Semantic classification of words. Synonymy and antonymy

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LECTURE 5

semantic classification of words. synonymy and antonymy

1. Types of semantic relations of words

There are four basic types of semantic relations between words: proximity, equivalence, inclusion and opposition. Words very seldom are the same semantically, i.e. they are not identical in meaning and show a certain semantic difference as well as similarity. Similarity is seldom complete and is nearly always partial which makes it possible to speak about the semantic proximity of words and about the relation of semantic proximity. Let's compare the words used for describing a female appearance from the point of view of similarity and dissimilarity of their content side:

The presented above adjectives are characterized by certain features of semantic dissimilarity which shows that they are not absolutely identical in meaning. Semantic proximity implies that two (or more) words however different may enter the semantic relations of proximity if they share certain semantic features, e.g. red and green share the semantic features of color, basic or rainbow color, complementary color.

A higher degree of semantic proximity helps to single out synonyms while a lower degree of proximity provides for a description of broader and less homogeneous semantic groups.

Semantic equivalence implies full similarity of two or more language units. Semantic equivalence is very seldom observed in words and is claimed to be much oftener encountered in case of sentences: e.g. John is taller than Bill may be considered to be equivalent to the phrase Bill is shorter that John; She lives in Paris - She lives in the capital of France.

Semantic equivalence in words is highly unstable, it tends to turn into the semantic proximity.

Another type of semantic relations is the relationship of inclusion which exists between two words if the meaning of one word contains the semantic feature constituting the meaning of the other word. The semantic relations of inclusion are called hyponymic relations. For example, vehicle includes car, bus, taxi, tram and flower includes daffodil (íàðöèññ), carnation (ãâîçäèêà), snowdrop (ïîäñíåæíèê), lily. The hyponymic relation may be viewed as the hierarchical relationship between the meanings of the general and the individual terms.

The general term vehicle, flower is referred to as the classifier or the hyperonym. The more specific term is called the hyponym (car, tram; daffodil, carnation).

The contrast of semantic features helps establish the semantic relations of opposition. The meaning of the word black is contrasted to that of white. The relations of opposition imply the exclusion of the meaning of one word by another which implies that the referential areas of the two (or more) words are opposed. Thus, black is opposed to white, but not to red or yellow. In the latter case we can speak about contrast of meaning, but not the semantic relations of opposition.

2. Semantic classification of words

There are two basic principles of grouping words together according to the properties of their content side. They are:

1) To classify words proceeding from the basic types of semantic relations.

2) To group words together starting off with associations connecting the given words with other vocabulary units.

According to these principles of classifying linguistic units the following semantic classes (or categories) can be singled out: synonyms, lexical and terminological sets, lexico-semantic groups, semantic fields, antonyms.

2.1 Synonymy. Classification of synonyms

Synonymy is often understood as semantic equivalence. But semantic equivalence can exist between words and word-groups, word-groups and sentences, sentences and sentences, for example to win a victory and to gain a victory; John is taller than Bill is semantically equivalent to Bill is shorter than John. Synonymy is confined (restricted) to the semantic relations between words only.

Synonyms are often defined as words different in form but identical in meaning. In reality, however, this is not so. By the very nature of language, each and every word has its own history, its typical contexts and motivation. Hence synonymous words could only be similar, but never really identical in meaning. There is always a difference, if very small, between either denotational or connotational meaning or both.

Synonyms could be defined as words of the same language, belonging to the same part of speech, and possessing one or more identical, or nearly identical, denotational meanings. Synonyms are interchangeable - at least in some contexts - without any considerable change in meaning. However, they differ in morphemic composition, phonemic shape, shades of meaning, connotation, style, valency and idiomatic use - or at least one of three parameters.

That synonyms are interchangeable leads one to believe that the difference between their denotational meanings may, at least under certain conditions, be neutralized. However this often applies to certain contexts but not to others: so “undergo changes” and “suffer changes” seem to be identical in meaning, but in “suffer atrocities” (çâåðñòâà) there is no replacing suffer, as unlike undergo and experience, it implies pain.

