Synonymy and Antonymy PDF

HANU - English Department Nguyễn Mạnh Hùng, M.A. - Lexicology - 2014 UNIT 6 SYNONYMY – ANTONYMY WHAT ARE SYNONYMS? Synonyms are words belonging to the same part of speech and possessing one or more identical or nearly identical denotational meanings, interchangeab...

HANU - English Department Nguyễn Mạnh Hùng, M.A. - Lexicology - 2014 UNIT 6 SYNONYMY – ANTONYMY WHAT ARE SYNONYMS? Synonyms are words belonging to the same part of speech and possessing one or more identical or nearly identical denotational meanings, interchangeable in some contexts. Many scholars have different opinions regarding the definition of synonyms. For example, Melenciuc (2000) explains synonyms as words of the language which have almost identical meanings but are different in morphemes. Arnold (1983) offers another definition which describes the notion ―synonymy‖ explained by identity of meaning and interchangeability. If we see the Charles Smith‘s definition (2006), synonyms are words which agree in expressing one or more characteristic ideas in common. The coincidence in the essential meanings of linguistic elements which at the same time usually preserve their differences in connotations and stylistic characteristics is often known as synonymy. Synonyms can be any part of speech (e.g. nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs or prepositions), as long as both members of the pair are the same part of speech. For example, Noun: student – pupil, lady – woman Verb: help – assist, obtain – achieve Adjective: sick – ill, hard – difficult Adverb : quickly – speedily, profoundly – deeply Preposition: on – upon, regarding – concerning Conjunction: so that – in order that, however – nevertheless Note that synonyms are defined with respect to certain senses of words; for instance, pupil as the “aperture in the iris of the eye” is not synonymous with student. Similarly, he expired means the same as he died, yet my passport has expired cannot be replaced by my passport has died. - 82 - HANU - English Department Nguyễn Mạnh Hùng, M.A. - Lexicology - 2014 In daily language you can often hear such sentences as ―I like this piece of music very much‖ or ―I love this piece of music‖ where the verbs ―like and love‖ can convey almost the same meaning, i.e. feelings of attraction, approbation, fondness. But read the following extract, in which a young woman rejects a proposal of marriage: ―I have always liked you very much, I admire your talent, but, forgive me, – I could never love you as a wife should love her husband.‖ (From The Shivering Sands by V. Holt) We can see that each of the three verbs, though they all describe more or less the same feeling of liking, describes it in its own way: ―I like you, i.e. I have certain warm feelings towards you, but they are not strong enough for me to describe it as love‖. Some linguists claim that no synonyms have exactly the same meaning (in all contexts or social levels of language) because etymology, orthography, phonic qualities, ambiguous meanings, usage, etc. make them unique. However, many people feel that the synonyms they use are identical in meaning for all practical purposes. Different words that are similar in meaning usually differ for a reason: feline is more formal than cat; long and extended are only synonyms in one usage and not in others, such as a long arm and an extended arm. This is what many linguists have referred to as the duality or dual characteristics of synonyms. Regarding duality or the dual characteristics, synonyms are said to be both the same and different: they are the same in that they often share the same denotative components and they are different in that their connotative components or connotations are usually very different. This also means that when we attempt to use one word of a group of synonyms for a particular context, great consideration should be taken. Let us examine the following the following set of synonyms: Denotative Connotative components components Attempt (v) Make effort implies making an essentially single effort Try (v) Make effort stresses effort or experiment made in the hope of testing or providing something. - 83 -  HANU - English Department Nguyễn Mạnh Hùng, M.A. - Lexicology - 2014 Endeavour (v) Make effort stresses the implication of exertion and difficulty. Essay (v) Make effort implies difficult but also suggests tentative trying or experimenting. Strive (v) Make effort implies great exertion against great difficulty and specially suggests persistent effort. When we analyze the semantic features of words in the above set we find that there is no identity in all their semantic features. The five words have some common feature (or the denotative component) but one word in the set has only this feature while others have some additional features also. A further illustration will be supplied by a group of synonymous nouns: hope, expectation, and anticipation. They are considered to be synonymous because they all three mean ―having something in mind which is likely to happen”. There is strongly pronounced