7 SLIDE 2.3. EUPHEMISMS Euphemism is the substitution of words of mild or vague connotations for expressions rough, unpleasant. Euphemism is sometimes figuratively called ‘a white-washing device’. Euphemism is used to replace an unpleasant word or expression by a conventionally more acceptable one. For example, the word to die has the following euphemisms: to expire, to pass away, to depart, to join the majority, to kick the bucket, etc; pregnant – in the family way.
Euphemisms are words or expressions that speakers substitute for taboo words in order to avoid a direct confrontation with topics that are embarrassing, frightening, or uncomfortable: God, the devil, sex, death, money, war, crime, or religion. These topics seem to be cross-cultural. A linguistic consequence of cultural taboos is the creation of euphemisms. The euphemism as a linguistic phenomenon shows no signs of disappearing.
8 SLIDE 3. ANTONYMY Not so many years ago antonymy was not universally accepted as a linguistic problem, and the opposition within antonymic pairs was regarded as purely logical and finding no reflection in the semantic structures of words. The contrast between heat and cold or big and small, said most scholars, is the contrast of things opposed by their very nature. Antonymy is not evenly distributed among the categories of parts of speech.
9 SLIDE 3.1. ANTONYMS. CLASSIFICATION OF ANTONYMS Antonyms are words grouped together on the basis of the semantic relations of opposition. Antonyms are words belonging to one part of speech sharing certain common semantic characteristics. There exist different classifications of antonyms.
Structurally, antonyms can be divided into antonyms of the same root, for example, to do – to undo; cheerful – cheerless; and antonyms of different roots, for example, day – night, rich – poor. Semantically, antonyms may be classified into contradictories, contraries and incompatibles.