Synonyms are characterized by either the semantic relations of equivalence or by the semantic relations of proximity. As the degree of semantic proximity may be different, different types of synonyms can be singled out. Full (total) synonyms, i.e. words characterized by semantic equivalence are very rare.

The degree of semantic proximity is best of all estimated in terms of the aspects of meaning: denotational, connotational and pragmatic aspect.

The difference in connotation may be illustrated by the words famous meaning `known widely, having fame' and the word notorious which is defined as `widely known because of smth bad, for example for being criminal, violent, immoral'. Thus, the word famous implies a positive emotive evaluation, and the word notorious - negative.

The difference in the pragmatic value of words can be observed in synonymic pairs consisting of a native and a borrowed word. In most cases the native word is more informal, whereas the foreign word has a learned or abstract air:

Native French Latin

to ask to question to interrogate

to gather to assemble to collect

to end to finish to complete

teaching guidance instruction

In most cases native words refer to colloquial style and borrowed - to bookish style.

Depending on the three aspects of their meaning synonyms can be classified into stylistic, ideographic and ideographic-stylistic synonyms.

Stylistic synonymy implies no interchangeability in context because the underlying situations are different (children - infants, dad - father). Stylistic synonyms are similar in the denotational aspect of meaning, but different in the pragmatic (and connotational) aspect. Substituting one stylistic synonym for another results in an inadequate presentation of the situation of communication.

Ideographic synonymy presents a lower degree of semantic proximity and is observed when the connotational and the pragmatic aspects are similar, but there are certain differences in the denotational aspect of meaning of two words: forest - wood, apartment - flat, shape - form. Thou ideographic synonyms correspond to one and the same referential area, i.e. denote the same thing or a set of closely related things, they are different in the denotational aspect of their meanings and their interchange would result in a slight change of the phrase they are used in.

Ideographic-stylistic synonymy is characterized by the lowest degree of semantic proximity. This type of synonyms includes synonyms which differ both in the denotational and connotational and/or pragmatic aspects of meaning, e.g. ask - inquire, expect - anticipate. If the synonyms in question have the same patterns of grammatical and lexical valency, they can still hardly be considered interchangeable in context.

Thus, “stare”, “glare”, “gaze” all imply “looking” and a manner of this action that may be described as “steady” or “lasting”. However, in addition, “stare” implies “surprise”, “glare” - “anger or fury”, “gaze” - “admiration or wonder”.

A polysemantic word may belong, in its various meanings, to several different synonymic groups, as “fresh” is related, in its different meanings, to “original”, “new”, “pure”, “inexperienced” and “rude”. Two polysemantic words may have more than one meaning in common, but never coincide completely.

Each synonymic group includes, among others, a dominant element, or a synonymic dominant. This seems to contain all, or most, specific semantic features possessed also by the specific members of the synonymic group, and so is the most general term that could, if necessary, replace any other member of the synonymic group in most contexts, An example is “hope” as opposed to “anticipate”, “expect”, “look forward to”: hope is the most neutral word, while “look forward” is definitely colloquial and “anticipate” is bookish. E.g. leave - depart - quit - retire - clear out: the verb to leave being general and both stylistically and emotionally neutral, can stand for each of the other four terms. The other four can replace leave only when some specific semantic component prevails over the general notion.

2.2. Lexical and terminological sets, lexico-semantic groups and semantic fields

Words denoting different notions correlated on extralinguistic grounds form lexical sets (ïðåäìåòíûå èëè òåìàòè÷åñêèå ãðóïïû). For example, the words lion, tiger, leopard, cat refer to the lexical set of `the animals of the cat family'. Depending on the type of the notional area lexical sets may acquire a more specialized character, e.g. names of musical instruments: piano, organ, violin, drum; names of parts of the `car mechanism': radiator, motor, handbrake, wheels. Such classes of words are called terminological sets.

Words describing different sides of one and the same general notion are united in a lexico-semantic group if

a) the underlying notion is not too generalized and all-embracing, like the notions of `time', `space', `life', `process', etc.

b) the reference to the underlying notion is not just an implication in the meaning of the lexical unit but forms an essential part in its semantics.

