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Lexicology
Task 1. 2D_An_Introduction_to_English Lexicology pp 77-96; summaries - make term definitions

and examples notes in your notebook.
Synonyms are words that have the same basic meaning.
Free synonymy is illustrated by at least two words with the same meaning, ideographically and
stylistically.
Ideographic synonyms give the meaning of baa but differentiate by certain notes that are characteristic
of the notion. For example, the word to love and to adore - to love has a neutral meaning but to adore
has the meaning of having a passion for someone.
Stylistic synonyms have a different scope of use, denoting the same phenomenon of reality: forehead
(neutral) - eyebrow (poetic sublime); fragment (book).
A special synonymous stylistic relationship is established between a taboo word and euphemistic
words or expressions.
Euphemism is a word or expression that replaces another word or expression that is unpleasant,
insulting or unkind.
Hulban's examples of double and triple scales of synonymy include:
Native strength, time.
French power, age.
Latin energy, epoch.
Neologisms often generate synonymy. A neologism is replaced by a neologism before the word is
subjected to a change of meaning, the two words eventually becoming synonymous.
Antonymy is the relationship of sense that exists between words from the same morphological class
that have opposite meanings.
Antonymy is only possible if words that have the same semantic relationship have a common
component of their meanings. Another context in which antonyms are used is when referring to a
change of state e.g. from good to bad.
There are three major classes of antonyms - gradable antonyms, ungradable or contradictory
antonyms and converses.
The class of gradable antonyms contains word pairs such as: beautiful - ugly, small - big, rich – poor.
In a classified antonym pair, one of the terms is unmarked, while the other is marked. The unmarked
member is for example, How old are you? When unmarked terms, such as old or long, in these
sentences are used, the speaker/writer does not prejudice anything whereas when their marked
opposites are used, certain presuppositions are maintained.
A gradable antonym is a type of "opposite" adjective where the words are on a scale with others
before, after and/or in between and ungradable antonyms beyond. The class of ungradable or
contradictory antonyms comprise pairs such as asleep – awake, dead – alive, on – off, assertion of one
member always implies the negation of the other.
The following are examples of converse antonyms: above – below, before – after, behind – in. The
meanings of the two antonyms are like the two sides of the same coin, one member of the pair
expresses the converse meaning of the other.
Relationship between two words, structures identical in form, but between which there is no
connection of meaning.
* perfect homonyms or homonyms proper - words identical in both spelling and pronunciation: light
(adjective) – light (noun);
* homophones - words that have the same pronunciation, but differ in spelling: air – heir, I – eye,
*homographs - words that have the same spelling, but differ in pronunciation: wound [wu:nd] –
wound [waund], bow [b∂u] – bow [bau].
- lexical homonyms are homonyms belonging to the same category grammatical class and have
different lexical meanings.
- Grammatical homonyms are homonyms belonging to the same grammatical class different
grammatical classes and have different lexical meanings.
- lexical homonyms - grammatical homonyms are homonyms that differ only in grammatical
meaning.
Polysemy is the failure of words or phraseological units to have more than one meaning; the quality of
being polysemantic.
Polysemy can be addressed diachronically and synchronically.
From a diachronic point of view, polysemy can be considered as a change in the semantic structure of
a word, resulting in new meanings being added to the existing meaning(s). From a diachronic point of
view, we are talking about the primary meaning, i.e. the meaning of the word when it first appeared in
the language, and the secondary meaning which appeared after the primary one.
If discussed synchronically, the meanings of a polysemantic word can be categorized into direct and
figurative meanings. A word is used with its direct meaning when it specifically nominalizes the
referent in a given context, and with its figurative sense when the referent is named and, at the same
time, it is described by its similarity to something else.
1. Name the basic types of homonyms. Explain the difference between capitonyms and
oronyms.
There are two types of homonyms: homophones and homographs.
A capitonym is a word that changes its meaning (and sometimes pronunciation) when it is
capitalized; the capitalization usually applies due to one form being a proper noun.
Oronyms are a string of words or phrase that sounds the same as another string of words or
phrase but is spelt differently.
2. Explain the difference between the hyponym and hypernym. Provide an example.
A hypernym describes a more broad term, for example cutlery, or dog. A hyponym is a more
specialized and specific word, for example: spoon would be a hyponym of cutlery and
Labrador would be a hyponym of dog.
3. Explain the difference between the meronym and homonymy. Provide an example.
A meronym refers to a part. A hyponym refers to a type. For example, a meronym of tree is
bark or leaf (a part of tree), but a hyponym of tree is pine tree or oak tree (a type of tree).
4. Name types of synonyms and antonyms in English.

There are several types of synonyms, such as: strict / perfect / absolute synonyms,
ideographic synonyms and stylistic synonyms.
There are several types antonyms gradable antonyms, ungradable or contradictory antonyms
and converses.

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Lexicology

Task 1. 2D_An_Introduction_to_English Lexicology pp 77-96; summaries - make term definitions

4. Name types of synonyms and antonyms in English.

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