Synonyms - Words Belonging To: E.G. Children - Infants, Dad - Father

Synonymy - the kind of semantic relations that implies the coincidence in the
essential meanings of linguistic elements, which usually preserve their

differences in connotations and stylistic characteristics. Synonymy does not
present a perfect type of a linguistic category. Synonyms - words belonging to
one part of speech, close in meaning and interchangeable at least in some
contexts.
Types of synonyms:
Full (total) synonyms characterized by semantic equivalence, are extremely

rare.
Examples:
1-“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.”
- Was she a pretty girl?
- I would certainly have called her attractive.
2-‘his glare suddenly softened into a gaze as he turned his eyes on the little girl.
3-“Neibours were apt to smile at the long-legged bare-headed young man

leisurely strolling along the street and his small companion demurely trotting by
his side”.
4-“Think you can play Romeo? Romeo should smile, not grin, walk, not swagger,
speak his lines, not mumble them.
CLASSIFICATION OF SYNONYMS
Stylistic synonymy implies no interchangeability in context because the underlying

situations are different, e.g. children – infants, dad – father.
Ideographic synonymy presents a still lower degree of semantic proximity and is

observed when the connotation and pragmatic aspects are similar, but there are
certain differences in the denotational aspect of meaning of two words, e.g.
forest – wood, apartment – flat, shape – form.
Synonymy is in some sense the reverse of homonymy: synonyms are words with
different phonology but with the same, or approximately the same, meaning.
However, while this is a well-known concept, taught to schoolchildren from a
young age, it is rare that two lexical items can be truly interchangeable. The
difference between reference and sense is useful to invoke in this case, as more
often, supposed synonyms are often two separate senses with a common
referent. Pairs such as the nouns peace and calm, the verbs enjoy and like, and
the adjectives funny and humorous, can be substituted in some contexts and not
others, and word choice is often contextually conditioned. On closer inspection,
we find most words are polysemous, and that each sense of a word has different
synonyms. The noun play may allow performance as a synonym in a theatrical
context, but move or action as synonyms in the context of a game. The verb play
may be close in meaning to mimic in the context of imitation, while it could be
substituted for feign in the context of false emotion or behavior. Apparent
synonyms stand apart when polysemy is manipulated; for example, while big and
large, little and small are often given as classic synonyms, a big sister is not the
same as a large sister (Saeed, 2016, p. 62). Synonyms are sometimes
differentiated by dialect and sometimes by register: for example, the choice of
freeway, highway, or turnpike may carry regional dialectal associations, and one
would not use inebriated, drunk, and squiffy interchangeably without
consideration of discourse context. As words cannot generally be substituted for
one another without some change in interpretation, it is arguable that pure
synonyms do not exist. A related notion is antonymy, with refers to the link
between words that are considered to be opposites. The semantic assertion of
some words implies the negation of others, such that they can form binary pairs.
If a book is open, this entails that it is not shut. If a creature is alive, it means that
it is not dead. Complementary pairs that often work this way include, day / night,
empty / full, and on / off. Another type of antonymy involves so-called relational
(or converse) pairs, both of which must exist simultaneously for each to carry a
truth value, e.g., husband / wife, above / below, and lend / borrow. Yet a third
type that is commonly identified is gradable (or polar) antonyms, which operate
on a scale, and whose truth value is determined by speakers in relation to the
scale. Examples include hot / cold, young / old, happy / sad, long / short, and
fast / slow. Subclasses of antonyms are also analyzed in terms of reverse
relations. Reverse antonyms include directional terms such as come / go, enter /
exit, and up / down, as well as reversible processes, such as fill / drain, inflate /
deflate, and push / pull. Antonymic relations can be somewhat complex and have
engendered considerable research. The term antonymy is sometimes extended to
describe contrasts beyond the binary, especially if words are part of a contrastive
taxonomy. Contrastive taxonomies involve “horizontal” relations in a set of terms,
in which the elements are neither superordinate nor subordinate to one another.
One classic example is that of colors. If a door is described as red, this implies that
it is not blue, yellow, green, etc. This kind of relation also obtains for items at the
same level of a hierarchy, such that if something is described as a duck, it enters
into a contrastive relationship with goose, swan, etc. Many taxonomies
additionally involve “vertical” relations, such that words are nested in hierarchical
structures within the network of the mental lexicon. This type of inclusional
relation is known as hyponymy. Hyponymy may be easily illustrated with either
living things or artifacts. For example, a Dalmatian is a type of dog, and a dog is a
type of mammal. In this case, the word Dalmation is a hyponym of dog, and dog is
a hyponym of mammal. The word armchair is a hyponym of chair, which is a
hyponym of furniture. Conversely, mammal is a hypernym of dog, and dog is a
hypernym of Dalmatian, while furniture is a hypernym of chair, which is a
hypernym of armchair.

Synonyms - Words Belonging To: E.G. Children - Infants, Dad - Father

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Synonyms - Words Belonging To: E.G. Children - Infants, Dad - Father

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Description:

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Synonyms - Words Belonging To: E.G. Children - Infants, Dad - Father

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Synonymy - the kind of semantic relations that implies the coincidence in the

essential meanings of linguistic elements, which usually preserve their

Full (total) synonyms characterized by semantic equivalence, are extremely

- Was she a pretty girl?

- I would certainly have called her attractive.

3-“Neibours were apt to smile at the long-legged bare-headed young man

Stylistic synonymy implies no interchangeability in context because the underlying

Ideographic synonymy presents a still lower degree of semantic proximity and is

You might also like