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Introduction
Synonymy as a language phenomenon is a universal feature for all the
languages. Although it seems to have been studied from various aspects and
angles, still its scientific and practical relevance for language teaching and
learning has never been diminished. On the contrary, with a renewed focus on
the lexical approach to the language learning, the study of semantic classes of
the vocabulary is prioritized.
In fact, language has long been analyzed as consisting of grammatical
structures and a set of usually single vocabulary items. Grammar has been given
priority over vocabulary. The latter has been seen as secondary in importance,
merely serving to illustrate the meaning and scope of the grammar. In the lexical
approach this dichotomy is unrrealistic and considered to be based on false
assumptions about language. Language is basically its lexicon. The key
principle of a lexical approach is that “language consists of grammaticalized
lexis, not lexicalized grammar.” In other words, lexis is central in creating
meaning, grammar plays a secondary role in managing meaning. When this
principle is accepted, the logical implication for teachers is that we should spend
more time helping learners develop their stock of phrases, and less time on
grammatical structures.
As we’ll see further in our research, the s tud y o f s yno nymy a nd it s
as pects is still very much an unsolved question. The discussion in the
theoretical literature focuses mostly on clear-cut examples and avoids the
broader issues, especially in the comparative aspect.
The President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov expressed his
concern about the low level of the foreign languages knowledge by our school
and high school teachers. He issued a special Resolution for measures to
improve the system of teaching foreign languages, especially English, which has
become the lingua franca for the international and intercultural communication.
In his other publication, “Без исторической памяти нет будущего”, he
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stressed the importance of the raising of the effectiveness and the efficiency of
the scientific researches in our country by stating that eventually “science must
turn into a means, a power that might serve as a foundation for the development
of the society”.
1
In the attempts to make our national HE smart, sustainable and inclusive
we have to ensure a multi-sided cooperation with higher education institutions’
leaders, teachers, researchers and students, with schools and colleges/lyceums
and social partners, with government and with international bodies. The shared
efforts will be crucial for achieving the goals set out in the Presidential
Resolution concerning the improvement of the FLTT system in the country.
Modern and effective higher education systems are the foundation of open
and sustainable societies as well as of a creative and efficient knowledge-based
economy, which is not perceivable without a strong command of foreign
languages as means for intercultural communication.
These documents clearly demonstrate that the linguistic sciences should
be capable of promoting the strategies in the declared priorities for FLT
improvement and contribute to the improvement of language teaching and
learning. Linguistic research, therefore, should be aimed at the solution of the
topical issues in the language research which could be regarded as relevant for
the improving of teaching and acquisition of the English language in our
country.
2
One of the difficulties in learning English is its abundance in synonyms,
which is due to its largely borrowed nature. As is known, about 70% of its
vocabulary consists of loan words, and their influx has been continuing. English
is both ‘taking’ and ‘giving’ language, its growing global influence has been
expanding. Synonyms as a subsystem of the vocabulary dominate over others,
and their learning is crucial for teaching and learning English. We can observe a
1
О мерах по дальнейшему совершенствованию системы изучения иностранных языков.- остановление
Президента РУз от 10.12.2012 (Газета «Народное слово», 11.12.2012 г., № 240 (5630))
2
И.Каримов. Без исторической памяти нет будущего / Свое будущее мы строим своими руками. Т.7.
Ташкент: «Ўзбекистон», 1999г. - с. 146.
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great number of scientific articles and research works dedicated to the issues of
synonymy in English and other languages, dealing with various aspects of this
phenomenon, and yet there is still a strong opinion among linguists that quite a
few issues related to functioning of synonyms remain understudied. There is a
lack of common agreement on many issues related to synonymy, which could
present a more or less comprehensive and generally acceptable interpretation of
the specific ambiguous features of this phenomenon, which accounts for
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