difference in their shades of meaning. Expectation may be either of good or of evil. Anticipation, as a rule, is a pleasurable expectation of something good. Hope is not only a belief but a desire that some event would happen. The stylistic difference is also quite marked. The Romance words anticipation and expectation are formal literary words used only by educated speakers, whereas the native monosyllabic hope is stylistically neutral. Moreover, they differ in idiomatic usage. Only hope is possible in such set expressions as: to hope against hope, to lose hope, to pin one‘s hopes on something. CLASSIFICATION OF SYNONYMS General speaking, synonyms can be classified into five types: 1. Ideographic synonyms (words conveying the same notion but differing in shades of meaning, i.e. between which a semantic difference is statable) For example, Lonely as compared with alone is emotional as is easily seen from the following sentences: ―I'm just a lonely boy, lonely and blue. I'm all alone with nothin' to do. I've got everything you could think of. But all I want is someone to love.‖ (Lonely Boy - Paul Anka) - 84 - HANU - English Department Nguyễn Mạnh Hùng, M.A. - Lexicology - 2014 Both words denote being apart from others, but lonely besides the general meaning implies longing for company, feeling sad because of the lack of sympathy and companionship. Alone does not necessarily suggest any sadness at being by oneself. If the difference in the meaning of synonyms concerns the notion or the emotion expressed, as was the case in the groups discussed above, the synonyms are classified as ideographic synonyms, and the opposition created in contrasting them may be called an ideographic opposition. The opposition is formulated with the help of a clear definitive statement of the semantic component present in all the members of the group. Also, in analyzing the group consisting of the words glance n., look n. and glimpse n. we state that all three denote a conscious and direct endeavor to see, the distinctive feature is based on the time and quickness of the action. A glance is ―a look which is quick and sudden‖ and a glimpse is quicker still, implying only momentary sight. 2. Stylistic synonyms (words which, without explicitly displaying semantic difference, are distinguished stylistically) e.g. begin – commence build – construct Stylistic synonyms can also appear by means of abbreviation. In most cases the abbreviated form belongs to the colloquial style, and the full form to the neutral style. e.g., examination – exam, laboratory – lab Among stylistic synonyms we can point to a special group of words which are called euphemisms. e.g., the late – dead, perspire – sweat In a stylistic opposition of synonyms, the basis of comparison is again the denotational meaning and the distinctive feature is the presence or absence of a stylistic coloring which may also be accompanied a difference in emotional coloring. 3. Absolute synonyms (words that coincide in all their shades of meaning and in all their stylistic characteristics) If two words have identity in all their semantic features they are called absolute synonyms. The occurrence of absolute synonyms not only depends on the lexical meaning but also on the distributional characteristics of the words. How to find out the absolute synonyms? One common test - 85 -  HANU - English Department Nguyễn Mạnh Hùng, M.A. - Lexicology - 2014 applied to know whether two lexical items are absolute synonyms or not is the test of interchangeability and substitution. Two lexical units can be absolute synonyms if and only if they are interchangeable for one another in all contexts without the slightest change in their meaning. But this is rarely found, if we do not say, it is almost impossible to get complete synonyms in a language. To quote Ullmann ―absolute synonymy is an extremely rare occurrence, a luxury that a language can ill afford‖. (After Lyons 1968, 437). However, absolute synonyms are found only in a few monosemantic words which have technical meanings. But here again the terms are not used by the same writer or school. They are used by different schools. e.g. Spirant – fricative Flexion – inflexion There are some very rare cases where we may find cases of absolute synonyms. e.g. Very Important Person: VIP, Vice Chancellor : VC. 4. Contextual synonyms Contextual synonyms (words that are similar in meaning only under some specific distributional conditions. For example, the verbs bear, suffer and stand are semantically different and not interchangeable except when used in the negative form; can‟t stand is equal to can‟t bear in the following words of an officer: ―I‟ve swallowed too much of the beastly stuff: I can‟t stand it any longer. I‟m going to the dressing-station.” (Aldington, 1958). 