英语词汇学7.ppt

Chapter Seven Sense Relations between Words Words are related to one another in a variety of ways. These relationships have words to describe them that often end in the bound morpheme –nym It may be more accurate to think of the lexicon as network, rather than a listing of words as in a published dictionary. Words are in different relations with each other, so they can be grouped in terms of their relationship to each other. Synonymy, antonymy , hyponymy and taxonomy are commonly accepted as the major possible relationships between words. 7.1 Synonymy Synonymy refers the exact sameness or close similarity of meaning. Words that are close in meaning are called synonyms. Synonyms are traditionally defined as words different in sound and spelling but identical or similar in meaning. It is obvious that words are synonymous or similar in meaning only in a certain sense, not in all their meanings. 7.1.2 Patterns of synonymous sets in Modern English Why so many synonyms? English is a language particularly rich in pairs of synonyms. The primary reason for this has to do with the history of language and especially with the wholesome borrowing from other languages. The richness of English in synonyms is largely due to the happy mingling of Latin, French and Native elements. Generally speaking, the native words are the simplest and most ordinary and tends to belong to the ordinary colloquial language; The Greek or Latin borrowings are the most learned, most formal and most technical and they tend to be used in the most formal context; French borrowings stands between the native words and the Latin and Greek borrowings. 1) The double scale pattern: Native Latin Native Latin bodily corporal friendship amity hearty cordial help aid hide conceal inner interior motherly maternal