It is the way of word building when imitating different sounds forms a word. There are some semantic groups of words formed by means of sound imitation
a) Sounds produced by human beings, such as: to whisper, to giggle, to mumble, to sneeze, to whistle etc. b) Sounds produced by animals, birds, insects, such as: to hiss, to buzz, to bark, to moo, to twitter etc. c) Sounds produced by nature and objects, such as: to splash, to rustle, to clatter, to bubble, to ding-dong, to tinkle etc. The corresponding nouns are formed by means of conversion, e.g. clang (of a bell), chatter (of children) etc. 17. Synonyms and Antonyms: definition and classification. A synonym – is a word of similar or identical meaning to one or more words in the same language. All languages contain synonyms but in English they exist in superabundance. They’re no two absolutely identical words because connotations, ways of usage, frequency of an occurrence are different. Senses of synonyms are identical in respect of central semantic trades but differ in respect of minor semantic trades. Classification: Total synonyms An extremely rare occurence Ulman: “a luxury that language can hardly afford.” M. Breal spoke about a law of distribution in the language (words should be synonyms, were synonyms in the past usually acquire different meanings and are no longer interchangeable). Ex.: бегемот – гиппопотам Ideographic synonyms.
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