6.3   Synonymy

Synonymy(同义关系；同义现象) is one of the characteristic features of the vocabulary of natural languages. English as a highly developed language is known for its copious(丰富的，富饶的) stock of synonyms. Even as early as in Old English, the use of synonyms to add to the variety of language was noticeable.  

1. Definition of Synonyms

    Synonyms can be defined as words different in sound and spelling but most nearly alike or exactly the same in meaning. Reasonable as it sounds, this definition is subject to disagreement. The focal point(焦点) is what is meant by meaning. As we have already known (See Word Meaning) , meaning is a composite consisting of different types. Does the word ' meaning' mean one type or the total of all the different types? If one chooses any group of synonyms and analyses them, one will find different shades of meaning(意义上的细微差别), for example, end — terminate — close, all of which are 'modes of ending', but to terminate is to ' end finally' and to close is to ' end gradually'.

   Difference is also apparent in pairs of maid—girl, monkey—imitate, generous—extravagant.  Although they share similar concept, they differ in stylistic appropriateness and affective values or connotations.

    Therefore, a better definition might be 'one of two or more words in the English language which have the same or very nearly the same essential meaning' (WNDS). In other words, synonyms share a likeness in denotation as well as part of speech, for a verb cannot have an adjective as its synonym. Similarly, an adverb cannot take a noun as its synonym: * end—final,   * brother—fraternally.

 

2. Types of Synonyms

    Synonyms can be classified into two groups: absolute synonyms(绝对同义词) and relative synonyms(相对同义词).

    1)  Absolute Synonyms

    Absolute synonyms, also known as complete synonyms, are words which are identical in meaning in all its aspects, i.e. both in grammatical meaning and lexical meaning including conceptual and associative meanings. Synonyms of this type are interchangeable in every way. It is recognized that absolute synonyms are rare in natural languages and some people even hold that such synonyms are non-existent. Absolute synonyms, if any, are restricted to highly specialized vocabulary, such as caecitis— typhlitis(盲肠炎), scarlet-fever—scarlatina in medicine, word-building —word-formation, composition—compounding in lexicology, etc. .

    2)  Relative Synonyms

    Relative synonyms, also called by some people near-synonyms, are similar or nearly the same in denotation, but embrace different shades of meaning or different degrees of a given quality. Take change — alter — vary for example. To change a thing is to put another thing in its place; to alter a thing is to make it different from which it was before; to vary a thing is to alter it in different manner and at different times: A man changes his habits, alters his conduct, and varies his manner of speaking.

    Look at stagger— reel —totter. Stagger implies unsteady movement characterized by a loss of equilibrium(平衡) and failure to maintain a fixed course, e. g. stagger under a heavy load; reel suggests a swaying or lurching(倾斜的) so as to appear on the verge(边缘) of falling,e.g. The drunken man reeled down the hall; totter suggests the uncertain, faltering(蹒跚，踉跄) steps of a feeble(虚弱的) old person or of an infant learning to walk, silent—tacit(缄默不语的), shine— glitter—sparkle—glare , different—various , idle—lazy—indolent, strange— odd—queer, large—huge—tremendous—colossal(庞大的) and the like all belong to this group.

 

3. Sources of Synonyms

1) Borrowing

    Modern English is extremely rich in synonyms, which come from different sources. The most important is perhaps borrowing. As Baugh says, 'the richness of English in synonyms is largely due to the happy mingling(混合) of Latin, French and native elements. '(Baugh and Cable 1978: 186) As a result of borrowing, words of native origin form many couplets(成对词) and triplets(三词一组) with those from other languages, e. g.

Native       Foreign

room          chamber

foe             enemy

begin         commence

help           aid

leave         depart

merry         gay

wise           sage

heaven       sky

rear            raise

bodily         corporal

earthly       terrestrial(地球的)

warlike       bellicose(好战)

buy            purchase

 

Native        French         Latin

ask              question        interrogate

rise              mount           ascend

fast              firm               secure

fire               flame             conflagration(火焰)

fear              terror             trepidation(惧怕)

holy             sacred           consecrated(神圣的)

goodness     virtue             probity(德行)

time             age                 epoch

 

2)  Dialects and regional English, e. g.

railway (BrE)         railroad (Am E)

mother (BrE)         minny (Scot)

charm (BrE)          glamour (Scot)

lift (BrE)                elevator (Am E)

ranch (AmE)         run (Aus E)

job (Stand E )        gig (Black E)

jim (Black E)        male person (Stand E)

3)  Figurative and euphemistic use of words, e. g.

occupation (profession)      walk of life (fig) 

dreamer                   star-gazer (fig) 

drunk                     elevated (euph)

lie                        distort the fact (euph)

4)  Coincidence with idiomatic expressions, e.g. 

     win            gain the upper hand 

    decide        make up one's mind 

    finish          get through 

    hesitate      be in two minds 

    help           lend one a hand

    Within the native element, words are also found to express similar meanings such as fast—speedy—swift, handsome—pretty—lovely.

 

4. Discrimination of Synonyms

    Generally speaking, there is no difference between absolute synonyms whereas relative synonyms always differ in one way or another. Ullmann ( 1962) quotes Collinson's set of nine principles for distinguishing apparent synonyms:

(1)  One term is more general than another: refuse—reject.

(2)  One term is more tense than another: repudiate—refuse.

(3)  One term is more emotive than another: reject—decline.

(4)  One term may imply approbation(称赞) or censure(指责) where another is neutral: thrifty—economical.

