Just imagine for a moment that in the Russian language there are no words similar in meaning. For example, there would only be a neutral verb “go,” and that’s all. So after that, try to tell the reader how the person was walking: he wandered, wandered or paced. It is in order to avoid repetitions of the same word, for the possibility of expressing emotions or characterizing a phenomenon that is in our language antonyms and synonyms. They will be discussed.
Similar in value
In Greek, synonyms (of the same name) are words that:
- do not match in sound;
- identical in meaning;
- have the same grammatical signs ;
- often vary in stylistic coloring.
For example: husband - spouse, friend - comrade, homeland - homeland.
Synonyms are combined in series, which can change significantly over time. This is due to the fact that language is constantly evolving, words lose their old and acquire new meanings. Recall the poetry of the 19th century. Even at Pushkin it was possible to meet a "dream" that meant thought, and the definition of "scrupulous" was equal to "haberdashery".
For practical use of language wealth, one can turn to special dictionaries, which explain what synonyms and antonyms are in specific cases, their semantic series are put together. It is from them that one can learn: why the "rose" and the "flower" are not close in meaning, like the "house" with the "apartment" cannot stand in the same chain.
Synonyms in a row!
A few words with close meaning form a semantic nest. Compare: road - way - direction - highway - freeway - gravel road - concrete. Or the synonymous series may consist of only one- root words: a boy is a little boy, a little boy.
How to build a semantic chain, knowing what are synonyms and antonyms? First of all, in the first place in the row should be dominant (dominant), that is, a reference word that has a neutral stylistic coloring. Everyone else follows him, refining and expanding his meanings, giving him an emotional characterization. For example: beloved - dear, welcome, darling, dear, beloved.
The synonymic series may include phraseological units (stable combinations, winged expressions) and words in the prepositional form (with a preposition): greedy - mean, everything is small, hands are raking, you can’t get snow in winter, etc.
The vocabulary of the Russian language is so large and stylistically flexible that all the antonyms, synonyms and homonyms in it do not have a fixed and strict use, they are constantly changing, making speech lively and imaginative.
Similarity typology
Words that are close in meaning have their own classification according to the degree of semantic analogy.
- Doublets are complete synonyms. As a rule, they are associated with scientific terms, with their parallel designations: orthoepy - pronunciation, predicate - predicate. Some of the same root words also belong to them: neglect - neglect.
- Ideographic (semantic) synonyms differ in shades of meanings: wet - wet, damp. It is worth noting that the symptom in these examples manifests itself in different ways, that is, the degree of liquid content in the characteristic is not the same.
- By expression and emotional assessment, style synonyms and antonyms are distinguished . Examples: forehead (neutral) - brow (high) - raven (lowered).
- Words that are close in meaning, but differing in style and semantics are semantic-stylistic synonyms. In Russian, it is they who predominate.
- Within the framework of a single text, sentences can be found expressions that are only close in meaning here. These are contextual synonyms (they are also called situational or copyright). For example, in the poem of Anna Akhmatova, in one quatrain, “verst”, “mile”, and “kilometers” are separated by commas. It is clear that these words mean different distances, but in this context they have one meaning - the dimension of space.
What are synonyms and antonyms from a functional point of view
As mentioned above, without the ambiguity of meanings, our speech would be dull and uninteresting. It is synonyms and antonyms that allow you to accurately express a thought and attitude to any phenomena. How it is possible to do this with the help of words that are close in meaning, we consider in more detail.
- We clarify or simply add the missing meaning: He walked quietly, or rather, trudged .
- Substitute. Thus, we avoid tautology (repeating the same word): A neighbor entered the room, the woman looked depressed.
- We euphemize. There is a need for inaccurate designation of real things. We often hear that the director is “delayed” (but we realize that he is just late). Sometimes it’s easier to say that a person is “not far off” than to give a direct assessment: “stupid”.
- Contrast. This technique emphasizes the difference: He did not run, but carried like an arrow.
Opposite value
We have told in sufficient detail what synonyms are, and antonyms will now be easier to understand. First of all, they appear in pair use, only in this case their opposite essence is revealed.
Antonymic relations are based on the lexical meaning of concepts that are in the same circle of phenomena. If the word is ambiguous, then there can be as many opposite meanings.
Antonyms cannot have:
- proper nouns and specific nouns: notebook, apartment, institute;
- most pronouns and numerals;
- gender designations (gender): girl and boy, daughter and son, grandfather and grandmother;
- words with a pronounced stylistic coloring: lanita, homeland, pearl.
The structure, types and use of antonyms
The opposite meaning can be expressed by words with one root: entered - left, will - bondage, and also with completely different ones: evil - kind, dark - light.
Among the antonyms, two types are distinguished:
- linguistic, which are in the vocabulary: morning - evening, sick - healthy;
- contextual-speech (author's), when the opposite is found only within the framework of this proposal: it is better to seem stupid than an enemy.
The Russian language uses synonyms and antonyms in all styles of speech, they are most needed for colloquial and artistic. Very often proverbs and sayings are built on them, they can be found in the names of works.
Such stylistic figures as antithesis and oxymoron are built on the contrast and comparison of antonymical meanings. The first expressive means we find in the title of Turgenev’s novel “Fathers and Sons” or Chekhov’s short story “Fat and Thin”, also remember Tolstoy’s “War and Peace”.
The second figure is based on combining the incompatible: loud silence, deaf from silence. Oxymoron is also found in the headings of works of art: Tolstoy's Living Corpse, Gogol's Dead Souls.
In addition to synonyms and antonyms, there are also paronyms and homonyms in our language. They are no less interesting and expressive. But more about that next time.