5. Dominant synonyms A dominant synonym is a ―central‖ word of a group of synonyms expressing the notion common to all synonyms of the group in the most general way, without contributing any additional information as to the manner, intensity, duration or any attending feature of the referent. It can easily be shown, on the evidence of examples, that each synonymic group comprises a dominant element. This synonymic dominant is the most general term of its kind potentially containing the specific features rendered by all the other members of the group, as, for instance, in the series leave, depart, quit, retire, clear out, the verb 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 must prevail over the general notion. When we want to - 86 - HANU - English Department Nguyễn Mạnh Hùng, M.A. - Lexicology - 2014 stress the idea of giving up employment and stopping work, quit is preferable because in this word this particular notion dominates over the more general idea common to the whole group. Other dominants are, for instance, get, a verb that can stand for the verbs obtain, acquire, gain, win, earn; also ask, the most general term of its group, viz. inquire, question or interrogate. The noun piece is the synonymic dominant in the group slice, lump, morsel. The verb look at is the synonymic dominant in the group to stare, to glance, to peep. The adjective red is the synonymic dominant in the group purple, scarlet, crimson. The synonymic dominant should not be confused with a generic term. A generic term is relative. It serves as the name for the notion of the genus as distinguished from the names of the species. For instance, animal is a generic term as compared to the specific names wolf, dog or mouse (which are not synonymous). Dog, in its turn, may serve as a generic term for different breeds such as bull-dog, collie, poodle, etc. A more modern and a more effective approach to the classification of synonyms may be based on the definition describing synonyms as words differing in connotations. It seems convenient to classify connotations by which synonyms differ rather than synonyms themselves. TYPES OF CONNOTATIONS 1. Connotation of degree of intensity Connotation of degree of intensity indicates how strongly or how intensely an action, for example, takes place or is performed. e.g., (prices) go up, hike, escalate, soar, rocket (prices) go down, fall, drop, plunge, plummet to surprise – to astonish – to amaze – to astound to shout – to yell – to bellow – to roar pain – agony – twinge 2. Connotation of duration Connotation of degree of duration indicates how long an action, for example, takes place or is performed. e.g. to hire – to rent – to lease - 87 -  HANU - English Department Nguyễn Mạnh Hùng, M.A. - Lexicology - 2014 to talk – to speak to stay – to live 3. Emotive connotation e.g. to stare (surprise, curiosity, etc) to glare (anger, rage, fury…) to gaze (tenderness, admiration, wonder) to chuckle – to sneer – to grin alone – single – lonely – solitary politician – statesman These synonyms are differentiated from the other words of the group in emotive connotations and from each other by the nature of the emotion they imply. 4. Evaluative connotation e.g. to interfere, to intervene well-known – famous – notorious – celebrated team, band, gang The evaluative connotation conveys the speaker‘s attitude towards the referent, labelling it as good or bad. So in the group well-known – famous – notorious – celebrated, the adjective notorious bears a negative evaluative connotation and celebrated a positive one. Cf: a notorious murderer, robber, swindler, coward, lady-killer but a celebrated scholar, artist, singer, man-of-letters. 5. Causative connotation e.g. to injure – to wound to shiver – to shudder to sparkle – to glitter The causative connotation is also typical of the verbs we have already mentioned, to injure and to wound, in whose semantic structures the cause of the act or process of causing physical damage is encoded: ―to injure” implies physical damage in an accident. - 88 - HANU - English Department Nguyễn Mạnh Hùng, M.A. - Lexicology - 2014 to wound implies physical damage caused by weapons in a fight, a war. 6. Connotation of manner The connotation of manner indicates how an action, for example, is performed. e.g. to stare, to glare, to gaze, to peep, to peer (steadily, lastingly) to glance (briefly) to ask – to question – to interrogate ask has a very general meaning of seeking information question would mean constantly asking, searching questions. interrogate would suggest systematic and thorough questioning by a person authorized to do so (often in a threatening manner). to stroll – to stride – to trot – to pace – to swagger – to stagger – to stumble The verbs to stroll – to stride – to trot – to pace – to swagger – to stagger – to stumble all denote different ways and types of walking, encoding in their semantic structures the length of pace, tempo, gait and carriage, purposefulness or lack of purpose. - to stroll (to walk with leisurely steps) - to stride(to walk with long and quick steps) - to trot (to walk with short and quick steps) - to pace (to walk with even steps) - to swagger (to walk with bold steps) - to stagger (to walk with unsteady, unbalanced steps) - to stumble (to walk with unsteady, unbalanced steps as if one is about to fall down) 7. Connotation of attendant