3. Synonyms, antonyms, paronyms, euphemisms

Synonyms are words different in their outer aspects, but identical or similar in their inner aspects. There are some absolute synonyms in the language, which have exactly the same meaning and belong to the same style: to moan, to groan; homeland, motherland. If two synonyms differ in this or that component of their denotative meaning, then such synonyms is called ideographic. Sometimes one of the absolute synonyms is specialized in its usage and we get stylistic synonyms: to begin (native) – to commence (borrowing). Stylistic synonyms can also appear by means of abbreviation: exam (colloquial), examination (neutral).

There are also contextual synonyms which are similar in meaning only under some specific distributional conditions: buy and get are not synonyms out of context but they are synonyms in the following examples: I‘ll go to the shop and buy some bread and I‘ll go to the shop and get some bread.

In each group of synonyms there is a word with the most general meaning, which can substitute any word in the group. Such words are called synonymic dominants: piece is the synonymic dominant in the group piece, slice, lump. morsel.

The peculiar feature of English is the contrast between simple native words which are stylistically neutral, literary words borrowed from French and learned words of Greko-Latin origin, e.g.: to ask - to question - to interrogate.

A source of synonymy also worthy of note is the so-called euphemism in which by a shift of meaning a word of more or less ‘pleasant or at least inoffensive connotation becomes synonymous to one that is harsh, obscene, indelicate or otherwise unpleasant. A euphemistic expression coincides in denotation with the word it substitutes, but it doesn’t have the connotations associated with it and so the utterance on the whole is milder, less offensive: pregnant : : in the family way. Very often a learned word which sounds less familiar is therefore less offensive, as in drunkenness : : intoxication; sweat : : perspiration.

Antonyms are words belonging to the same part of speech, identical in style, expressing contrary or contradictory notions. V.N. Comissarov classified antonyms into two groups: absolute (root) antonyms (late - early) and derivational antonyms (to please – to displease, honest - dishonest). Absolute antonyms have different roots and derivational antonyms have the same roots but different affixes. Derivational antonyms express contradictory notions, one of them excludes the other: active-inactive. Absolute antonyms express contrary notions. If some notions can be arranged in a group of more than two members, the most distant members of the group will be absolute antonyms: ugly, plain, good-looking, pretty, beautiful, the antonyms are ugly and beautiful.

Paronyms are words which are partially similar in form but different in meaning and usage: proscribe-prescribe, prosecute - persecute. The coinciding parts are not morphemes but meaningless sound-clusters. Pairs like historic-historical (words containing the same root-morpheme) are usually treated as synonyms. Improper usage of learned and sonorous language results in the so-called malapropisms – for example, the incorrect usage of the word supercilious instead of superficial: have a supercilious (superficial) knowledge in accounts. Malapropisms may be viewed as a kind of paronyms.