Сross-linguistic comparison of synonyms

Course author

Valentina Apresyan

Professor, School of Linguistics, HSE

 

Course materials

Cross-linguistic comparison of synonyms - presentation.pptx

Cross-linguistic comparison of synonyms - handout.pdf

Course annotation

One of the central topics in lexical semantics and lexicography is the study of semantically similar words, especially synonyms. Analyzing series of synonyms allows one an insight into the structure of entire semantic fields within a language. However, synonymy has a cross-linguistic aspect as well: translational equivalence can be construed as a form of synonymy, as it also entails both similarity and difference in semantics. In cross-linguistic comparison, the study of entire synonymic series is likewise a more viable approach, as it provides a means of comparing semantic fields rather than their individual items, which creates a more holistic picture of the semantic systems of languages. Thus, the ideal for cross-linguistic comparison of lexical semantics would be a multilingual database of synonyms (antonyms, hypernyms, etc.).

The master class brings together lexical typology and lexicography to develop entries for a multilingual synonymic database. It starts off with the discussion of a chosen synonymic series in English (e.g., far  and its synonyms) to formulate the initial semantic template (semantic parameters that distinguish among synonyms) and then goes on to produce a multilingual description with each participant working on the language of their choice. The master class pays special attention to the computer instruments of lexicography (automatically generated word sketches and GDEX - good dictionary examples), as well as to the semantic and lexicographic techniques which allow a lexicographer to create semantic descriptions based on the analysis of lexical co-occurrence.