Thus, we can single out the lexico-semantic group of names of colors (pink, red, blue), of verbs denoting `physical movement' (to go, to run, to turn), or destruction (to ruin, to destroy, to explode, to kill)

If the underlying notion is broad enough to include almost all-embracing sections of vocabulary we deal with semantic fields. For example, the words cosmonaut (n), spacious (adj), to orbit (v) belong to the semantic field of space. These broadest semantic groups are sometimes referred to as conceptual fields which might be in many cases misleading. The members of the semantic fields are joined together by some common semantic component, i.e. the component common to all the members of the semantic field, which is sometimes described as the common denominator of meaning.

2.3. Antonymy. Classification of antonyms

Traditionally antonyms are defined as pairs of words that have opposite or contrasting meanings, such as “hot-cold”, “wide-narrow”, “happiness-sorrow”, “love - hate”. This definition, however, is not sufficiently accurate. A more precise definition, taking into account all the various aspects of the phenomenon, runs as follows: “Antonyms are two or more words of the same language, belonging to the same part of speech and to the same semantic field, identical in style and nearly identical in distribution, associates and often used together so that their denotative meaning render contradictory or contrary notions. There are three groups of antonyms:

1) Contradictories which represent the type of semantic relations that exist between pairs like “dead” and “alive”, “single” and “married”. To use one of them is to contradict the other and to use not before one of them is to make it semantically equivalent to the other, e.g. “not dead” means “alive”.

2) Contraries differ from contradictories because the contradictories admit no possibilities between them whereas contraries admit such possibilities, e.g. “cold”-“hot” and “cool”-“warm” which seem to be intermediate members. Thus we may regard as antonyms not only “cold” and “hot” but also “cold” and “warm”.

3) Incompatibles are described by the relations of exclusion but not of contradiction, for example to say “morning” is to say “not afternoon”, “not evening”, “not night”. The negation of one member of the set does not imply semantic equivalence with the other but excludes the possibility of the other words of the set. The relation of incompatibility may be observed between color terms since the choice of “red” excludes “black”, “blue” and so on.

Another classification of antonyms is based on a morphological approach, dividing them into absolute antonyms which are completely different in their sound form (right-wrong, kind-cruel), and derivational antonyms with phonemically identical root-morphemes, distinguished by presence or absence of a negative affix (happy-unhappy, kind-unkind).

Antonyms are widely used as an expressive means in literature and colloquial speech. Their juxtaposition (íåïîñðåäñòâåííîå ñîñåäñòâî) in contrastive pairs serves to express or emphasize emotional tension: “Wanted dead or alive” (from a Wild West police notice), “…Be he alive or be the dead”.

Words that are regularly brought together for the sake of contrast as homogeneous sentence members, either linked by various connectors or identically used in parallel contractions, could be defined as absolute antonyms: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the time of hope, it was the time of despair…” (Ch.Dickens, “Tale of two cities”).

Unlike synonyms, antonyms do not differ either in style, emotional coloring or distribution. Antonymic pairs are interchangeable at least in some contexts. This is especially obvious if a pair of antonyms is used side by side: “I know as much, or as little, as you”. In other cases the whole sentence receives an opposite meaning if a word is replaced by an antonym: “This is very wise- This is very foolish.”

Antonymy is not evenly distributed among the categories of parts of speech. Most antonyms are adjectives, which is only natural since their qualitative characteristics could be easily contrasted: “high-low”, “wide-narrow”, “strong-weak”, “friendly-hostile”. Verbs occupy the second place as far as antonymy is concerned: “lose-find”, “open-close”, “weep-laugh”, followed by nouns: “joy-grief”, “love-hatred”. Antonymic adverbs are either derived from adjectives: “warmly-coldly”, “loudly-softly” or imply time or space relations: “now-then”, “here-there”, “ever-never”, “up-down”, “in-out”.

Derivative antonyms are mostly restricted to definite patterns: “appear- disappear”, “logical-illogical”, “prewar-postwar”, “useful-useless”, where negative prefixes prevail: “dis-“, “in-“, “non-”, and “un-“, and suffixes are rare: “-ful” and “-less” are about the only contrastive pair of suffixes so used.

Points for discussion

What are the main types of semantic relations?