circumstances Connotation of attendant circumstances indicates the related context or environment where an action, for example, is performed e.g. find, fumble, struggle (one‘s way) to peep and to peer to pump – to pour – to funnel – inject (capital) - 89 -  HANU - English Department Nguyễn Mạnh Hùng, M.A. - Lexicology - 2014 The verbs to peep an to peer have already been mentioned. They are differentiated by connotations of duration and manner. But there is some other curious peculiarity in their semantic structures. Let us consider their typical contexts. One peeps at smb/smth through a hole, crack or opening, from behind a screen, a half-closed door, a newspaper, a fan, a curtain, etc. It seems as if a whole set of scenery were built within the word‘s meaning. Of course, it is not quite so, because ―the set of scenery‖ is actually built in the context, but, as with all regular contexts, it is intimately reflected in the word‘s semantic structure. We shall call this the connotation of attendant circumstances. This connotation is also characteristic of to peer which will be clear from the following typical contexts of the verb. One peers at smb/smth in darkness, through the fog, through dimmed glasses or windows, from a great distance; a short-sighted person may also peer at things. So, in the semantic structure of to peer are encoded circumstances preventing one from seeing clearly. 8. Connotation of attendant features e.g. flat , villa, cottage, bungalow pretty, handsome, beautiful The synonyms pretty, handsome, beautiful have been mentioned as the ones which are more or less interchangeable. Yet, each of them describes a special type of human beauty: beautiful is mostly associated with classical features and a perfect figure, handsome with a tall stature, a certain robustness and fine proportions, pretty with small delicate features and a fresh complexion. 9. Stylistic connotations The presence or absence of a stylistic coloring which may also be accompanied by a difference in emotional coloring can be found among certain groups of words. e.g. to refuse, to turn down to begin, to commence - 90 - HANU - English Department Nguyễn Mạnh Hùng, M.A. - Lexicology - 2014 Stylistic connotations are subject to further classification; namely: colloquial, slang, dialect, learned, poetic, terminological, archaic. For example, meal - snack, bite (coll.), snap (dial.), - repast, refreshment, feast (formal). man - chap, fellow (coll.), - bloke, guy (sl.) - gentleman (form.) urinate - empty one‘s bladder, void (form.), - check the plumbing, check the sand box, - water the lilies (or bushes), drain a vein (sl.), - leak, pee, piss, shake hands with a friend (vul.) - do, go or make number one, pee pee, wee wee (child.) SOURCES OF SYNONYMS Borrowings, shift of meaning, dialectical words, word-formation, euphemisms are the main supply of synonyms: 1. Borrowings One word is borrowed the other is native, for example, ask (native) – question (French) – interrogate (Latin) fear (native) – terror (French) – trepidation (Latin) bodily (native) – corporeal (Latin) help (native) – aid (Latin) and many others: belly, to gather, empty, to end, to raise, teaching (native) are synonyms of abdomen, to collect, vacuous, to complete, to ascend, instruction (Latin)… respectively. It is the English borrowed words that contribute to the prosperity of English synonyms today. In the study of words, we find that English has the - 91 -  HANU - English Department Nguyễn Mạnh Hùng, M.A. - Lexicology - 2014 largest vocabulary and the most synonyms of any language in the world. Latin, French and Greek were the main source of English synonyms. The bulk of the borrowed words come from Latin, almost throughout the entire English history. French loans influx into the Middle English Period. Borrowed words derive from Greek are pervasive in every branch of art and science for Greek people once dominate the world in art, science and philosophy. 2. Dialectical words One word may be local or dialectal: lift (British) – elevator (American) flat (British) – apartment (American) car (British) – automobile (American) 3. Euphemisms One word may be more euphemistic than the other: prison – reeducation center die – pass away mad – insane 4. Shift of meaning One word, owing to the change of meaning, becomes a synonym of the other. For example, with the meaning of ―person who work on a farm or a factory‖, hand becomes a synonyms of worker; or with the meaning of ―fine baked white clay‖, china becomes a synonyms of porcelain. 