(5)  One term is more professional than another: decease—death .

(6)  One term is more literary than another: passing—death.

(7)  One term is more colloquial than another: turn down—refuse.

(8)  One term is more local or dialectal than another: (Scot) flesher—butcher.

(9)  One of the synonyms belongs to child-talk: daddy—father.

    To sum up, the differences between synonyms may boil down to three areas: denotation, connotation, and application.

    1) Difference in Range and Intensity of Meaning

    Synonyms are named as such because they convey a similar concept but there are shades (细微差别) of meaning between them, for example, some words have a wider range of meaning than others. Timid (胆怯的) and timorous (胆怯的) are synonymous, but the former is applied to both the state of mind in which a person may happen to be at the moment, and to the habitual disposition(性情) and the latter only to the disposition. Therefore, timid is the more extensive term than timorous. It is the same with comprehend and understand. The verb understand is used in a much more extended sense than comprehend. Whatever is comprehended is understood, but in many cases, comprehend cannot take the place of understand. It would be quite correct to say, ' I did not comprehend his exposition (讲解) or his arguments, although I understood the language, and the grammatical import of each sentence.

    Another illustrative example is the synonymous group of extend, increase, expand, which share a general sense but on closer inspection we can find conceptual differences:

(1)  The company has decided to increase its sales by ten per cent next year.

(2)  The owner of the restaurant is going to extend the kitchen by ten feet this year.

(3)  The metal will expand if heated.

These examples could illustrate a refinement to the general sense of enlargement in the following way:

 

    Synonyms may differ in degree of intensity. Take rich and wealthy for example. A rich man and a wealthy lady are both rich, but the wealthy lady is felt to possess more money and property than a rich man. The same difference is found between work and toil, the former being a general term having no special implications as 'light' or ' heavy' and 'mental' or ' physical', and the latter usually suggesting heavy and tiring work, associated more with manual than mental labor, e.g.

(1)  The work was not hard and she soon learned to do it well.

(2)  The wealth of industrial society could only come from the toil of the masses. 

Want, wish , desire offer another example of the kind. Of the three terms, want is the most general and has the widest range of meaning while wish and desire are much narrower in sense. As far as intensity is concerned, both are stronger than want, and desire is the strongest of all.

 

    2) Difference in Stylistic Features

    Among the relative synonyms, there are words which share the same denotation but differ in their stylistic appropriateness. For example, the words borrowed from other languages, from French and Latin in particular, are generally more formal than native words: begin—commence , answer — respond, storm — tempest, wood—forest, unlike—dissimilar, handy — manual, homely — domestic, fleshy—carnal(肉的), fast—firm —secure , time—age—epoch . In each couplet, the first term is native and not style-specific, while the second term, borrowed either from French or Latin, is more formal. And in the triplets, the first term is native, the second French and the third Latin — stylistically, French being more formal than the native, and the Latin being learned even more formal than the French, naturally appropriate only for technical writing or officialese(公文).

    3) Difference in Emotive Colouring

    Many words may be synonymous in conceptual meaning but differ in emotive values (See discussion of Affective Meaning). Take result—consequence for example. Result is affectively neutral, neither appreciative nor derogatory, and can be used with good to convey a positive attitude and with bad to express a negative meaning. Consequence, however, always has a negative implication. Big and great express a similar concept, big generally used to show the bigness of size, volume, extent, weight, number, and so on, without any emotive coloring, whereas great can be used in the sense of 'distinguished', 'eminent'([ˈeminənt（指人）知名的，杰出的，卓越的； （指品质、特性）明显的，显着的，突出的； 显赫的), 'outstanding', etc. , e. g. 'Robert Burns is one of the world's greatest lyric poets. '

    Fatherly—paternal and motherly—maternal are formed from corresponding roots in Latin and Saxon, the Latin word being the more polite and cold, the Saxon more hearty and cordial([ˈkɔ:djəl] 热诚的； 诚恳的； 兴奋的). We say paternal government and maternal society, but fatherly kindness and motherly tenderness. The emotive overtones can also be seen in the following examples:

Look at that lovely little boy.

Look at that Small boy.

Look at that tiny boy.

All the three adjectives little, small, tiny describe the smallness of the boy. But little suggests 'attractively' and 'pleasantly' small, obviously an appreciative term; tiny means extremely small, implying the abnormal growth of the child; and small is neutral, simply signifying 'not big'.

 

    4) Difference in Application

    Many words are synonymous in meaning but different in collocations or distribution in sentences. Allow and let are synonyms, but we say ' allow sb to do sth', and ' let sb do sth'. The same is true of answer and reply, the former being transitive and the latter intransitive, thus ' answer the letter' but ''reply to the letter'. Moreover, 'answer the door' is perfectly all right while * ' reply to the door' is unacceptable. Sense and meaning are synonymous and interchangeable in some cases, e. g. 'The word has two senses or two meanings', yet we can say ' He is a man of sense' but not 'He is a man of meaning^'. Empty, vacant, blank can be said to be synonyms, but their collocations are not the same:

                 box                                         seat

empty    street                   vacant         chair

                    room                                       apartment

Empty implies that there is no one or nothing inside while vacant suggests that something or some place is not occupied. However, we can only say 'blank paper'.

The English words lump, slice, chunk , sheet, cake can convey the same concept 'piece', but have various collocations, e.g. a lump of sugar, a slice of meat, a chunk of wood, a sheet of paper, a cake of soap.