Ministry of the higher and secondary special education of the republic of uzbekistan state world languages university

humorous
 
 
 
died
and 
expired
Synonyms can be nouns, adverbs or adjectives, as long as both members 
of the pair are of the same part of speech. Traditionally, synonymy can only hold 

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between words, and, more precisely, between words belonging to the same part 
of speech; for example: ‘enormous’ = ‘huge’; ‘gaze’ = ‘stare’. This is the classic 
form of synonymy, covered by, for instance, synonym dictionaries. 
The vocabulary of a language is enriched not only by words but also by 
phraseological units. Phraseological units are word-groups that cannot be made 
in the process of speech, they exist in the language as ready-made units. The 
classical definition of the phraseological units characterizes them as stable 
word-groups having partially or fully transferred meanings and structural and 
functional inseparability. For example: 
to kick the bucket, Greek gift, drink till 
all's blue, drunk as a fiddler (drunk as a lord, as a boiled owl), as mad as a 
hatter (as a march hare), etc.
 
The concept of synonymy is inherent in languages. Given the complexity 
of meaning, a person searching for an alternative word must be sure that the 
synonym chosen is accurate and precise. 
In its strict sense, a 
synonym
is a word with a meaning identical or very 
similar to that of another word. In fact, it is often said that there is no such 
thing as an absolute synonym for any word, that is, a form that is identical in 
every aspect of meaning so that the two can be applied interchangeably. 
According to this extreme view, the only true synonyms are terms having 
precisely the 
same denotation, connotation, and range of applicability
.
As it turns out, these so-called true synonyms are frequently technical 
terms and almost always concrete words coming from linguistically disparate 
sources. Good examples of such pairs are 
celiac
(from Greek) and 
abdominal
(from Latin); and 
car
(from Latin) and 
automobile
(from French). These meet 
the criteria for true synonymy: they have precisely the same denotations, 
connotations, and range of applicability, and they are used in identical contexts. 
This view of synonymy is far too restrictive, from our point of view. 
Synonymous terms are those having nearly identical denotations. English is rich 
in such words. Speakers very often have a choice from among a set of words of 
differing origin but the same denotation. One may go to the 
shore
(from Old 

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English), the 
coast
(from Latin), or the 
littoral
(from Latin). One can refer to the 
sense of 
hearing
(from Old English) or to the 
acoustic
(from Greek), 
auditory
(from Latin), 
aural
(from Latin), or 
auricular
(from Latin) sense. One can make 
clothing from 
cloth
(from Old English), 
fabric
(from Latin), 
material
(from 
Latin), or 
textiles
(from Latin). The reason for choosing one of these words over 
another is frequently stylistic: one may prefer a simpler or a more complex 
word; one may prefer a more formal or a less formal term. However, the fact 
that these words share a denotation makes them synonymous and available as 
substitutes for words one has in mind so that one can be more precise, express 
oneself more colorfully, or avoid repetition.
Lyons distinguishes between two kinds of synonymy, i.e. what he calls 
complete 
and 
absolute 
synonymy. He defines them as follows:
“ …lexemes can be said to be 
completely synonymous 
(in a certain range of 
contexts) if and only if they have the same descriptive, expressive and social 
meaning (in the range of contexts in questions). They may be described as 
absolutely synonymous 
if and only if they have the same distribution and are 
completely synonymous in all their meanings and in all their contexts of 
occurance.”
He claims that 
complete synonymy
is rare, and absolute synonymy hardly 
exists. If 
absolute synonymy
exists at all, it is merely in very special contexts 
such as scientific terms (e.g. 
almonds
and 
tonsils
). But what happens when we 
have two absolute synonyms is that specialists or speakers in general tend to use 
one of the two synonymous words and agree that the chosen word should be 
always used to refer to the concept they are describing.
24
As to absolute synonymy, that is, according to Cruse D., 
25
where all 
contextual relations between the two terms are identical, roughly speaking this 
means that in all linguistic contexts, the two terms are interchangeable without 
24
Lyons, J. Language and Linguistics, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1981.- 
p.148
25
Cruse, D. A. Lexical Semantics, Cambridge University Press, 1986.- p. 87

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29 
any difference in meaning. Given the difficulty of ascertaining the respective 
behavior of two candidate absolute synonyms in all contexts, Cruse (ibid.) 
suggests the normality test as a way of determining the absence of absolute 
synonymy. This test shows that one of the two terms is normal in a given 
context, and the other less normal.
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(1) He told me the match 
starts 
at 8.00 (+ normal) 
(2) He told me the match 
commences
at 8.00 (- normal) 
If we add (3), however, and compare it with (1) it is difficult to attribute greater 
normality to one or the other: 
(3)
 
He told me the match 
begins
at 8.00 
D. Cruse (ibid.) rules out the use of contexts where one term is odd in 
syntactic terms, suggesting the context should provide a level playing field in 
order to ascertain normality. If this is the case, one would have to go a long way 
to find two contexts where 
begin 
and 
start 
could be seen to be non-absolute 
synonyms.
Furthermore Cruse also rules out the use of ‘irrelevant senses’ of a word 
form. 
(4) Arthur’s most recent car is an old one (+) 
(5) Arthur’s most recent car is a former one (-) 
(6) He had more responsibility in his old job 
(7) He had more responsibility in his former job. 
D. Cruse’s normality test works well if we wish to show with the least 
amount of contextual investigation that two words are not absolute synonyms. It 
is more difficult to show that two words are in fact absolute synonyms. 
Palmer F. differentiates between synonyms in five ways. First, some 
synonyms belong to different dialects of the language. For instance, the word 
fall 
is used in the United States and 
autumn 
is used in Britain. Second, some 
synonyms are used in different styles according to the degree of formality; 
colloquial, formal. For instance, 
gentleman 
(formal),
man, chap. 
Thirdly, some 
26
Ibidem, p. 89 

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words differ only in their emotive or evaluative values but their cognitive 
meaning is the same. For instance, 
hide, conceal.
Fourthly, some word are 
subject to collocational restraints, i.e. they occur only with specific words. For 
instance, 
rancid
occurs with 
butter, addled 
with
eggs. 
Fifthly, the meanings of 
some words overlap. For instance, 
mature, adult, ripe. 
If we take each of these 
words we will have a larger set of synonyms.
Palmer suggests a test for synonymy by substituting one word for another. 
Because absolute synonyms are 
mutually interchangeable
in all contexts, that is 
why absolute synonyms are very rare in language. Another way to test 
synonymy is using antonyms. For instance, 
superficial
is the opposite of 
deep
and 
profound
, while 
shallow
is the opposite of 
deep
only. 
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When we use language for the purpose of communication, we come to 
perceive any expression as a tool more or less suitable for our purposes, we 
come to see it as possessing a certain 
value
. (The task of an expression may, in a