5. Word-formation Laugh – laughter (conversion) lab – laboratory (shortening) businessman – entrepreneur (composition) We can also mention the formation of phrasal verbs, e.g. to give up – to abandon, to cut down – to diminish. IMPLICATION The distinctions between words similar in meaning are often very fine and elusive, so that some special instruction on the use of synonyms is necessary even for native speakers. This accounts for the great number of - 92 - HANU - English Department Nguyễn Mạnh Hùng, M.A. - Lexicology - 2014 books of synonyms that serve as guides for those who aim at good style and precision and wish to choose the most appropriate terms from the varied stock of the English vocabulary. The study of synonyms is especially indispensable for those who learn English as a foreign language because what is the right word in one situation will be wrong in many other, apparently similar, contexts. It is often convenient to explain the meaning of a new word with the help of its previously learned synonym. This forms additional associations in the learner‘s mind, and the new word is better remembered. Moreover, it eliminates the necessity of bringing in a native word. And yet the discrimination of synonyms and words which may be confused is more important: synonyms are usually not identical in meaning or use. The area where substitution is possible is very limited and outside it all replacement either destroys the beauty and precision, or, more often, makes the utterance vague, ungrammatical and even unintelligible. This makes the knowledge of where each synonym differs from another of paramount importance for correctness of speech. ANTONYMY WHAT ARE ANTONYMS? 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, useful – useless Unlike synonyms, antonyms do not differ in style, emotional coloring or distribution. The same word may have different antonyms when used with different words: single ticket – return ticket, she is single – she is married. The adjective cold may be said to have warm for its second antonym, and sorrow may be very well contrasted with gaiety. On the other hand, a polysemantic word may have an antonym (or several antonyms) for each of its meanings. So, the adjective dull has the antonyms: - interesting, amusing, entertaining for its meaning of deficient in interest, - 93 -  HANU - English Department Nguyễn Mạnh Hùng, M.A. - Lexicology - 2014 - clever, bright, capable for its meaning of deficient in intellect, - active for the meaning of deficient in activity, etc. DISTRIBUTION OF ANTONYMY Antonymy is not evenly distributed among the categories of parts of speech. Most antonyms are adjectives which is only natural because qualitative characteristics are easily compared and contrasted: high–low, wide–narrow, strong–weak, old–young. Verbs take second place, so far as antonymy is concerned. Yet, verbal pairs of antonyms are fewer in number. Here are some examples of them: to live-to die, to open-to close, to weep-to laugh. Nouns are not rich in antonyms, but even so some examples can be given: friend – enemy, joy – grief, good – evil, heaven – earth. Antonymic adverbs can be subdivided into two groups: 1. adverbs derived from adjectives: merrily – sadly, loudly – softly; 2. adverbs proper: here – there, ever – never, in – out; Prepositions also find their presence in antonymy: Up – down, into – out of, under – over, from – to CLASSIFICATION OF ANTONYMS Antonyms can be classified into two main types: 1. Rootword (absolute) antonyms Rootword antonyms are those words which are completely different in sound and form. For example, in – out here – there thin – fat big – small give – take remember – forget joy – grief war – peace - 94 -  HANU - English Department Nguyễn Mạnh Hùng, M.A. - Lexicology - 2014 Rootword (absolute) antonyms can be subdivided into 3 subtypes: a. Antonyms proper: According to the relationship between their meanings proper (absolute) antonyms may be characterized 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: Complementarity 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 (e.g. subject and object, family and social relations, space and time relations, etc.). e.g. borrow – lend, husband – wife, before – after. 2. Derivational antonyms Derivational antonyms are words which are formed by derivation (they originate from the same root). For example, decisive – indecisive proper – improper code – decode connect – disconnect known – unknown correct – incorrect The affixes in derivational antonyms deny the quality stated in the stem. 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‖. - 95 -  HANU - English Department Nguyễn Mạnh Hùng, M.A. - Lexicology - 2014 Derivational antonyms may be characterized 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, more often than not – once in a while - 96 - HANU - English Department Nguyễn Mạnh Hùng, M.A. - Lexicology - 2014 Questions for discussion and activities 1. What are synonyms? 2. In what word class can we find the presence of synonymy? 3. How many types can synonyms be classified into? 4. What is a dominant synonym? 5. What are the main sources of synonyms? 6. What main types of connotation can be found in English synonyms? 7. Why can duality or the dual characteristic be said to be a typical feature of synonyms? 8. How important is the choice of a right word from a wrong one in a group of synonyms? 9. Write a sentence and replace the main verb with its synonyms and then compare the differences that may arise. 10. What are antonyms? 11. How many types can antonyms be classified into? 12. What are the subtypes of rootword antonyms? - 97 -