Enantiosemy.

We should not mix homonymy & enantiosemy.

It includes cases of the specific use of the word when the meaning of it depends on the intonation with which it is pronounced.

Ex.: You are a beauty! Хорош гусь!

A pretty business indeed! Хорошенькое дельце!

Awfully good

An awfully jolly place

Awfully nice Synonymy.

A synonym – a word of similar or identical meaning to one or more words in the same language. All languages contain synonyms but in English they exist in superabundance.

There no two absolutely identical words because connotations, ways of usage, frequency of an occurence are different.

Senses of synonyms are identical in respect of central semantic trades but differ in respect of minor semantic trades.

Classification:

1. Total synonyms

an extremely rare occurence

Ulman: “a luxury that language can hardly afford.”

M. Breal spoke about a law of distribution in the language (words should be synonyms, were synonyms in the past usually acquire different meanings and are no longer interchangeable).

Ex.: бегемот – гиппопотам

2. Ideographic synonyms.

They bear the same idea but not identical in their referential content.

Ex.: to ascent – to mount – to climb

To happen – to occur – to befall – to chance Look – appearance – complexion – countenance

3. Dialectical synonyms.

Ex.: lift – elevator

Queue – line

Autumn – fall

4. Contextual synonyms.

Context can emphasize some certain semantic trades & suppress other semantic trades; words with different meaning can become synonyms in a certain context.

Ex.: tasteless – dull

Active – curious

Curious – responsive

Synonyms can reflect social conventions.

Ex.:

clever	bright	brainy	intelligent	Dever-clever
neutral	Only speaking about younger people by older people	Is not used by the higher educated people	Positive connotation	Stylistically remarked

5. Stylistic synonyms.

Belong to different styles.

child	Infant		Kid
neutral	elevated		colloquial
To die		To kick the bucket

Synonymic condensation is typical of the English language.

It refers to situations when writers or speakers bring together several words with one & the same meaning to add more conviction, to description more vivid.

Ex.: save & sound

Lord & master

First & foremost

Safe & secure

Stress & strain

By force & violence

It is deeply rooted in the history of English language

It was customary to use French borrowings together with their native synonyms.

They are very often characterized by alliteration, rhymes, idioms, etc.

Antonymy.

Antonyms – words of opposite meaning.

In an antonym pair only one member is marked (the use of marked member is more restricted)

Ex.: big – small

We may ask: “how big is it?”

Not: “how small is it?”

May: “this bed is too big for my room”

Not: “this bed is sufficiently small for my room”

Small is marked.

Nikitin: “Antonymy is based on the opposition of features (признаки).

It is a kind of a way of word structuring. Three conditions for two features to be opposite:

1. чтобы были несовместимы в вещах (incompatible in things)

Ex.: малолетние – неженатые

(underage – unmarried)

≠ they are not antonyms

2. чтобы признаки были однородны (similar, homogeneous features)

Ex.: красный – зеленый

(red – green)

≠ not antonyms

Белый – все цвета	antonyms
Черный – нет цвета

3. чтобы 2 признака покрывали признаковое пространство

(2 features must cover associative area)

Ex.: живой = мертвый - antonyms

Живой ≠ полумертвый - not antonyms