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

 
 

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11 
 
Chapter I. Synonymy as a language phenomenon 
 
1.1. Synonymy as a type of semantic relations in the vocabulary 
Taking up similarity of meaning and contrasts of phonetic shape, we 
observe that every language has in its vocabulary a variety of words, kindred in 
meaning but distinct in morphemic composition, phonemic shape and usage, 
ensuring the expression of most delicate shades of thought, feeling and 
imagination. The more developed the language, the richer the diversity and 
therefore the greater the possibilities of lexical choice enhancing the 
effectiveness and precision of speech. 
Synonyms
(in ancient Greek 
syn 
‘συν’ plus and 
onoma
‘όνομα’ name) 
are different words with similar or identical meanings and are interchangeable.
Thus, 
slay 
is the synonym of 
kill 
but it is elevated and more expressive,
involving cruelty and violence? The way synonyms function may be seen from 
the following example: 
Already in this half-hour of bombardment hundreds upon 
hundreds of men would have been violently slain, smashed, torn, gouged, 
crushed, mutilated 
(Aldington).
6
The synonymous words 
smash 
and 
crush 
are semantically very close, they 
combine to give a forceful representation of the atrocities of war. Even this 
preliminary example makes it obvious that the still very common definitions of 
synonyms as words of the same language having the same meaning or as 
different words that stand for the same notion are by no means accurate and even 
in a way misleading. By the very nature of language every word has its own 
history, its own peculiar motivation, and its own typical contexts. And besides, 
there is always some hidden possibility of different connotation and feeling in 
each of them. Moreover, words of the same meaning would be useless for 
6
Aldington R. Death of a Hero, a novel. 1929 , Cited fr. Ginzburg et al. 

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communication: they would encumber the language, not enrich it. If two words 
exactly coincide in meaning and use, the natural tendency is for one of them to 
change its meaning or drop out of the language. 
Thus, 
synonyms
are words only similar but not identical in meaning. This 
definition is correct but vague. For example, 
horse 
and 
animal 
are also 
semantically similar but not synonymous. A more precise linguistic definition 
should be based on a workable notion of the semantic structure of the word and of 
the complex nature of every separate meaning in a polysemantic word. Each 
separate lexical meaning of a word consists of a denotational component 
identifying the notion or the object and reflecting the essential features of the 
notion named, shades of meaning reflecting its secondary features, additional 
connotations resulting from typical contexts in which the word is used, its 
emotional component and stylistic colouring. Connotations are not necessarily 
present in every word.