Synonyms and Near Synonyms in Dictionaries of the English ...

SEMANTIC RELATIONSHIPSSynonymy, antonymy, polysemy, etc. arethe key relationships in the mentallexicon of people. That is the reasonwhy many dictionaries list synonyms,and sometimes also antonyms, ofwords.

HOW TO TEST SYNONYMY- to analyse the degree of concurrence inthe connotation of a certain word

TECHNICAL LANGUAGE- tries to avoid both synonymy and nearsynonymy- still, there are cases when synonymy ispossible

7 words/terms/lexemes in11 general and 1 technical dictionary –all monolingual- recreation,- fitness,- leisure,- health,- well-being,- wellness and- sport

GNERAL AIM OF RESEARCHHow accurately dictionaries - in the case ofthis analysis mostly general ones -describe a certain concept by listingpossible synonyms and near synonyms oftheir names.

SPECIFIC AIM OF RESEARCHWhether there are any semantic linksbetween the analysed terms, and howmuch attention do certain dictionaries payto listing the synonyms of certain words.

SPECIFIC AIM OF RESEARCHTo compare the two segments:1 dictionaries published before the year 19952 dictionaries published after the year 1995- the dependent variables:1 sum of synonyms of all seven words2 sum of synonyms of each wordfor each of the 12 dictionaries in the sample

METHODS- Frequency distributions per item perdictionary- Chi-square tests of differences

RESULTSR 1 2R 1 1R 1 0R 9R 8R 7R 6R 5R 4R 3R 2R 10 2 4 6 8 10 12 14R EC R EAT IO NNumber of synonyms for the word recreationper dictionary.

RESULTSR 1 2R 1 1R 1 0R 9R 8R 7R 6R 5R 4R 3R 2R 10 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26Number of synonyms for the word fitnessper dictionary.F IT N ESS

RESULTSR 1 2R 1 1R 1 0R 9R 8R 7R 6R 5R 4R 3R 2R 10 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16L EISU R ENumber of synonyms for the word leisureper dictionary.

RESULTSR 1 2R 1 1R 1 0R 9R 8R 7R 6R 5R 4R 3R 2R 10 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16H EAL THNumber of synonyms for the word healthper dictionary.

RESULTSR 1 2R 1 1R 1 0R 9R 8R 7R 6R 5R 4R 3R 2R 10 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18W EL L - BEIN GNumber of synonyms for the word well-beingper dictionary.

RESULTSR 1 2R 1 1R 1 0R 9R 8R 7R 6R 5R 4R 3R 2R 10 ,0 0 ,2 0 ,4 0 ,6 0 ,8 1 ,0 1 ,2 1 ,4 1 ,6 1 ,8 2 ,0 2 ,2W EL L N ESSNumber of synonyms for the word wellnessper dictionary.

RESULTSR 1 2R 1 1R 1 0R 9R 8R 7R 6R 5R 4R 3R 2R 10 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18Number of synonyms for the word sportper dictionary.SPO R T

RESULTS- chi-square test - between the segments theset of dictionaries published before theyear 1995 and the set of dictionariespublished after the year 1995 – sum ofsynonyms of all seven words perdictionary - did not show any significantdifferences between them (χ2=12.00;df=11; p=0.36)

RESULTS- chi-square test - between the segmentsthe set of dictionaries published before theyear 1995 and the set of dictionariespublished after the year 1995 – sum ofsynonyms per each word per dictionary –yielded only one significant difference:the word wellness (χ2=6.00; df=2; p=0.05)

DISCUSSION - SPORT“… a structured, goal-oriented, competitive,contest-based, ludic physical activity”(McPherson et al., 1989)- the synonyms that can be found indictionaries for the word sport – such asamusement relaxation, game, etc. – aremost frequently connected with the originalmeaning of the word sport – jest and fun

DISCUSSIONThe R8 dictionary, as a dictionary that offers onthe whole the largest number of synonymsand near synonyms for all analysedwords/terms - lists the word sport as asynonym for recreation, thus probablyconnoting the fact that physical recreationimplies sporting activity and physical exerciseparticipation as one form of recreation ingeneral.

Oxford Dictionary of SportsScience and Medicine (M. Kent,1998)- The term recreation is interpreted as activeleisure which is very similar to the concept ofphysical recreation in kinesiology, and whichKent terms physical recreation.- In the term active leisure the attribute activeimplies physical activity.

R8 DICTIONARYLists the words general condition, physicalcondition, fitness, but also well-being assynonyms of the word health.

FITNESSThis means that the word fitness is also foundamong the synonyms for health and it is used,both in general language and in the context ofsport, in the meaning condition orcapacity/ability.

THE CONCEPT OF FITNESSFitness as a concept can be consideredwithin the context of competitive sport(which is then regarded as performancerelatedfitness), but also within the contextof health (i.e. health-related fitness).

R6 DICTIONARYListed as many as 14 synonyms and nearsynonyms for the term well-being, and nosynonyms for the word wellness. the publication year - 1995 – of the R6dictionary - too early year for including theentry wellness into the English languagelexicon as regards the formation of theconcept of wellness in general (1970s)

EXPLANATIONThe term well-being is better known to morepeople and they probably frequently connectit with the concepts of recreation and health,maybe also sport in that part of the meaningin which sport is regarded as a healthyactivity.

EXPLANATION It is possible that the concept of well-beingis linked to the concept of wellness in themental lexicon of people.

WELLNESS & FITNESSWellness, as well as fitness, implies goodcondition, both physical and mental.

CONCLUSIONThe words/terms recreation, fitness, leisure,health, well-being, wellness and sport areinterconnected.

CONCLUSIONSome of the analysed terms can be arrangedas synonyms either by the superordinate fieldor by the subfield they belong to:- fitness, from technical kinesiological point ofview, can belong to a superordinate field ofhealth, but also to the subfield physicalpreparation of athletes- well-being/wellness also belongs to thesuperordinate field of health and the subfieldrecreation or leisure