A Study of the Differences of Chinese Synonyms used in HSK5 (Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi)

Abstract

This paper aims to study Chinese synonyms used in HSK5 (Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi) for Thai learners with the emphasis on nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs. The study showed 5 categories of meaning differences i.e., 1) intensification of differences in meaning divided into 3 sub-categories i.e., (1) intensification of antonyms (opposites), (2) intensification of words having the same or nearly the same meaning as another (3) different morphemes causing different intensification of meanings; 2) degrees of meaning difference, 3) different scopes of meanings, 4) application of meaning and 5) different meaning lists. 3 categories of differences in grammar were identified i.e., 1) differences between grammatical characteristics i.e., (1) types and function of words and (2) repetition of words; 2) word formation and morphological segmentation in a sentence divided into 2 sub-categories i.e., 1) differences between prefixes and suffixes of synonyms (2) different synonym positioning in a sentence and 3) different sentence patterns. Differences in application could divide into 2 categories i.e., (1) difference forms divided into 2 sub-categories i.e., (1.1) oral form or written form, (1.2) real-world application; (2) mood i.e., affirmative (positive), negation (negative), indicative (neutral) or connotation expressing respectfulness. Each synonym differs in various combining categories, therefore they should be analyzed in every category together.