The problem of choosing a synonym when verbalizing one’s communicative intention (based on the English language)

Abstract

   The article explores the methodological problem concerning the improvement of the English language learners’ communicative competence, namely, their ability to choose a target language lexical unit from the synonymous series, the one, which would adequately verbalize the speaker’s communicative intention, and, at the same time, improve their ability to adequately perceive the shade of the meaning, conveyed by a synonym in a specific situation of oral communication, or in a written context. Despite significant research conducted in the field of the relations between sense and meaning (Yu. D. Apresyan, V. L. Zvegintsev, A. A. Zalevskaya, Ch. Fillmore, A. Wierzbicka et al.), the problem of choosing the right synonym remains relevant. Our analysis of the interpretations of English lexical units from the synonymous series “beautiful” demonstrates the difficulty of predicting the associations of a native speaker when perceiving or uttering a particular word or phrase due to insufficient linguistic or culturological experience of the language learner. The ethnospecific nature of the linguistic picture of the world and the worldview as a whole largely determine the meaning of each of the words that make up the synonymous series, and suggest special attention to the culturological component of the learners’ communicative competence. The article examines the conditions that ensure the correct choice of a synonym when verbalizing a communicative intention and its adequate interpretation when perceived by an English learner.