대립자질과 코퍼스 분석을 통한 질병관련 유의어의 구분: DISEASE vs. ILLNESS vs. SICKNESS

Abstract

ICKNESS.” The Journal of Modern British & American Language & Literature 38.1:123-46. There have been many heated debates about the definitions of some near- synonyms. In particular, it is very difficult for English non-native speakers to distinguish among English synonyms and use them in appropriate contexts even if we look up the meanings in an English dictionary, which are sometimes more confusing. The objective of this study is to explore the distinctions between Disease, Illness and Sickness based on COCA ‘Binary Opposition (BO) Strategy’ proposed by Kim (2014). The basic idea of BO Strategy is that in order to distinguish sharply and effectively between a pair of near-synonyms, it is necessary to focus on a pair of (semantic/contextual) BO features, such as [actual vs. non-actual], [cause vs. effect], [controllable vs. uncontrollable] and [changeable vs. unchangeable], ect, and identify the critical differences among them. This study demonstrates that DISEASE is distinguished by BO features like [+extrinsic], [+definite], [+cured], [-hypernym], [-social], [+pain], ILLNESS distinguished by [-extrinsic], [-definite], [±cured], [+hypernym], [-social], [±pain] and SICKNESS by [-extrinsic], [-definite], [-cured], [-hypernym], [+social], [±pain].