Litotes w polskim przymiotniku. Uwagi o kolokacjach przymiotnikowych

Abstract

For some time past it is noticed that words considered as synonyms differ at least in collocations. An analysis of differences between typical collocations (understood as frequent word connections) of a group of synonymous adjectives and their antonyms was conducted in this paper. It is a characteristic of the group that basic adjectives have quasi-synonyms constructed of negation of antonyms of the adjectives (e.g. dobry/good — niezły/not bad, zły/bad — niedobry/not good); such negatives constructed to intensify an intensity of expression were called litotes in the ancient rhetoric. Collocations were examined with using a measure of t-student that shows differences between words in the sphere of preferences for choosing collocations well. The result showed that though a non-negative adjective is more often used to qualify the same noun than a negative one still each of quasi-synonymic adjectives has different preferences in the sphere of typical collocations, which upholds the thesis submitted in the beginning.