English vocabulary as a
system.
Homonyms, synonyms
and antonyms.
By Alina G., Ph2-20
Vocabulary of a language can be
categorized according to the
relations between words. In
paradigmatic relationship, we can
deduce homonyms, synonyms,
antonyms and other lexical groups.
Homonyms are words
which have the same
sound or graphic form, but
divergent meanings.
A book – to book
A saw – saw
Tie
Nail
Homonyms
Proper
homonyms
Identical
pronunciatio
n and
graphic form
Homophones
Homographs
Have only the
same
pronunciation
Have only the
same graphic
form
Proper homonyms Homophones
Homographs
Mean (v) – mean
Air – heir
Import (v) – import
(adj)
Accept – except
(n)
Date (romantic) –
Be-bee
Progress (v) –
date (number)
Mail – male
progress (n)
Park (v) – park (n) Addition – edition
Impact (v) –
Can (v) – can (n)
Made – maid
impact (n)
Sink (v) – sink (adj)
Homoforms
Paronyms
Different words
that share an
identical
grammatical
forms
Words that are
SIMILAR in form, but
different in meaning
and usage
To found – found
Leaves (leaf) – (he)
leaves
Left (side) – he
(left)
preposition proposition
popular - populous
Why do homonyms appear?
1.Loss of inflections – a lot of
homonyms are
monosyllabic words.
2.Borrowings which coincide
in form with native words –
peace (from Latin ‘pax’)
and piece
There are 2 approaches to study
homonyms.
1.Historical approach: homonyms as a
result of breaking polysemy. For
example, to bear – терпеть, рожать,
plant – растение, станция, завод
2.Etymological approach: homonyms as
an outcome of words of different origin.
Synonyms are words that
have similar or even
identical meanings bit
preserve different
connotations or stylistic
characteristics. They can be
interchangeable in some
contexts.
Leave - depart
Love – adore
Error – mistake
Defend – protect
Participate – take part in
Weird – strange
Count – compute
Semantic group is a chain of words with the same
denotational unit. There is a synonymic dominant
within each semantic groups. It is a word which
can be used in all context instead of its
synonyms. It is neutral.
Change
• Alter
• Vary
• Modify
• CHANGE implies making either an essential difference often
amounting to a loss of original identity or a substitution of
one thing for another.
These events have changed me in my attitude to life.
• ALTER implies a difference in some particular respect
without suggesting loss of identity.
I'll need to have the dress altered before the wedding.
• VARY stresses a breaking away from sameness, duplication,
or exact repetition.
The cost of a room at the hotel varies with the season.
• MODIFY suggests a difference that limits, restricts, or adapts
to a new purpose.
He modified the recipe by using oil instead of butter.
Complete synonyms do not exists
as synonyms always have not
only different connotational
meanings, but also syntactical
combinations.
Thus we can say:
To win a victory
]to gain a victory
But only to win a war
Synonyms can denote various shades
of meaning. They are called
ideographic synonyms. For example,
beautiful – pretty – nice – handsome.
Stylistic synonyms differ only emotive
components:
To die – to pass away
To live – to reside
To begin – to commence
To end – to complete
Antonyms are words of the same
part of speech having contrast
meanings.
Antonyms form 3 types:
1.Proper antonyms
2.Conversive
3.Complete antonyms.
Proper antonyms express
polar qualities, objects or
notions. They might contain
several gradual steps. For
example:
White – grey – black
Good-normal-satisfyingbad
Love – indifference – hate
Complete antonyms
express only binary
oppositions: friend –
enemy, peace – war,
man – woman.
Conversives denote the same object or action seen of different
viewpoints. For instance,
Give – receive
Teach – study
Buy – sell
To write – to be written
To smell – нюхать,
пахнуть
To taste – быть на вкус,
пробовать на вкус
To burn – гореть, зажечь
Morphological antonyms are
formed by special prefixes. To
exemplify,
Kind – unkind
Legal – illegal
Understand – misunderstand
Appear - disappear