Sources of synonymy

Scholars distinguish the following sources of synonymy:

1. Synonyms which originated from the native language (e.g. fast-speedy-swift; handsome-pretty-lovely; bold-manful-steadfast).

2. Synonyms created through the adoption of words from dialects (e.g. mother – minny (Scot.); dark-murk (O.N.); charm – glamour (Scot.); long distance call ( AE) - trunk call (BE); radio (AE) - wireless (BE)).

3. Synonyms that owe their origin to foreign borrowings (e.g. help-aid (Fr); heaven – sky (Sc.); freedom – liberty (L.)).The peculiar feature of synonymy in English is the contrast between simple native words stylistically neutral, literary words borrowed from French and learned words of Gгесо-Latin origin.

Native English	French Borrowing	Latin borrowings
to ask	to question	to interrogate
to end	to finish	to complete
to rise	to mount	to ascend
teaching	guidance	instruction
belly	stomach	abdomen

4. Synonyms created by means of all word-forming processes productive in the language. It must be noted that synonyms may influence each other semantically in two opposite ways: one of them is dissimilation or differentiation, the other – the reverse process, i.e. assimilation.

Many words now marked in the dictionaries as "archaic" or "obsolete" have dropped out of the language in the competition of synonyms, others survived with a meaning more or less different from the original one. This process is called synonymic differentiation and isso current that is regarded as an inherent law of language development. Cf.: soil French borrowing - a strip of land. eorpe, land, folde OE synonyms – the upper layer of earth in which plants grow. → soil, earth, ground - the mould in which plants grow.

The assimilation of synonyms consists in parallel development. This law was discovered and described by G. Stern., H.A. Treble and O.H. Vallins. In their book An ABC of English Usage, Oxford, 1957, p. 173 they give as examples the pejorative meanings acquired by the nouns wench, knave and churl which originally meant "girl", "boy", and "laborer" respectively, and point out that this loss of old dignity became linguistically possible because there were so many synonymous words of similar meaning. As the result all the three words underwent degradation in their meanings: wench → indecent girl; knave → rascal; churl→ country man.

5. Synonyms connected with non-literary figurative use of words in pictorial language (e.g. dreamer – star-gazer; profession – walk of life).

6. Synonyms – euphemisms and vulgarisms employed for certain stylistic purposes (e.g. to steal – to scoop; to lie – to distort facts).

7. Some synonymic oppositions appeared due to shift of meaning, new combinations of verbs with postpositives and compound nouns formed from them (e.g. to choose – to pick up; arrangement – layout; to enter – to come in).

8. Quite often synonyms that are due to shortening (e.g. examination – exam; doctor – doc; memorandum – memo).

Antonyms may be defined as two or rarely more words of the same language belonging to the same part of speech identical in style and nearly identical in distribution, associated and used together so that their denotative meanings render contrary or contradictory notions

Antonymy is not evenly distributed among the categories of parts of speech. Most antonyms are adjectives, which seems to be natural because qualitative characteristics are easily compared and contrasted: high - low, wide — narrow, strong — weak, old—young, friendly - hostile.

Verbs take second place, so far as antonymy is concerned. Yet, verbal pairs of antonyms are fewer in number: to lose - to find, 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, love - hatred.

Antonymic adverbs can be subdivided into two groups:

a) adverbs derived from adjectives: warmly - coldly, merrily - sadly, loudly - softly;

b) adverbs proper: now - then, here - there, ever - never, up - down, in - out.

Nowadays most scholars agree that in the semantic structures of all words, which regularly occur in antonymic pairs, a special antonymic connotation can be singled out. We are so used to coming across hot and cold together, in the same contexts that even when we find hot alone, we cannot help subconsciously registering it as not cold, that is, contrast it to its missing antonym. The word possesses its full meaning for us not only due to its direct associations but also because we subconsciously oppose it to its antonym, with which it is regularly used, in this case to hot. Therefore, it is reasonable to suggest that the semantic structure of hot can be said to include the antonymic connotation of "not cold", and the semantic structure of enemy the connotation of "not a friend"

A careful examination will reveal three kinds of oppositeness of meaning represented by the following pairs of antonyms. Consider: a) narrow-wide, small-large, tall-short; b) alive-dead, male-female, open-shut; c) over-under, receive-give, wife-husband.

