absolute synonyms do occur at a certain moment in the development of a language, usually, one of the items falls into obsolescence and is, ultimately, no longer used, it remains to be used in particular dialects or stylistic varieties only or it begins to be employed in contexts from which the other is excluded. Conclusion: When we speak of synonymy, we mean varying degrees of loose synonymy, where we identify not only a significant overlap in meaning between two words, but also some contexts at least where they cannot substitute for each other. Loose synonymy is illustrated by at least two types of synonyms, ideographic and stylistic. b) ideographic synonyms. This class comprises synonyms which share the core meaning but differ in shades of meaning in that certain notes characteristic of the notion, phenomenon, object denoted by these words are accented. They may also differ in connotation, collocation patterns and idiomatic use. In the pair of synonyms to love to adore, to love is rather neutral, while to adore bears connotations of worship or passion. Crowd refers to a disorganized group of people, while its synonym, mob refers to the same group, but connotes the idea of riotous intentions as well. c) stylistic synonyms. The category of stylistic synonyms includes words having the same notional components of meaning, but differing in their stylistic reference or degree of formality. Formal vs. informal: archer toxophilite, argument disputation, beauty pulchritude, cross traverse, die decease, give up renounce, letter missive, praise eulogy, warning caveat, western occidental. Standard vs. slang: astonished gobsmacked, crash prang, destroy zap, drunk, sloshed, face phizog, heart ticker, insane, barmy, money rhino, spondulix, prison clink, steal nick. Technical vs. non-technical: incision cut, lesion wound Neutral vs. poetic: happiness bliss, merry jocund, Speech vs. writing: youre you are

A particular stylistic synonymic relationship is established between a taboo word and its corresponding euphemistic words or expressions. A euphemism is a mild, indirect or less offensive word or expression substituted when the speaker/writer fears that more direct wording might be harsh, unpleasantly direct or offensive (when resorted to by officials such as members of the Parliament, officers, lawyers, etc., the use of euphemisms is known as doublespeak): to die - to breathe ones last (breath, gasp), to depart this life, to pay ones debt to nature, to go to ones last home, to go the way of all flesh, to kick the bucket, to hop the twig, to join the majority, to be no more, to buy a pine condo, to cross the river to reach the eternal reward, to go to the other side a stupid person - has a couple of eggs shy of a dozen, a few beers short of a sixpack, a few clowns short of a circus, a few bricks short of a wall, a kangaroo loose in the paddock, s/he is not the sharpest knife in the drawer, not the brightest light in the harbour/on the Christmas tree, not tied too tight to the pier, knitting with only one needle, not firing on all cylinders, s/he is as useful as a wooden frying pan, as a screen door on a submarine or as tits on a bull, s/he is a person whose elevator stuck between floors, who got into the gene pool when the lifeguard wasnt watching, who fell out of the family tree or who goes fishing in Nebraska Dysphemism = coarser and more direct words and phrases that are used to replace both more refined and quite common lexical items, for humorous or deliberately offensive purposes. The relationship between the euphemism and the common word designating its referent may be considered stylistic synonymy as well. bean counter = accountant, grease monkey = mechanic, sawbones = surgeon, quack = doctor, brain bucket = motorcycle helmet, Jesus juice = wine, muffin top = flesh that erupts over the sides of low-rider tight jeans, dead tree edition = the paper edition of an online magazine The rich synonymy in English is due to the fact that it has borrowed an impressive number of words from other languages. Double and triple scales of synonymy

