dc.contributor.author | Chi Wei, Tze | en |
dc.date.accessioned | 2018-01-31T11:19:17Z | |
dc.date.available | 2018-01-31T11:19:17Z | |
dc.date.issued | 1983 | |
dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/1842/26389 | |
dc.description.abstract | | en |
dc.description.abstract | The thesis begins by arguing for an a posteriori approach to
synonymy, according to which synonymy should be treated as an em¬
pirical phenomenon which it is the task of linguistic semantics to
explicate. Arguments are presented against the a priori approach
often underlying treatments of synonymy, which makes it possible to
define synonymy out of existence. A distinction is then drawn
between three possible levels of synonymy (i.e. lexeme-synonymy,
sense-synonymy and occurrence-synonymy), and it is argued that all
three should be treated as legitimate levels - occurrence-synonymy
as the basic level and the other two chiefly as a means of stating
synonymy-relations more economically, where appropriate. This is
followed by the establishment of two criteria of synonymy for ail
three levels. After discussion and (in some cases) re-definition
of various types of acceptability and anomaly, the interchangeability criterion is defined as the mutual substitutability of words
without causing either grammatical or collocational anomaly.
The sameness of meaning criterion is based on the distinctions
between pragmatic and analytic equivalence and between performance
and judgement equivalence, and is defined in terms of the first
alternative in each case. While my concern up to this point is
with the explication of synonymy, the remainder of the thesis is
devoted to its description. A distinction is drawn between two
types of case where two senses are synonymous in some contexts but
not in others. Two types of explanation are provided accordingly.
The thesis ends by discussing various types of communicatively
relevant difference between synonyms. | en |
dc.publisher | The University of Edinburgh | en |
dc.relation.ispartof | Annexe Thesis Digitisation Project 2017 Block 15 | en |
dc.relation.isreferencedby | | en |
dc.title | Towards an explication and description of synonymy in English | en |
dc.type | Thesis or Dissertation | en |
dc.type.qualificationlevel | Doctoral | en |
dc.type.qualificationname | PhD Doctor of Philosophy | en |