The antonyms represented in the group a) are called gradable antonyms. They are adjectives which do not refer to absolute qualities, but which may be subject to comparison or qualification.

The antonyms represented in the group b) are called complementary antonyms. It means that the denial of one member of the pair implies the assertion of the other member

The antonyms represented in the pairs in c) are called converses or relational opposites. One member of the pair refers to the converse relation referred to by the other member (e.g. if the bathroom os over the hall, then the hall is under the bathroom). A relation exists between the antonyms such that one is the converse of the other: they represent two (opposite) perspectives on the same relation. This type of antonymy is quite distinct from the other two and there appears to be no overlap.

4.3. Euphemisms. Neologisms. There are words in every language which people instinctively avoid because they are considered indecent, indelicate, rude, too direct or impolite. As the "offensive" referents, for which these words stand, must still be alluded to, they are often described in a roundabout way, by using substitutes called euphemisms. This device is determined by social conventions which are sometimes apt to be over-sensitive, see "indecency" where there is none and seek refinement in absurd avoidances and pretentiousness.

Numerous euphemisms are used to avoid the so-called social taboos and are inspired by social convention. To illustrate, the word lavatory has, naturally, produced many euphemisms. Here are some of them: powder room, washroom, restroom, retiring room, (public) comfort station, ladies' room), gentlemen's (room), water-closet, w. c., public conveniences and even Windsor castle (which is a comical phrase for "deciphering" w.c.).

Pregnancy is another topic for "delicate" references. Here are some of the euphemisms used as substitutes for the adjective pregnant: in an interesting/delicate condiition, in the family way, with a baby coming, (big) with child, expecting.

The apparently innocent word trousers, not so long ago, had a great number of euphemistic equivalents, some of them quite funny: unmentionables, inexpressibles, indescribables, unwhisperables, you-mustn't-men-tion 'ems, sit-upons. Nowadays, however, nobody seems to regard this word as "indecent" any more, and so its euphemistic substitutes are no longer in use.

A landlady who refers to her lodgers as paying guests is also using a euphemism, aiming at half-concealing the embarrassing fact that she lets rooms.

There are many words which are easy targets for euphemistic substitution. These include words associated with drunkenness (e.g. intoxicated (form.), under the influence (form.), tipsy, mellow, fresh, high, merry, flustered, overcome, full (coll.), boiled '(sl.), fried '(sl.), tanked (sl.), tight (sl.), stiff (sl.), pickled (sl.), soaked '(sl.), sheets to the wind (sl.), high as a kite, half-seas-over (sl.), under the surface, etc.); being in prison (to be in chokey, to be in the jug; to be involved in correctional facilities); unemployment (redundancies, downsizing, rightsizing); drugs (grass, mushrooms, acid, snow, speed); homelessness (shopping bag people – people who wander city streets with all their possessions in shopping bags (Collins)).

Euphemisms may, of course, be used due to genuine concern not to hurt someone's feelings ( e.g.a liar can be described as a person who does not always strictly tell the truth and a stupid man can be said to be not exactly brilliant; parotitis instead of mumps; H1N1 virus instead of swine flu; deceased instead of dead; to make smb a widow/a widower instead of to kill smb4; sanitary engineer instead of waste collector).

Superstitious taboos have given rise to the use of another type of euphemisms. The reluctance to call things by their proper names is also typical of this type of euphemisms, but this time it is based on a deeply-rooted subconscious fear. Superstitious taboos have their roots in the distant past of mankind when people believed that there was a supernatural link between a name and the object or creature it represented. Therefore, all the words denoting evil spirits, dangerous animals, or the powers of nature were taboo. If uttered, it was believed that unspeakable disasters would result not only for the speaker but also for those near him. That is why all creatures, objects and phenomena threatening danger were referred to in a descriptive way. So, a dangerous animal might be described as the one-lurking-in-the-wood and a mortal disease as the black death.

Euphemisms are probably the oldest type of synonyms, for it is reasonable to assume that superstitions which caused real fear called for the creation of euphemisms long before the need to describe things in their various aspects or subtle shades caused the appearance of other synonyms.

