Synonyms classification of synonyms Definition and classification

Synonyms classification of synonyms

Definition and classification of synonyms Synonym is one of two or more words having approximately the same meaning, e. g. sad unhappy, kid - child - infant, large - big, to tell – to relate, little – small. relationships of synonymous words criteria of synonymy

Criterion: words of the same category of parts of speech conveying the same notion but different in shades of meaning or in stylistic characteristics. semantic criterion: the same denotational component but differing in connotations or in connotative components.

Classification Synonyms are traditionally classified into ideographic, ideographic-stylistic and absolute.

Ideographic synonyms are words having the same notion but differing in the shades of meaning: “to stare - to gaze - to glance - to peer”, “to eat - to take food; to partake - to take food in company with others; to peck - to take food in small quantities, bit by bit; to wolf to eat greedily, voraciously”. Ideographic synonyms differ in additional implications which constitute the semantic components of the denotational meaning.

Ideographic-stylistic or stylistic synonyms are words denoting the same thing, having the same denotational meaning, but differing in stylistic connotation: daddy (colloquial), father (neutral), parent (literary); go on (col. ), continue (neutral), proceed (lit. ), go ahead, get going, make a move (col. ), begin, start (neutr. ), commence (lit).

Absolute or complete synonyms are identical in meaning. They are usually found in terminology: e. g. semasiology, semantics; doctor, medical man; scholar, scientist. Each synonymic group comprises a dominant element. The synonymic dominant is the most general term, it expresses the notion common to all synonyms of the group in the most general way: to surprise - to astonish, to amaze, to astound; to tremble - to shiver, to shudder, to shake.

The characteristic features of the dominant synonyms are: 1. high frequency of usage; 2. broad combinability, i. e. ability to be used in combinations with various classes of words; 3. broad general meaning; 4. lack of connotations.

Sources of synonyms are borrowings: to question (Fr. ), to interrogate (Lat. ) - to ask (native); to mount (Fr. ), to ascend (Fr. ) - to rise (native); Dialects: lass (girl), handsome (bonny), skirt (kilt); Americanisms: (Br); Productive word-formation processes: historical (aff), lab, pop (shorten. ), to win - a win, to invite - an invite (conv. ); Euphemisms: drunk - merry, poor underprivileged, pregnant - in a family way, naked - in one’s naked suit.

Antonyms (Greek ‘opposite’ + ‘name’) Greek root anti (meaning “opposite”) denotes opposition in meaning. Antonyms are words which are opposite in meaning: large/small, happy/sad, wet| dry. Antonyms may be verbs, adjectives.

Classification of antonyms 1. Antonyms proper, or root, absolute antonyms: alike-different, to attack-- to defend, hard-- soft. 2. Derivational antonyms formed by means of negative prefixes: obey -- disobey, happy -– unhappy. 3. Mixed antonyms: kind—cruel - unkind, wise- - stupid- silly - unwise, active- - passive-inactive. (two root words and derivational antonyms). Patterns: Like synonyms antonyms also form antonymic sets (comprising from two to four words): double - scaled: black - white; triple-scaled: dry - damp, wet; four-scaled: provable - disapprovable, improvable, unimprovable (negative prefix).

The items complement each other in their meaning, and are thus known as complementary antonyms. There antonyms such as over/under, buy/sell, wife/husband. These antonyms are mutually dependent on each other. There cannot be a wife without a husband. This type of oppositeness, where one item presupposes the other, is called converseness.

There are opposites such as large/small, happy/sad, wet/dry. These are adjectives which are capable of comparison; they do not refer to absolute qualities: very wet or quite wet, or wetter or drier. Opposites of this kind are called gradable antonyms. There are opposites such as single/married, first/last, alive/dead. These are not gradable opposites: there is no scale of ‘aliveness’ or firstness’. In such cases, if one of the pair of lexemes applies, the other does not. To be alive is not to be dead; and to be dead is not to be alive.

Homonymy Homonyms are words which have the same sounding but different meanings and are not connected semantically. Homonyms may be identical in sound and spelling, or, at least in one of these aspects. Examples: son – sun, tear [ti∂], tear [tεə], bank (n) – a shore, bank – an institution for receiving, lending, exchanging, and safeguarding money. Their identical forms are mostly accidental due to phonetic changes which they suffered during their development.

The term homonymy is derived from Greek homos “similar” and onoma “name”. Homonyms which are the same in sound and spelling are called homonyms proper: bank – bank, ball – ball, fit – fitting clothes; fit – a nervous spasm. Homophones are words of the same sound but of different spelling and meaning: buy – bye – by, him – hymn, scent – cent, knight – night. Homographs are words different in sound and in meaning but identical in spelling: bow [bow] – bow [bəu], tear [tiə] – tear [tεə], row [rou] – row [rau], wind [wind] – wind [waind].

Full and partial homonyms If two words are homonymous in their complete paradigms they are called full homonyms: ball- бал, мяч; pl. balls, tail (хвост) tale, tails – tales. Full homonyms belong to one and the same part of speech. If words are homonymous only in some of the forms of their paradigms they are called partial homonyms: found – основывать, found – нашел, pail – ведро, pale. Homonyms may be approached from a different point of view and classified into lexical and grammatical homonyms.

Classification Lexical homonyms – the same part of speech but have different meaning. Match – спичка, матч; piece кусок; peace - мир. Grammatical homonyms – different parts of speech: work – работа, работать; light – свет, светлый. Lexical homonyms are numerous in the English language. The trouble of today is that lexical homonyms often enough come together with polysemy. There is no hard and fast line of demarcation between the meanings of a polysemantic word and lexical homonymy. For example, there is hardly any semantic connection in Modern English between nail – ноготь, nail – гвоздь notwithstanding the fact that both of them may be traced back to different meanings of one and the same word.

criterion There is no universal criterion for the distinction between polysemy and homonymy. Scientists offer different solutions but none of them is accepted as universal. The solution offered by V. I. Abayev is related to etymology. According to etymological criterion homonyms are those words that have different sources and only accidentally coincide phonetically. But the etymological criterion may very often lead to distortion of the present-day situation.

Criterion Words that coincided phonetically before they penetrated into the English vocabulary are not taken into account. The restriction is that different sources must be traced within the history of the language. The English language of today is not a replica of the Old English vocabulary with some additions from borrowing. It is a different system in many respects and it may not be revealed being guided by etymological criteria only. Synchronically the differentiation between homonymy and polysemy is based on the semantic criterion.

Sources of homonyms o o o I. Phonetic changes which words undergo in the course of their historical development. Night – knight in O. E. [knait] the initial k was pronounced. To write – writan in O. E. / Right – reht Work (n) wyrkjean Work (v) weork II. Borrowing is other source of homonyms. Piece – peace. I – originated from O. E. pais and the II – from O. F. pettia. Bank – a shore – a native word bank ( a financial institution) is Italian. Match – native (a game, contest), match (спички) – French.

Lexico-grammatical homonyms Homonyms of this type are called lexicogrammatical homonyms, they are identical in sound & spelling, refer to different parts of speech. III. Split polysemy: 2 or more homonyms can originate from different meanings of the same word when the semantic structure of the word breaks into several parts. (nail)