Explain the terms hyperonym and hyponym.

What are synonyms?

Criteria of synonymy.

The classification of synonyms suggested by Academician V.V. Vinogradov.

The classification of synonyms suggested by Professor G.B. Antrushina according to the types of connotations.

Patterns in synonymic sets. The dominant synonym.

Euphemisms.

What are a) lexical sets b) terminological sets?

What is a) a lexico-semantic group b) a semantic field?

What are antonyms?

Give the classification of antonyms.

Tasks and exercises

synonym semantic lexical antonym

Exercise 1. Organize the given words according to their hyponymic relations. Enumerate the general terms (hyperonyms)

1) Train, light lorry, bicycle, vehicle, cabriolet, car, heavy lorry, estate car, motorcycle, buss, lorry, three-door hatchback, three-way dump truck.

2) Turtle, mammal, squirrel, animal, reptile, seal, tiger, lizard, leopard, fox, wolf, iguana, bear, snake, feline, panther.

Exercise 2. Give meanings of the following synonyms. State the difference in the connotational aspect of their meaning.

Model: love - worship Emotive charge and

Love - an intense feeling of deep affection } expressiveness (intensity)

Worship - the feeling of profound reverence are different

and strong adoration

confidence - assurance, to satisfy - to delight, to create - to manufacture, to blush - to redden

Exercise 3. Define the suggested synonyms and find the elements of opposition in them:

To shake - to tremble - to shiver - to shudder, smell - scent - odor - aroma, to walk - to stroll - to saunter - to wander, to want - to wish - to desire, weak - feeble - frail - fragile, to jump - to leap - to spring - to skip - to hop, pain - ache -pang - twinge, to discuss - to argue - to debate - to dispute, dim - dusky - obscure.

Exercise 4. Find the dominant synonym in the suggested synonymic sets:

To tremble - to shake - to shiver, smell - scent -- aroma - odor, to stroll - to walk - to wander, to wish - to desire - to want, large - big - great, to jump - to leap - to hop, to argue - to discuss - to debate - to dispute, furious - enraged -angry, lonely - alone - solitary, to weep - to sob - to cry, to glare - to stare - to look - to gaze - to peep, to like - to love - to admire, to brood - to reflect - to mediate - to think, strange - quaint - add - queer, terror - fear - horror, to flash - to gleam - to sparkle - to blaze - to shine, display - demonstrate - exhibit - show - indicate - manifest - reveal, demand - question - ask - inquire - interrogate.

Exercise 5. Match the euphemisms on the left, which have been used in government and business, with the plain English versions on the right.

1. Sufferer from fictitious disorder syndrome A. Stolen goods

2. Sub-optimal B. Junkyard

3. Temporarily displaced inventory Ñ Plastic

4. Negative gain in test scores D. Bag of ice cubes

5. Synthetic glass E. Bribe

6. Normal gratitude F. Death

7. Vegetarian leather G. Liar

8. Thermal therapy kit H. Vinyl

9. Substantive negative outcome I. Failed

10. Reutilization marketing yard J. Lower test scores

Exercise 6. Find synonyms corresponding to the following words:

Cordial, to moan, homeland, city, stool, to begin, the dead, to perspire

Exercise 7. Arrange the following units into two lexical and two terminological sets. Give them corresponding names.

Detached house, wire-haired fox terrier, climbing robe, bull terrier, disk, horse (vaulting horse), hardware, multi-storey block of flats, monitor, terraced house, Scottish terrier, mainframe, trampoline, interface, Bedlington terrier, floor, high-rise block of flats, landing mat, Pekinese, asymmetric bars, software, weekend house, springboard, server, cottage, beam, semi-detached house.

Exercise 8. Arrange the following units into three semantic fields - feelings, parts of the body, education.