Native swine ox calf body ghost friendship

French pork beef veal corpse spirit amity

help ship world room end ask answer buy Native player wire bodily heartly brotherly learned happy hard Latin/Greek actor

aid vessel universe chamber finish request reply purchase

telegram corporeal cordial fraternal erudite fortunate solid

Native

French

Latin

strength time forerunner bond outstanding end ask age herald bail

power epoch

energy

precursor security splendid conclude interrogate

glorious finish question

Besides borrowings, another source of synonymy in English, seen from a diachronic perspective, is represented by archaisms. Many of these are at present used only in dialectal speech, having been replaced in the common language by various synonyms. king-stool has been substituted for throne, book-hoard for library, leechcraft and leechdom for medicine, seamer for tailor, to betake for to deliver for to occupy. Geographical and stylistic varieties of English are a rich source of synonymy. Thus, charm, chest and church in standard British English may be paired with glamour, kist and kirk in Scottish English, to add to the examples of ideographic synonyms already given. The British words autumn, tin, lorry, insect, sweet and maize as synonyms of the American words

fall, can, truck, bug, candy and corn respectively may enlarge the same category as may Cockney words and phrases such as trap, chap or ill speed together with their standard English synonyms sailor, friend and bad luck. Euphemisms are another important source of synonymy as in the pairs of words: illiterate uneducated, chaotic unformed, sterile unfruitful, short vertically challenged, etc. The belonging of words to various styles in the language may lead to synonymy as well. For instance, lazy is the standard neutral word for which the colloquial lazybones may be substituted, trousers is neutral, while its synonym pants is colloquial, evening, morning, valley and sorrowful are neutral, while their synonyms eve, morn, vale and doleful are poetic, heart attack and headache belong to the everyday language, while their synonyms myocardial infarct and cephalalgia are medical technical terms.

ANTONYMY

Antonymy is the sense relation holding between words belonging to the same morphological class and having opposite meanings. Characteristics of antonyms Antonymy is possible only if the words entering this semantic relationship share a common component of their senses. Thus, old and young share the component age, long and short share the component length, while deep and shallow both refer to depth.

Antonyms are found in certain typical configurations in English: - A and B: Young and old were present at the meeting, a matter of life and death, the long and the short of it; - A or B: wanted dead or alive, Well see if she was right or wrong, Good or bad, Ill take it; - neither A nor B: neither friend nor foe, - A not B: He was alive, not dead as they thought, - X is A and Y is B: Youth is wild and age is tame (Shakespeare)

Another context in which antonyms are typically employed is when reference is made to a change of state as in The exhibition opens at nine and closes at noon or The poet was born in 1924 and died in 1991. Polysemantic words have different antonyms, for each of their senses. Thus, if even refers to numbers and means devisible by two, its antonym is odd; if it refers to character or mood and means calm, its antonym is agitated; for its meaning dull, it enters an antonymic relationship with interesting, while sharp may be considered its antonym when it means unable to cut.

On the other hand, ploysemantic words may have a number of antonyms for some of their meanings and none for others. Thus, criticism in the meaning of blame has the antonyms praise, approval, while in the meaning of writing critical essays it has no opposite meaning correspondent. Antonyms appear in a great number of idioms (to make neither head nor tail of something, to see something in black and white) and proverbs (What soberness conceals, drunkness reveals, What is done cannot be undone, A small leak will sink a great ship, You cant teach an old dog new tricks, One mans loss is another mans gain), as well as in several figures of speech extensively used in literature (oxymoron, irony, antithesis, etc.): Youth, which is forgiven everything, forgives itself nothing; age, which forgives itself everything, is forgiven nothing. If we refer to the type of oppositeness of meaning, we may speak about three major classes of antonyms: gradable antonyms, ungradable or contradictory antonyms and converses. A) gradable antonyms: beautiful ugly, small big, rich poor, wide narrow, fast slow, increase decrease. As their name suggests, the semantic relationship between gradable antonyms is not of the either or type, but rather of the more less type. They represent the end-points of a continuum or a scale. The more less relationship is made obvious by a number of characteristic features of gradable antonyms. They allow comparison: My dress is longer than yours, The tree is less tall than the building. Gradable antonymic adjectives may be modified by intensifying adverbs: very good, extremely bad, extraordinarily beautiful. In a pair of gradable antonyms, one of the terms is unmarked, while the other one is marked. The unmarked member is the one that is normally expected as in How old are you? or How long is the way to the museum?. When this is used, the speaker/writer does not prejudge anything whereas, when the marked member is used, certain presuppositions hold. If the two previous questions had been How young are you? and How short is the way to the museum?, the implications had been that the person asked about his/her age was young and the way to the museum was short. B) ungradable or contradictory antonyms: asleep awake, dead alive, on off, permit forbid, remember forget, win lose, shut open, true false. Unlike in the case of gradable antonyms, the semantic relationship between the two members of an ungradable antonymic pair is of the either or type, i.e. the assertion of one member always implies the negation of the other, with no options in between (in the case of adjectives, this is proven by the fact that they do not allow degrees of comparison). Thus, an animate being may be described as either dead or alive, but not as some degree of these or as being more one than the other. If certain behaviour is permitted, then it is not forbidden; if one lost a contest, then one has not won it; if a switch is off, then it is not on.

