Systematic relations within the English vocabulary: synonymy, antonymy

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Ministry of education and science of Ukraine

Luhansk National University named after Taras Shevchenko

PAPER

"Systematic relations within the English vocabulary: synonymy, antonymy"

By the student the 2^nd course of

Institute of Post-graduate Education

Specialty "English language and literature"

Tatiana Velichko

Lecturer S. A. Shekhavtsova

Luhansk 2010

1. Synonymy

Synonymy is the semantic relation that holds between two words that can express the same meaning in a given context.

Synonymy is one of linguistics' most controversial problems. The very existence of words called synonyms is disputed by some linguists; the nature and essence of the relationships of these words is hotly debated and treated in quite different ways by the representatives of different linguistic schools.

Even though one may accept this fact or not, we cannot deny that in any language there are words (in some cases their combinations) which clearly develop regular and distinct relationships when used in speech.

The common definition of synonyms as words of the same language having the same meaning is very simple, but unfortunately misleading. Words of the same meaning are useless for communication. Occasionally they can be found in special terminology. These are called total synonyms.

E.g. noun = substantive.

Every word has its own history, motivation and context; synonyms can therefore be defined as two or more words of the same language, belonging to the same part of speech and possessing one or more identical or nearly identical denotational meanings, interchangeable, at least in some contexts without any considerable alteration in denotational meaning, but different in morphemic composition, phonemic shape, shades of meaning, connotations, style, valency and idiomatic use.

E.g. hope - expectation - anticipation.

The word hope is in this group the synonymic dominant. It is the most general, native and neutral word. Expectation and anticipation are formal and literary (which is common for the words of Romance origin).

The difference is not just in the level of stylistics. Although all three of them mean "having something in mind which is likely to happen", they differ in collocation. Hope can be used in idiomatic expressions (to lose hope, not: to lose expectation or to lose anticipation!), means belief and desire. Expectation is collocated with both - good and evil; anticipation - something good, pleasurable.

Synonyms may differ:

ь in emotional colouring: alone (one, single) - lonely (sad, longing for company);

ь in valency: win (a victory, a war) - gain (a victory, not a war!);

ь in style: begin (neutral) - commence (literary).

There are words that are similar in meaning only under some specific conditions - contextual synonyms.

E.g. "I'll go to the shop and get/buy some bread."

English, due to its numerous borrowings from other languages, is quite rich in synonyms. Words of native origin are usually simple and less formal than their synonyms borrowed from other languages. Some English synonyms form a triad with ascending formality with the French words (second degree) and Greek/Latin words (third degree).

Other sources of synonymy are local dialects, regional varieties of English (American, Scottish, etc.), formation of new words, semantic change. Rich sources of synonymy are phrasal verbs.

A source of synonymy also well worthy of note is the so-called euphemism in which by a shift of meaning a word of more or less `pleasant or at least inoffensive connotation' becomes synonymous to one that is harsh, obscene, indelicate or unpleasant. The effect is achieved, because the expression is not so straight, sometimes jocular and usually motivated to some secondary feature of the notion:

E. g. naked=in one's birthday suit;

pregnant=in the family way=in an interesting condition;

drunk=merry=intoxicated;

die=be no more=be gone=lose one's life=breathe one's last=join the silent majority=go the way of all flesh=pass away=be gathered to one's fathers.

Euphemisms always tend to be a source of new synonymic formations, because after a short period of use the new term because after a short period of use the new term becomes so closely connected with the notion that it turns into a word as intolerable as the earlier synonym.

2. Antonymy

synonymy antonymy semantic relation

Antonymy is the semantic relation that holds between two words that can express the opposite meaning in a given context.

The distinctions between words similar in meaning aren't often very fine, even for a native speaker. Sometimes to show the difference, it is good to point out antonyms:

E. g. high - low; tall - short.

Antonyms may be defined as two (rarely more) words of the same language belonging to the same part of speech with contradictory meaning.

E. g. alive - dead;

love - hate;

to accept - to reject;

up - down.

The same word may have different antonyms when used in different combinations:

E.g. single ticket - return ticket;

she is single - she is married;

single-room - two-room.

Classification of antonyms according to the word-derivational structure

1. Root (absolute) antonyms

a. Proper (absolute) antonyms.

According to the relationship between their meanings proper antonyms may be characterised as contrary. They are polar members of a gradual opposition which may have intermediary elements and always imply comparison which is clear from context.

E.g. beautiful - pretty - good-looking - plain - ugly.

b. Complementary antonyms.

Complimentarily is a binary opposition; it may have only two members. The denial of one member means the assertion of the other.

E.g. not male means female; not true means false.

c. Relational antonyms (converses).

The relationship between the pairs is reciprocal. Converses denote one and the same subject as viewed from different points of view (like subject and object, family and social relations, space and time relations, etc.).

E.g. borrow - lend,

husband - wife,

before - after.

2. Derivational antonyms.

The affixes in derivational antonyms deny the quality stated in the stem:

E.g. happy - unhappy, known - unknown.

There are typical affixes that form these derivational antonyms. The regular type of derivational antonyms contains negative prefixes: dis-, il- /im-/in-/ir and un-. Other negative prefixes occur in this function only occasionally.

Modern English prefers to form an antonym with the prefix un-; the suffix -less is old and not productive anymore. In the oppositions like hopeful - hopeless, useful -useless the suffix -less is contrasting to the suffix -ful, not to the stem (otherwise the antonyms would be: hope - hopeless).

E.g. selfish - unselfish, not selfish - "selfishless".

Derivational antonyms may be characterised as contradictory. A pair of derivational antonyms forms a binary opposition (see above complementary root antonyms).

E.g. logical - illogical, appear - disappear.

Not only words, but set expressions as well, can be grouped into antonymic pairs.

E.g. by accident - on purpose;

to set free - to take into custody;

fall through (fail) - come through (successes).

Contronyms are words which are their own opposites.

E. g. sanction (permission) - sanction (punishment);

to dust a room (to remove fine articles) -

dust sugar onto a cake (to add fine articles);

fast (quickly) - stuck fast (unable to move);

inflammable (easily set on fire) - inflammable (not easily set on fire).

Sources

1. The Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary, 6^th Edition / Ed. by Sally Wehneier. Oxford, 2000.

2. The Concise Oxford Russian Dictionary, Revised Edition / Ed. by Marcus Wheeler, Boris Ubengaun, and Paula Falla. Oxford, 1998.

3. Арнольд И. В. Лексикология современного английского языка. М., 1986.

4. Антрушина Г. Б., Афанасьева О. В., Морозова Н. Н. Лексикология английского языка. М., 1985.

5. Елисеева В. В. Лексикология английского языка. СПбГУ, 2003.

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