词汇学
1. In what aspects do synonymous words differ? Give examples to illustrate each aspect.
Firstly, synonymous words mean two or more than two words which are of the same language and grammatical category that have the same esntial or general meaning in denotation but may differ in connotative meaning. For example: e, look, watch
Secondly, there are mainly two kinds of synonyms.
Complete synonyms (absolute/ perfect synonyms): Complete synonyms mean synonymous words that are identical in every aspect, no matter in denotation or connotation. For example: word building and word formation; compounding and composition. However, complete synonyms are very rare.
Relative synonyms (partial synonyms): words are similar or nearly the same in denotation, but embrace other different connotative meanings. Relative synonyms mainly differ in the following three connotations.
发音
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the spice girls1: In degree of a given quality or in shades of meaning. A. In degree of a given quality, for example, in different degrees of intensity: small, tiny, diminutive, minute, microscope. The are synonyms, but they denote different degrees of smallness. B. IN shades of meaning, for example: refu, reject, and decline. In shades of meaning, generally speaking, decline, reject, refu
2. In affective meaning and stylistic meaning. A. Some words have emotional coloring but some have not. Take small and little for example, both mean not big, not old. However, when we associate emotion with the designation, we will say little boy instead of small boy, for the word small has no affective meaning. B. In stylistic meaning。In this ca, synonyms refer to the same thing but belong to different stylistic layers, which means some words of the same synonyms are ud at a certain situation. For example: man, fellow, bird, chap, guy. This is a group of synonyms with the same denotative meaning but with different stylistic layers.
appoint3.In collocation and distribution. A. Though many synonyms share the common denotativ
e meaning, they are ud in different collocation. Take pretty and handsome for example. We say pretty girl/ child/ flower, but we can only say handsome boy/ man/hou/car. Tough the two words share the common denotation of” good-looking” B. Sometimes two words of a synonymous pair also distribute in different places. For example: living, alive
He is the greatest artist alive. He is the greatest living artist.
All in all, in terms of relative synonyms, there are still some differences in connotative meaning. Such as in degree of a given quality( intensity, displeasure…), in shades of meaning; in affective/emotional meaning and in stylistic meaning; in collocation and in distribution.
2. When we talk about antonyms, what is meant by contraries, complemetaries and conversives? Give examples to illustrate the characteristic of each type.keven
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Firstly, antonym refers to all types of oppositions and it means a word having a meaning opposite to that of another word. For example, the word wet is an antonym of the word dry.
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Secondly, antonyms can be classified on the basis of morphological structure and mantic contrast. Bad in the mantic contrast, there are three types of antonyms: contraries, complementaries and conversives.
flowplayerContraries: polar members of a gradual opposition which may have intermediate terms. Most of the antonyms are contraries. For example, we have cold, cool, warm, hot. Cold and hot are a pair of contrary antonyms. Cool and warm are two intermediate terms. More examples like: deep and shallow, rich and poor, heavy and light, old and young. The contrast is relative intermediate terms.
Complementaries: complementaries or contradictories reprent a type of binary, mantic opposition. In complementary pair, the contrast between the two terms is absolute, which means one term denies the other term and there is no way for both existing. Take dead and alive, male and female, regular and irregular for example. One people, he is either male or female. There is no other choices.
What’s more, unlike contrary terms, complementaries are nongradable and admit no inter
mediate members. Say, he is very old( gradable term), but we never say he is very dead( nongradable term).
Conversives: conversives, relational opposites, is one type of binary oppositions. They denote one and the same thing viewed from different points of views. There is an independent meaning. One of them cannot be ud without suggesting the other. For example: lend and borrow, give and receive, buy and ll, before and after, widow and widower.
In ca of conversive pair, one term ud as subject indicates the other term which is ud as object. More often, conversives are about reciprocal social roles, spatial relationships and so on. For example: A is B’s husband, then without any questions, B is A’s wife.
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