Academy, affection, arm, back, belly, body, bood, brow, calf, calmness, cheek, chest, classes, classmate, coaching, college, contempt, contentment, correspondence, course, curriculum, day-student, delight, don, drill, ear, education, elbow, encyclopedia, enthusiasm, envy, erudition, excitement, exercise, exhilaration, eye, face, faculty, finger, foot, forehead, frustration, grammar, hair, hand, happiness, head, headmaster, heel, homework, ignorance, impatience, indifference, indignation, instruction, jealousy, joint, kindness, knee, knowledge, knuckle, learning, lecturer, leg, limb, love, malice, master, neck, nose, passion, pedagogy, primer, rapture, relief, restlessness, satisfaction, scholar, science, temple, tenderness, textbook, tight, thrill, thumb, toe, torso, tutor, undergraduate, university, unrest, waist, wrath.

Exercise 9. Find antonyms to the given words.

to like - meaningless -

sympathy - after -

progress - dim -

failure - to fasten -

successful - something -

right - husband -

flexible - exclude -

just - conceal -

different - somewhere -

Exercise 10. Classify antonymic pairs into contradictories, contraries and incompatibles. To prove the division give intermediate members of the antonymous set where it is necessary, or give other members of the group which are excluded in the given antonymous pair.

Model: arid - awash

These antonyms refer to the group of contraries as they are polar members of a gradual opposition which has the following intermediate members: dry - wet.

Poetry - prose, inch - foot, man - woman, old - young, beautiful - ugly, Monday - Sunday, teacher - pupil, to adore - to loathe, one - thousand, tremendous - tiny, iron - copper, to accept - to reject, round - square, creditor - debtor, immaculate - filthy, boy - man, day - night, clever - stupid, red - brown, inside - outside, open - shut, November - March, evil - good.

Exercise 11. Give derivational antonyms to the words:

Just, justice, use (adj), use (n), fortunate, fortune, grateful, gratitude, like (v), like (adj), movable, related, relative, complete (v), arrange (v), possible (adj).

Recommended literature

1. Àíòðóøèíà Ã.Á. Ëåêñèêîëîãèÿ àíãëèéñêîãî ÿçûêà: ó÷åá. ïîñîáèå äëÿ ñòóäåíòîâ / Ã.Á. Àíòðóøèíà, Î.Â. Àôàíàñüåâà, Í.Í. Ìîðîçîâà. - Ì.: Äðîôà, 2005. - 286, [2] ñ.

2. Àðíîëüä È. Â. Ëåêñèêîëîãèÿ ñîâðåìåííîãî àíãëèéñêîãî ÿçûêà: Ó÷åá. äëÿ èí-òîâ è ôàê. èíîñòð. ÿç. -- 3-å èçä., ïåðåðàá. è äîï. -- Ì.: Âûñøàÿ øêîëà, 1986. -- 295 ñ.

3. Çûêîâà È.Â. Ïðàêòè÷åñêèé êóðñ àíãëèéñêîé ëåêñèêîëîãèè = A Practical Course in English Lexicology: ó÷åá. ïîñîáèå äëÿ ñòóä. ëèíãâ. âóçîâ è ôàê. èí. ÿçûêîâ / È.Â. Çûêîâà. - 2-å èçä., èñïð. - Ì.: Èçäàòåëüñêèé öåíòð «Àêàäåìèÿ», 2007. - 288 ñ.

4. Ëåêñèêîëîãèÿ àíãëèéñêîãî ÿçûêà: ó÷åáíèê äëÿ èí-òîâ è ôàê. èíîñòð. ÿç./Ð. 3. Ãèíçáóðã, Ñ. Ñ. Õèäåêåëü, Ã. Þ. Êíÿçåâà è À. À. Ñàíêèí. -- 2-å èçä., èñïð. è äîï. -- Ì.: Âûñø. øêîëà, 1979. -- 269 ñ.

5. Ñìèðíèöêèé ÀÈ. Ëåêñèêîëîãèÿ àíãëèéñêîãî ÿçûêà. - Ì., 1956, ñ. 12 -17.

6. Ñìèðíèöêèé ÀÈ. Ê âîïðîñó î ñëîâå (ïðîáëåìà îòäåëüíîñòè ñëîâà). Â êí.: Âîïðîñû òåîðèè è èñòîðèè ÿçûêà. - Ì., 1952.

7. Ñîëîâüåâà Ì.Â. Ëåêñèêîëîãèÿ ñîâðåìåííîãî àíãëèéñêîãî ÿçûêà. Ì., 1997.

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