Abstract
This study examines synonymy in Standard Igbo (SI) to empirically determine if absolute synonyms actually exist in SI. By the application of cognitive linguistic theory and by adopting a descriptive survey method, the study tries to ascertain the factual behavior of synonyms in SI. The data used for this research work are gathered from documented materials from authors who have written on Igbo synonymy. Forty-six pairs of Igbo synonyms are subjected to analysis using the interchangeablity/substitution method to determine if members of a pair can always substitute each other in all contexts. The study discovers that there are always subtle but noticeable meaning differences realized between the members of the pairs, which is caused by contextual, collocational, and connotative restrictions. The study concludes that members of synonymous pairs in the SI differ from each other when they are placed in certain contexts. Hence, absolute synonyms do not exist in SI as claimed by some of previous scholars.
Highlights
Meaning is an apparent feature of language
Omego notes that none of the pairs of synonyms studied in the dialect satisfies the condition for absolute synonymy
The current study is related to Kreidler’s (2002) study because both are studies on synonymy and both studies are attempts to confirm or refute whether absolute synonyms exist in natural languages, but while the current study is on Standard Igbo (SI), Kreidler’s research work focused on English
Summary
Meaning is an apparent feature of language. Yet, the concept of meaning has been a vague aspect of linguistics. Omego notes that none of the pairs of synonyms studied in the dialect satisfies the condition for absolute synonymy She finds out that the identified synonyms cannot substitute for each other in all contexts as in sa/ma—“wash.” She observes that while an Owerri speaker can say l. The current study is related to Kreidler’s (2002) study because both are studies on synonymy and both studies are attempts to confirm or refute whether absolute synonyms exist in natural languages, but while the current study is on SI, Kreidler’s research work focused on English In his own study, Bolshakov (2004) uses the linguistic steganography method aimed at the automatic concealment of digital information in rather long orthographically and semantically correct texts to examine among other things the notion of synonymy to clarify that synonyms can be separate words and multiwords. Okeke and Egbuta’s view is adopted in this study because it ties up the idea of cognitive semantic theoretical framework and the associative approach to meaning adopted in this study
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