Литература по учебной дисциплине «Практика устной и письменной речи»

(2) Stylistic synonyms are words which are close or identical in denotative meaning but differ in emotive value or stylistic sphere of application. For example, consider the correlation between neutral :: elevated :: colloquial words: child :: infant :: kid; father :: parent :: dad; neutral :: archaic: often :: oft; there :: younger; neutral :: poetic: leave :: quit; open :: ope.
(3) Semantic-stylistic synonyms: e.g., house – slum.
(4) Absolute (total) synonyms, which can replace each other in any given context. Examples of this kind can be found among technical terms peculiar to this or that branch of knowledge. In linguistics, e.g., noun :: substantive; functional affix :: flexion; in medicine: scarlet fever :: scarlatina; the flu :: grippe.
(5) Contextual (or context-dependent) synonyms are similar in meaning only in some specific distributional conditions. E.g., He bought (got) the book at the bookshop; I can’t stand (bear) him.
(6) Territorial synonyms are words which differ neither ideographically nor stylistically but are used in different countries speaking the same language. E.g.: British/Australian autumn – American/Canadian fall; British pavement – Australian footpath – American/Canadian sidewalk.
(7) There are also phraseological synonyms: these words are identical in their meanings and styles but different in their combining with other words in the sentence, e.g. to be late for a lecture but to miss the train, to visit museums but to attend lectures, etc.
From the rhetoric viewpoint, euphemisms are synonyms used to replace vulgar, impolite or just too directly critical words: e.g., unwise instead of stupid. In the opposite way, synonyms are used as disphemisms: e.g., muzzle instead of face.
From the diachronic point of view, we speak about the origin of synonyms and the causes of their abundance in a language.