语义场理论与框架语义理论在近义词辨析中的比较研究

语义场理论与框架语义理论在近义词辨析中的比较研究

【摘要】英语中存在着大量的近义词，如何正确地区分近义词之间的差异，一直是英语学习的难点。传统的作法是通过语言内部成分分析语义差异，但由于近义词在意义、用法等方面差异的细微性，通过意义比较有时无法区分近义词或区分不是很明显，仍然会导致近义词的误用、滥用。本文试图借助语义场理论和框架语义理论出发，试分析两种理论在近义词辨析中的作用及异同。

【关键词】近义词；语义场；框架理论；辨析

The most difficult decision to make in English study may be to choose an appropriate word from two or more words of similar meanings，which are called，in technical terms，synonyms. Synonyms are very common in English study. One can find them in reading，writing，speaking，listening，and translating. Nobody can avoid them if he or she wants to improve their English，but most learners find them very difficult to grasp no matter how hard they have tried. Sometimes，they can tell a little of the differences，but never could they distinguish them very clearly.

Synonym discrimination is never an easy job to do. A lot of theories has been introduced to solve this problem，for instance，Seven Types of Meaning （STM），Semantic Prosody （SP），Semantic Field （SF），frame Semantics （FS），Prominence Principle （PP），and User’s Perspective （UP），etc. This paper tries to distinguish the synonyms mainly from the perspective of Field theory and Frame Semantics with the hope that help English learners to study synonyms much easier.

1 literature review of Synonyms

Synonyms are different words with almost identical or similar meanings. In a word synonyms are words that share meanings. Synonymy refers to the relationship of similarity or identity in meaning.

There are lots of synonyms in English vocabulary. A. C. Baugh in A History of the English Language said the abundance of synonym because “As a result，English also shares a great number of words with those languages of Europe that are derived from Latin，notably French，Italian，Spanish，and Portuguese”. It has a word that play the dominant role in the whole synonym groups and it reflect the common characteristics to the other synonyms，we called it synonymic dominant. Such as to leave means “to go away”，as a synonymic dominant，its synonyms can be “depart”，“quit”，“retire”，“withdraw”.

Sources of synonyms：1）dialects and regional English，2）borrowing，3）figurative and euphemistic use of words. Discrimination of synonyms：1）difference in denotation，2）difference in the degree of a given quality，3）differences in

associative meanings，4）differences in use. The word of this relationship can be divided into two categories：1）Absolute Synonymy 2）Relative Synonymy.

2 Semantic Field Theory and distinction of synonyms2.1 Semantic Field Theory

European structuralism linguists made a significant contribution in semantic research. Pioneer of the Swiss linguist structuralism Ferdinand de Saussure figures that the study of word’s meaning should be found through the synchronic comparison，and he shows words abstract relations. German scholar Trier provides the famous theory of the Semantic fields.

The theory is opposed to the main factors for the isolation of language study，emphasizing the unity of the language system to express the meaning and context of the impact. Trier was first proposed in 1930：“...took the view that the vocabulary of a given language is not simply a listing of independent items，but is organized into areas or fields，within which words interrelate and define each other in various ways.”

2.2 Semantic Field Theory and distinction of synonyms

Semantic Field Theory can be applied into the distinction of synonyms effectively. According to Semantic Field Theory，the meaning of a word is decided by its relationships with other words in the same semantic field. It makes a holistic and systematic approach to the language study. A word does not exist in isolation，but forms a structured set together with other related words. Therefore，the meaning of a word depends on the rest of the words in the same lexical or conceptual field. In other words，the definition of one word is up to that of another or others.

Therefore，the Semantic Field Theory provides the theoretical basis for the distinction of synonyms. Since the words are interdependent and interrelated within each field，synonyms can be distinguished by this relationship in the field. In the word groups of synonymous，the word called “synonymic dominant” plays a dominant role，reflecting the collective features of other words. The slight differences between synonyms mainly display in four circumstances：（1）Conceptual meaning is basically the same，but has slight difference. “Look”，“glance”，“stare”，“gaze”，“eye”，“peep” are synonyms，and all refer to the action of “to see something”. “Look” refers to “the act of directing the eyes toward something and perceiving it visually”；“glance”，refers to “take a brief look at”；“stare” refers to “look at with fixed eyes”；“gaze” refers to “take a long fixed look”；“eye” refers to “look at”. （2）Emotional coloring is different. The example is “statesman” and “politician”. “Statesman” is a commendatory term referring to “a man is a respected leader in national or international affairs”. “Politician” is a derogatory term implying “a leader engaged in civil administration or active in party politics”. （3）Stylistic coloring is different. People should be more careful when