資源描述:
《the oxford thesaurus - an a-z dictionary of synonyms 》由會(huì)員上傳分享,免費(fèi)在線閱讀,更多相關(guān)內(nèi)容在學(xué)術(shù)論文-天天文庫。
1、TheOxfordThesaurusAnA-ZDictionaryofSynonymsINTROIntroduction=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-Initsnarrowestsense,asynonymisawordorphrasethatisperfectlysubstitutableinacontextforanotherwordorphrase.Peoplewh
2、ostudylanguageprofessionallyagreethatthereisnosuchthingasanidealsynonym,foritisvirtuallyimpossibletofindtwowordsorphrasesthatareidenticalindenotation(meaning),connotation,frequency,familiarity,andappropriateness.Indeed,linguistshavelongnotedtheeconom
3、yoflanguage,whichsuggeststhatnolanguagepermitsaperfectfit,inallrespects,betweenanytwowordsorphrases.Manyexamplesofoverlappingcanbecited;themoreobviousonesinEnglisharethosethatreflectaduplicationarisingfromGermanicandRomancesources,likemotherlyandmate
4、rnal,farmingandagriculture,teachandinstruct.InsuchpairsthenativeEnglishformisoftentheonewithanearthier,warmerconnotation.Insomeinstances,whereanewcoinageoraloanwordhasbeenadoptedinadvertentlyduplicatinganexistingterm,creating'true'synonyms,thetwowill
5、quicklydiverge,notnecessarilyinmeaningbutinusage,application,connotation,level,orallofthese.Forexample,scientistssomeyearsagoexpresseddissatisfactionwiththetermtidalwave,forthephenomenonwasnotcausedbytidesbut,usually,bysubmarineseismicactivity.Thewor
6、dtsunamiwasborrowedfromJapaneseinanattempttodescribethephenomenonmoreaccurately,butitwaslaterpointedoutthetsunamimeans'tidalwave'inJapanese.Today,thetermsexistsidebysideinEnglish,theolderexpressionstillincommonuse,thenewermorefrequentinthescientifica
7、ndtechnicalliterature.Anysynonymbookmustbeseenasacompromisethatreliesonthesensitivityofitsuserstotheidiomaticnuancesofthelanguage.Initsbestapplications,itservestoremindusersofwords,similarinmeaning,thatmightnotspringreadilytomind,andtoofferlistsofwor
8、dsandphrasesthatarealternativestoandcompromisesforthosethatmightotherwisebeoverusedandthereforeredundant,repetitious,andboring.TheOxfordThesaurusgoesastepfurtherbyofferingexamplesentencestoillustratetheusesoftheheadwordsandtheiralternativesinnatural,