The Christian religion also made certain words taboo. The proverb Speak of the devil and he will appear must have been used and taken quite literally when it was first used, and the fear of calling the devil by name was certainly inherited from ancient superstitious beliefs. So, the word devil became taboo, and a number of euphemisms were substitutes for it: the Prince of Darkness, the black one, the evil one, dickens (coll.), deuce (coll.), (Old) Nick (coll.).

The word God, due to other considerations, also had a great number of substitutes which can still be traced in such phrases as Good Lord!, By Heavens!, Good Heavens.' (My) goodness!, (My) goodness gracious!, Gracious me!

Even in our modern emancipated times, old superstitious fears still lurk behind words associated with death and fatal diseases. People are not superstitious nowadays and yet they are reluctant to use the verb to die which has a long chain of substitutes (e. g. to pass away, to be taken, to breathe one's last, to depart this life, to close one's eyes, to yield (give) up the ghost, to go the way of all flesh, to go West (sl.), to kick off '(sl.), to check out (sl.), to kick the bucket (sl.), to take a ride (sl.), to join the majority)

Mental diseases also cause the frequent use of euphemisms. A mad person may be described as insane, mentally unstable, unbalanced, unhinged, not (quite) right (coll.), not all there (coll.), off one's head (coll.), off one's rocker (coll.), wrong in the upper storey (coll.), having bats in one's belfry (coll.), crazy as a bedbug (coll.), cuckoo (si.), nutty (si.), off one's nut (si.), loony (si.), a mental case, a mental defective, etc. A clinic for such patients can also be discreetly referred to as, for instance, an asylum, sanitarium, sanatorium, (mental) institution, and, less discreetly, as a nut house (sl.), booby hatch (sl.), loony bin (sl.), etc.

The great number of humorous substitutes found in such groups of words prove particularly tempting for writers who use them for comical purposes. The following extracts from a children's book by R. Dahl are, probably, not in the best of taste, but they demonstrate the range of colloquial and slang substitutes for the word mad.

"He's gone off his rocker!" shouted one of the fathers, aghast, and the other parents joined in the chorus of frightened shouting.

"He's crazy!" they shouted.

"He's balmy!"

"He's nutty!"

"He's screwy!"

"He's batty!"

"He's dippy!"

"He's dotty!"

"He's daffy!"

"He's goofy!"

"He's beany!"

"He's buggy!"

"He's wacky!"

"He's loony!"

"No, he is not!" said Grandpa Joe.

(From Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by R. Dahl)

To sum it up, the use of euphemisms and their very existence are caused either by social conventions or by certain psychological factors. Most of them have peculiar stylistic connotations in their semantic structures.

Talking about neologisms, it should be emphasized that the vocabulary is an adaptive system. To adapt means to undergo modifications in functions and structure so as to be fit for a new use, a new environment or a new situation. The concept of adaptive system permits us to study language as a constantly developing but systematic whole. The adaptive system approach gives a more adequate account of the systematic phenomena of a vocabulary by explaining more facts about the functioning of words and providing more relevant generalizations, because we can take into consideration the influence of extra-linguistic reality. The study of the vocabulary as an adaptive system reveals the pragmatic essence of the communication process, i.e. the way language is used to influence the addressee.

The adaptivity of the vocabulary can be observed by its results – by studying new words or neologisms. New notions come into being and require new words to name them. They are created irrespective of their scale of importance. They may concern some social relationships such as a new political form, or short-lived concepts, such as fashions in dancing, clothes, manners. In every case either the old words are appropriately changed in meaning or new words are borrowed, or more often coined out of the existing language material either according to the patterns and ways already productive in the language at the given stage of its development or creating new ones.

Thus, a neologism is a newly coined word or phrase or a new meaning for an existing word or a word borrowed from another language.

The intense development of industry and science, social and cultural evolution have called forth the invention and introduction of a huge number of new words and changed the meaning of old ones (e.g. aerobics, pulsar, software, hardware, black hole, feedback, hyper-market, isotope, chat show, generation Y, yumpie (young upwardly mobile professional person), thresholder, Webcast wedding (a wedding broadcast by Internet), stress puppy, hurry sickness, breatharianism, pescephobe, WMWM (white married working mom), wasband (ex-husband), ageful (elderly), etc)

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