C) converse antonyms: above below, before after, behind in front of, buy sell, give receive, husband wife, parent child, speak listen. The meanings of the two antonyms are like the two sides of the same coin, one member of the pair expresses the converse meaning of the other. Buy and sell describe the same transaction, the difference lying in the vantage point from which it is viewed. If the transaction is seen from the point of view of the person who gives up the goods in exchange for money, we speak about selling, if it is seen from the point of view of the person who receives the goods upon paying a sum of money for them, we speak about buying. If we take into consideration the form of the antonyms, we may speak about root and affixal antonyms. A) root or radical antonyms are different lexical units with opposite meanings: warm cold, kind cruel, open shut. B) affixal antonyms are words having the same root, the relation of oppositeness of meaning between them being established by means of negative (and positive) affixes which are added to the common root: careful careless, important unimportant, to believe to disbelieve, to entangle to disentangle.

HYPONYMY AND MERONYMY

Hyponymy and meronymy are based on hierarchical relationships (they are the consequence of the fact that some words have a more general meaning than others). Hyponymy = a relationship of inclusion of the kind of type: dog spaniel, cocker, German shepard, puddel, etc; vehicle car, truck, lorry, bus, bike, motorbike, etc. The more general term = the superordinate; The subordinate terms = the hyponyms. Meronymy = a relationship of inclusion of the part of type: plant leaf, bud, petal, stem, root; day dawn, morning, noon, afternoon, evening, etc. The more general term = the superordinate; The subordinate terms = the meronyms. Homonymy = a relation of lexical ambiguity between words having different meanings; it is a situation where one orthographic or spoken form represents more than one vocabulary item. Types of homonyms If their pronunciation and spelling are taken into consideration, homonyms may be one of the following:

a) perfect homonyms or homonyms proper. These are words identical in both spelling and pronunciation: light (adjective) light (noun). b) homophones. These are words that have the same pronunciation, but differ in spelling: air heir, I eye, buy bye - by c) homographs. These are words that have the same spelling, but differ in pronunciation: wound [wu:nd] wound [waund], bow [bu] bow [bau], lead [led] lead [li:d]. Homonyms are a rich source of humour. They are as well a source of confusion for users of English who do not master the language and, sometimes, even for proficient speakers of it: Why did the teacher wear sunglasses? Her students were too bright. Waiter, will the pancakes be long? No, sir, round. A family of three tomatoes was walking downtown one day when the little baby tomato started lagging behind. The big father tomato walks back to the baby tomato, stomps on her, squashing her into a red paste, and says Ketchup! Drunk Gets Nine Months in Violin Case

According to the type of meaning that helps to differentiate words that have the same sound and/or form, homonyms may be grouped in three categories:

a) lexical homonyms are homonyms which belong to the same grammatical class and have different lexical meanings: the noun seal meaning a kind of sea animal and the noun seal meaning the special mark put on documents to prove that they are authentic. b) lexical-grammatical homonyms are homonyms which belong to different grammatical classes and have different lexical meanings: the noun bear referring to a particular kind of large wild animal with thick fur and the verb bear meaning inability to accept or to do something. c) grammatical homonyms are homonyms which differ in grammatical meaning only: that as a demonstrative noun and that as a demonstrative adjective, played as the past tense of the verb to play and played as the past participle of the same verb.