Brusov State University

Student: Mane Hambardzumyan

Lecturer: Lilit Abrahamyan
Topic: Synonymy: Sources of Synonymy
3nd year, group 2

Yerevan 2023
 Synonymy

The problem of synonymy is one of the most complicated and disputable in linguistic
theory.
Synonyms are traditionally described as words different in sound – form but identical or
similar in meaning.
This definition has been criticized on many points. Firstly it seems impossible to speak of
identical or similar of words as this part of the definition cannot be applied to polysemantic
words. It is inconceivable that polysemantic words could be synonymous in all their meanings.
The verb “look” e.g. is usually treated as a synonym of ‘’see’’, “watch”, “observe”, etc, but in
another of its meanings it is not synonymous with this group of words but rather with the verbs
“seem”, “appear” (cf. “to look at smb” and “to look pale”). The number of synonymic sets of a
polysemantic word tends as a rule to be equal to the number of individual meanings the word
possesses.
Secondly it seems impossible to speak of identity or similarity of lexical meaning as a
whole as it is only the denotational component that may be described as identical or similar.
We must take into consideration the connotational meaning of the word.
Thirdly, identity of meaning is very rare even among monosemantic words. It fact, cases
of complete synonymy are very few and are as a rule in technical vocabulary.
There is another criterion besides similarity of denotational meaning which is often
suggested by many scholars, i.e. the criterion of interchangeability or substitution in linguistic
contexts. They consider that synonyms are words which can replace each other in any given
context without the slightest alteration in the denotational or connotational meaning. The
contextual approach invites criticism for many reasons. Words interchangeable in any given
context are very rare. Words synonymous in lexical context may display no synonimity in
others. Thus a more acceptable definition of synonyms seems to be the following: synonyms
are words different in their sound – form, but similar in their denotational meaning or meanings
and interchangeable at least in some contexts.

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 Sources of Synonymy

The English word – stock is extremely rich in synonyms which can be largely accounted
for by abundant borrowing. Borrowing is the most powerful and significant source of synonymy
in E. words.
English is rich in synonymic pairs and groups which consist of words that can be traced
to different languages such as Latin, Greek, French, Scandinavian.
It is of interest to note that there is a definite arrangement and semantic and functional
interrelation between the members of such synonymic groups.
The native synonym is as a rule more general in its denotational meaning, stylistically
neutral, possessing no specific connotations and on the whole more commonly and frequently
used in speech as compared to its Latin, Greek or French origin, which are stylistically marked
referring to bookish layer (some of them are even ‘’learned words or terms”).
To ask (native) – to question (French) – to interrogate (Latin).
to end (native) – to finish (Fr.) – to complete (Latin)
Synonyms are formed not only due to borrowings from different languages, but from
different dialects and variants of the English language, especially large is the group of American
synonyms.
e.g. underground – subway
money – bucks
autumn – fall
flat – apartment
Among other sources of synonymy in English we should mention various semantic
changes in English words and various ways and means of word-building, which are productive in
English: affixation, prefixation, suffixation, conversion, compounding, clipping (doctor–doc,
laboratory–lab) and some other ways of word – creation.

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