Synonymous relations between some phrasal verbs containing particles away, out and off: A cognitive-semantic analysis

Abstract

The paper focuses on the synonymous relations established between a certain number of English phrasal verbs containing the same constituent verb and the particles away, out and off. The research is carried out within the theoretical framework of cognitive linguistics, which enables us to view the semantic motivation of the linguistic units under examination in the light of their conceptual structure. This semantic analysis includes 124 phrasal verbs with the particle away, 406 phrasal verbs with the particle out and 260 phrasal verbs with the particle off, with the total of 1,620 different meanings. It is shown that a considerable number of the investigated phrasal verbs exhibit a high level of synonymous relations. We argue that such a semantic phenomenon is a result of the closely comparable conceptual scenes motivating their semantic structure, which stem from different spatial configurations underlying the conceptual framework of the constituent particles. The final part discusses the obtained findings and their possible implications for enhancing the understanding of the nature of phrasal verbs in general, as well as for further investigations of the semantic relations established among English phrasal verbs.